Instant Pot Lamb Curry
This Indian lamb curry Instant Pot recipe will show you how to make a delicious lamb curry in the Instant Pot.
The recipe is very easy to prepare, and you can do the preparation upfront and set the timer of the Instant Pot to cook it when you wish.
Half a leg of lamb
I used some lean leg of lamb meat to make this dish, but you could use lamb shoulder as well if you prefer.
Prepared lean lamb meat
How to control the spiciness of this dish
The curry I made in these pictures was quite hot and spicy as I had used 3 fresh bird’s-eye chillies in the recipe.
But you can control the spiciness by being a little bit less liberal with the amount of chilli powder and fresh chillies that you use. This recipe is really a lamb madras recipe, which is traditionally a medium-hot curry, say one notch below a vindaloo.
Lamb in Instant Pot
But this curry does not need to be hot and spicy. You can either use less chilli in the recipe or use some raita or mango chutney to cool it down.
You can adjust the spiciness to suit your pallet when you are doing the final taste adjustment after the high-pressure cooking cycle.
Ready to cook on high pressure
With this recipe, I am trying to reproduce my favourite lamb madras meal that I always used to order at my favourite Indian restaurant, the New Tandoor in Gouda, the Netherlands. Their curries are superb and their naan bread is second to none.
I have not quite cracked it yet with this recipe, but I am getting close. They use a secret ingredient I think. I am almost there, but still missing something to make it a perfect copy. We will persevere until we have found it!!
Lamb Curry in the Instant Pot
Using the Instant Pot to cook a curry is inspired. Using a pressure cooker is just a quicker way to cook the meat and ensure that the meat is tender and falls apart.
There is nothing worse than a chewy piece of lamb or mutton. Quite often mutton is used in curries in British Indian restaurants. Using the pressure cooked just makes sure that it is nice and tender.
The leg of lamb meat in this curry melted in the mouth.
In this recipe, the meat is not marinated for any period of time. But if you do have the time, you could prepare the meat earlier and marinate it in the onion purée and spice mix overnight to add some more spice flavour to the meat. It is up to you.
Equally, if you have plenty of time, you may want to slow-cook this instead of using the Instant Pot. Again do what fits your schedule and inclination.
Lamb curry with pilau rice, poppadoms and naan
Certainly, I found this very easy to make in the Instant Pot. The preparation was quick and the cooking time in the pot allows you to prepare the accompaniments, like raita, chapatis or naan bread.
I hope you have a go at making this recipe. If you manage to improve it, please let me know how you did in the comments section below!
Enjoy!
How to cook lamb curry in Instant Pot
Lamb Curry Instant Pot
This recipe will show you how to make a spicy lamb curry in the Instant Pot. Tasty fall apart meat which can be as spicy as you want.
Ingredients
- 1/2 leg of lamb meat (about 1,5 kg in 1,5" / 4cm sized cubes)
- 1 large Spanish Onion
- 3 tbsp ghee (or vegetable oil)
- 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
For the paste
- 1 tsp each of the following spices:
- ground cumin
- ground coriander
- turmeric
- paprika
- chilli powder
- ginger
- garlic powder
to add after HP cooking
- 2 tbsp crushed pistachios
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- The juice of one lemon
- 2 or 3 fresh chillies (optional - depending on how hot and spicy you want it)
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp chilli powder
To garnish
- Crushed pistachio nuts
- Freshly chopped Coriander
Instructions
- Start by roughly chopping the onion and boiling it for 3 minutes in some hot water. Then drain it and mulch it in a food processor (I use my Nutribullet for this) until it forms an onion purée.
- Turn the Instant Pot to the sauté setting and heat the ghee. Then add the mulched onion and cook the onion purée for a few minutes. In the meantime mix all the spices together and add some water to form a paste.
- Add the paste to the onion purée and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring well and making sure it does not burn.
- Then turn off the Instant Pot and add the meat, mixing well with the onion and spice mix. Then add the can of tomatoes to the pot and close the lid.
- Set the valve to 'seal' and programme the Instant Pot for High Pressure cooking for 45 minutes. It took my Instant Pot about 15 minutes to get up to pressure before the cooking timer started.
- When the cooking cycle has finished, carefully release the pressure manually, by putting the release valve to vent, and turning the Instant Pot off, being careful not to burn yourself.
- Remove the lid and then put the Instant Pot to the sauté setting again. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, stir well and simmer for about 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust hotness to your own preference using more or less chili powder or chillies.
Notes
Serve up with some pilau rice and naan bread and some popadoms and mango chutney, with maybe some raita on the side.
Garnish with some freshly chopped coriander (cilantro) and some crushed pistachios.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 282Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 399mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 3gSugar: 8gProtein: 16g
This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.
Some other curry dishes to try:
Or some other Lamb dishes: