Recipe

Indian Spiced Lamb Chili

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Indian Spiced Lamb Chili

Photo by Joseph DeLeo

  • This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Chili
  • thehappycook's Testing Notes: This is a fun diversion from standard chili. It's a spicy combination of meat and beans with a slight Indian flair. The ancho chili adds just the right smokiness to balance the other spices...

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  • Chef

    Divya Kaur's Notes: There is nothing better than a movie night, and a perfectly spiced bowl of chili on a winter night. This recipe is a fruitful result of all the hard work I have put into being lazy. The slow...

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Serves 4

  1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add cumin seeds once the oil is hot, fry untill the cumin seeds become a darker brown color.

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  2. Add Onions and Garlic to the wok and saute until onions caramalize. Add the tomatoes and saute until tomatoes are completely cooked and all water evaporates.

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  3. Add the Onion-Garlic-tomato mixture and rest of the ingredients in a slow cooker. Set on low and let cook for 8 hours.

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6 Comments on Indian Spiced Lamb Chili

451090572_kevin_1 Reply

Divya I made your chili this weekend with a few adjustments. I doubled the recipe and used canned red beans only because my local grocer had run out of dried beans. Since I used canned beans I reduced the broth to 1/2 what was called for. I also reduced the Cayenne to 1/4 of what was called for and we were all sweating.

It was delicious! Even had naan bread to go with.

Reply

That's amazing :) I am so glad you enjoyed it!!! Happy cooking!

Photo_squirrel Reply

divya, i usually do the same as you: roast seeds, grind them and sautee them in the dish. But your recipe calls for seeds and not grinding them. so this use of whole roasted seeds, NOT ground after roasting, is common in Indian cooking?thnx again.

Reply

I am sorry I misunderstood the question before :) The answer to your question is yes, its pretty common. Most traditional Indian recipes will call for whole cumin seeds. The only time I can think of when my family recipes have called for ground cumin is when there isn't too much cooking involved for the dish- for example, Raita. Hope that answers your question.

Reply

Hi, thank you for reaching out! to be honest cumin powder and seeds can be used interchangeably. The reason why I use whole seed is because freshly fried or roasted cumin is at the peak of it's flavor. I prefer to simply roast the cumin seeds and grind them myself just before cooking/ serving a dish. just replace cumin seeds in this recipe with cumin powder if you prefer, and it should work just fine. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and friends have over time!!! Happy cooking :)

Photo_squirrel Reply

divya, i'm looking forward to trying this! As a big fan of Indian food, i want to ask about the cumin seeds being whole- i don't think i've encountered whole cumin seeds before -in meat curries, that is; do you use them often that way? thanks much.

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