Built for service, not just for dinner
A curry cooked for a table of six can be served the moment it is ready. A curry cooked for a buffet has to survive transport, a holding period and a chafing unit without splitting, thinning or drying. Everything below — the hard sear, the tempered yoghurt, the final reduction — exists to make that possible.
Serves 8, scalable to 60
30 min
120 min
Ingredients
Main
- 1.6kg bone-in lamb shoulder, cut into large chunks
- 5 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
- 3 large onions, finely sliced
- 3 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
- 300g full-fat natural yoghurt, whisked smooth
Spices
- 3 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder (colour, not heat)
- 2 tsp ground fennel
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 4 green cardamom, 1 black cardamom, 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves
- 1 tsp garam masala, to finish
- Salt to taste
Method
- 1
Brown the lamb hard
Sear the lamb in batches over high heat until genuinely browned. Crowding the pan steams the meat and costs you most of the finished flavour. Set aside.
- 2
Build the base
Fry the whole spices in the same fat for 30 seconds, add the onions and cook slowly to a deep gold — 20 minutes, not five. Add the ginger and garlic paste and cook out its raw edge.
- 3
Temper the yoghurt
Take the pan off direct heat and add the whisked yoghurt a spoonful at a time, stirring constantly. Adding it cold and fast is what splits the sauce.
- 4
Braise
Return the lamb, add the ground spices and just enough water to come halfway up the meat. Cover and cook at a bare simmer for 90 minutes, until the meat gives against a spoon.
- 5
Reduce and finish
Uncover and reduce until the oil separates and rises to the surface. Finish with garam masala and rest for 20 minutes before serving.
Chef’s notes
- The reduction stage is what lets a curry sit in a chafing unit without going watery. Skipping it is why buffet curries thin out an hour into service.
- Bone-in shoulder over diced leg every time — the collagen is what gives the sauce body.
- Rogan josh improves overnight. For events we cook it the day before and reheat gently to order.
- Kashmiri chilli is for colour. If you want heat, add it separately so the mild version stays on the menu.