Kangaroo Korma

The "Kangaroo Korma" is a recipe I've adapted from a Jamie Oliver Chicken Korma recipe. The use of kangaroo was inspired by the delicious slow roasted lamb used in the Punjabi Palace lamb korma. I was forced to learn to cook this dish after searching Sydney for 2 years for an Indian restaurant as good as Punjabi Palace, without success. Kangaroo is an awesome meat. It has so much flavour and when it's slow roasted it's super tender. It's also environmentally and ethically friendly. The kangaroos need to be culled, and they don't damage the land like cattle and sheep.

Curry always seems to taste better the next day, so for this recipe ideally you'll roast the kangaroo and marinate it in the curry paste overnight, then cook the curry the next day. That said, if you're desperate for curry immediately, which any curry lover can appreciate, this 2 day process isn't essential.

Ingredients

Curry Paste
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
1 tablespoon tomato puree
3 fresh green chillies (reduce if you're soft and don't like spice)
2 thumb sized pieces of fresh root ginger
Small bunch of fresh coriander
5 heaped tablespoons of desiccated coconut
5 tablespoons ground almonds
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
Spices for roasting: 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Curry
800g Kangaroo Rump - Buy the "Macro Meats Mini Roast" from Woolies. Picture to the right.
2 medium onions
Small bunch of fresh coriander
groundnut or vegetable oil
A knob of butter
1 x 400ml tin of light coconut milk
A small handful of flaked almonds
Sea salt
Freshly Ground black pepper
5 bay leaves
500g natural yoghurt
1 lemon
Oven bag
350g basmati rice

Day 1
Curry Paste
First peel the garlic and ginger
Put a frying pan on a medium to high head and add the spices for toasting to the dry pan
Lightly toast them for a few minutes until golden brown and smelling delicious, then remove the pan from the heat
Add the toasted spices to a pestle and mortar and grind until fine
Put the spices and all the other ingredients into a food processor and whiz until you have a smooth paste

Kangaroo
Pre-heat the oven to 120*
Place the kangaroo in an oven bag

Use 3/4 of a cup of water to wash out the juices from the kangaroo container and put the liquid in the oven bag with the kangaroo.

Seal the bag and place in the oven for 3 hours

Open the oven bag carefully capturing the remaining liquid and place it in a jar. You'll use this in the curry tomorrow.

Allow the kangaroo to cool, then remove the string and break it apart into curry sized pieces.

Mix the curry paste through the kangaroo and marinate in a fridge overnight.

Day 2

The Curry

Peel, halve and finely slice your onions

Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stalks

Put a large pan on a high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil

Add the onions and coriander stalks into the pan with the butter, cook for 10mins stirring frequently until the onion and coriander and evenly cooked and golden in colour.

Add the kangaroo and curry paste into the pan

Add the coconut milk

Add the kangaroo liquid

Add the flaked almonds

Add the bay leaves

Stir together and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on. Check the curry regularly to make sure it's not drying out and add water if necessary.

Stir every 5mins

Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove the bay leaves

The Rice
Put a large pan of salted water on a high heat and bring to the boil
Rinse the rice in a colander under running water for about 2 minute, or until the water runs clear (this will stop the grains sticking together later)
Add your rice to the boiling water and wait for the grains to start dancing around
From that point boil for 5 mins
Drain the rice in a colander
Pour 2.5cm of water into the pan, put it back on the heat and bring it to the boil again, then turn down to a simmer
Cover the rice in the colander with foil or a lid
Place the colander on top of the pan of simmering water and let the rice steam over it for 8 to 10 mins
Remove from the heat and serve.

Raita