Venison Curry

For Christmas, we had pot-roast venison, with a lemon and horseradish gravy. We had a lot of venison for two people, so I also made this curry. It is adapted from a very odd recipe from the BBC website – the quantities were mad, and didn’t match between imperial and metric, so I sort of made up the gaps. It was delicious, although rather hot. I’d like to make it again, so here is what I did. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1kg venison, diced into 1 inch cubes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2cm of ginger root, grated
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp kashmir chilli powder, or 1 tbsp ordinary chilli powder
• 2 tbsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp ground turmeric
• 2 tbsp crushed juniper seeds
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp molasses sugar or other brown sugar or treacle
• 2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• greek-style thick plain yoghurt
• 500ml stock (I used the lemon gravy)

METHOD:

• Heat the oil in a large heavy casserole dish, and fry the chopped onions over a medium heat. 
• After around 5 minutes, add the crushed garlic, grated ginger and chopped chillies. 
• When the onions are browning, add the venison, and stir in to cook and brown the meat.
• Add the spices and cook for a few more minutes, stirring them in well. 
• Add the tinned tomatoes and stock, and bring the mixture to a simmer. 
• Cook over a low heat on the hob or in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender. If you are using left-overs, half an hour should be enough. 

To serve, stir in two tablespoons of yoghurt, and garnish with the chopped coriander. Serve with nan bread or rice, and with a side-dish of yoghurt.