There is an art to cooking. And there is an extra special art to home cooking. People nowadays often get takeaway curries, the reason being is lets face it, they taste good and you can’t imagine being able to do it at home without it costing and taking forever!

Well I thought I would share with you a recipe that I came up with which is not only fast, and easy, but it tastes great. Better than any takeaway.

Cooking curry does not have to be hard.

Here is a recipe for one of my favourites.

Zahir Jafferji’s Lamb Curry.

You will need:

1 x onion finely chopped

1x red pepper thinly sliced

1x green pepper thinly sliced

1x yellow pepper thinly sliced.

1x aubergine finely cubed

2x tomatoes chopped

500g diced lamb

2 x cans of coconut milk

Mild curry paste

olive oil.

3 x cloves of garlic

Directions for Zahir Jafferji’s Curry:

1. in a deep pan sautee  together the onions, peppers and aubergine. You will be surprised how much oil you will need here. The aubergine really likes to absorb it. I normally sautee the other vegetables and then add the aubergine after.

2. When the vegetables are golden, add in the lamb, cook it until it is browned on all sides. It does not have to be cooked all the way through. Add in the garlic, and about 3 large tablespoons of curry paste. Make sure everything is coated and browning nicely.

3. Add in the coconut milk. Sometimes I find that this is not enough fluid, and so will add in about half a litre of lamb stock. Make sure you have really shaken the cans well, or you lose a lot of the goodness on the side of the can.

4. Then set the pan to simmer with a lid on for at least an hour. The longer the better. Stiring around every 20 minutes. I find that the longer you let it cook the better. Sometimes I even make this in the morning and let it cook all day. The meat becomes very succulant and falls apart in your mouth. It is wonderful.

5. Cooking the Rice. I have found that everyone has an opinion on how to cook rice. Having a rice cooker is by far the easiest way, and it always turns out the best. If you do not have a rice cooker, these are some easy instructions. In a pan melt about a tablespoon of butter and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in the rice. let the rice get hot and coated in the oil and butter (typically you would have 50 – 100g rice per person) Then add in water. The rule here is two to one. Two cups of water to every cup of rice. Make sure the water is boiling straight out of the kettle. I would normally add some stock to it too for flavour. stir it once, add a lot of salt, cover and let simmer for 15 mins. This will come out perfect if done right.