Spicy Lamb with Apricots

My husband does not like costo, sams club, the entire discount club universe. He feels they are the root of most of the trash in the house and promote wastage. Well, sometimes, I do end up "trying" out something that no one else wants to have and then get stuck with a lot of something that I am not sure what to do with.

This was pretty much the case, when I recently got an entire clamshell of apricots, that I thought, my kids would love. Well, they refused to touch them. Here I was stuck with a crisper full of lovely tangy yellow fruit. I ended up making a jam with honey, and the remainder was used in the lamb dish. It was a lovely, spicy and dense pairing. The other ingredient that I used for these were they very spicy jamacan peppers. They are so spicy, it takes several washes to get the heat off the hands after working with them.

Spicy Lamb with Apricots

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/4 cup oil A large piece cinnamon 3-4 cardamoms 3-4 cloves 2 tsp cumin-coriander powder 1 large onion, finely chopped 2 tsp minced garlic 2 tsp grated ginger 1 lbs, boneless lamb cut into cubes 1 tsp turmeric 2 tsp salt 2 tomatoes, chopped 4 green chillies, chopped 4 fresh apricots, cut into chunks 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped 1.5 tsp garam masala 1 tsp finely chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cinamon, cardamom and cloves. 2. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and cook slowly till the onions begin to turn light brown. 3. Add the cumin-coriander powder, the lamb, the salt and turmeric and cook stirring slowly for about 10 minutes. 4. Add the tomatoes, mint, appricots and chillies and cook for another 5 minutes. 5. Add about 1/2 cup water and cook under pressure for about 15 minutes. 6. Remove the pressure, mix well and cook for another 5-7 minutes till the gravy is thick and fairly dry. 7. Add the garam masala and the cilantro, enjoy with rice or chappatis.

These are not good times, I don't think people need me to remind me of that. It is just simple things like my daily dose of Small bites, being off the air for a week in some token acknowledgement of cost savings, remind me this gloom and doom is not going away anytime soon.