Red Curry Lamb Stew (燉咖哩羊肉, Dan6 Gaa3 Lei1 Joeng4 Juk6)

Lamb stew meat was available at my local supermarket, so I couldn’t resist buying it to make a curry based dish. When lamb is pre-packaged and labeled as stew meat in the USA, the meat is usually cut from the leg. The convenience of pre-packaged lamb stew meat means that you can purchase the quantity of meat needed for a dish, rather than having to purchase a portion or whole lamb leg to cut into pieces. Using a one dish sized can of curry paste also serves to simplify making this dish. The curry paste is first stir fried and then the coconut milk is added before the rest of the ingredients. The dish actually cooks quite quickly and just about any set of vegetables can be used.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb.	500 g.	Lamb stew meat (羊肉, joeng4  juk6), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
½ lb.	250 g.	Green string beans (青豆角, ceng1 dau6 gok3), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
2	2	Carrots (紅蘿蔔, hung4 lo4 baak6), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal
2	2	Red potatoes (薯, syu4), halved and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
1	1	Onion (洋蔥, joeng4 cung1), halved and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
6 oz.	170 g.	One package cloud ear fungus (雲耳, wan4 ji5)
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

4 oz.	114 g	Maesri brand Red Curry Paste (咖哩醬, gaa3 lei1 zoeng3) or equivalent
14 oz.	400 ml.	Coconut milk (椰汁, je4 zap1)
2 oz.	57 ml.	Water to wash out the coconut milk can
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry

 

Equipment

6 qt.

5.7 L.

Dutch oven

 

Maesri Brand Red Curry Paste
(咖哩醬, gaa3 lei1 zoeng3)

Preparation Instructions

1. Take the lamb stew meat out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. Prepare the lamb by removing any excess fat. The lamb should be cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces, if not already that size.
2. Wash and cut the green string beans into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces.
3. Wash and cut the carrots into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal. Make a diagonal cut, rotate the carrot ¼ turn, and make another diagonal cut. Repeat the process until the carrot is cut into pieces.
4. Wash and cut the red potatoes into halves, and then cut 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces from each half.
5. Remove the tough outer skin of the onion and cut into quarters. Cut 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces from each quarter.
6. Open the package and wash the cloud ear fungus, removing any hard parts.
7. Open the cans of the Maesri brand Red Curry Paste or equivalent, and the coconut milk.

Cooking Instructions

1. Add oil to a Dutch oven and heat over medium- to medium-high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the Maesri brand Red Curry Paste or equivalent to the Dutch oven and stir fry. Add the coconut milk to the Dutch oven, wash out the coconut milk can with water and Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, and add the liquid to the Dutch oven. Increase the heat to high, bringing the mixture in the Dutch oven to a boil. Don’t use too much liquid or it will dilute the curry-coconut mixture.
2. Add the lamb, cloud ear fungus, carrot, and onion to the Dutch oven. When the mixture returns to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 25 minutes.
3. Uncover the Dutch oven, and add the green beans and red potato to the Dutch oven. Increase the heat to high to bring the mixture to a boil and cover before reducing the heat to low to simmer for another 5 minutes.
4. Uncover the Dutch oven, turn off the heat, put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish, and serve with steamed rice.