A Balti lamb tikka hits the spot on every occasion. It is a fairly hot curry, but with a creamy texture that really pleases. The easiest way to cook a curry is by making sure you have all your ingredients laid out and put things away as you use them. As they tend to be quite rich in ingredients, you don’t want to end up in a kitchen with stuff scattered hell to breakfast, unable to find anything.

For the Balti lamb tikka, you will need the following ingredients:

450 grams of lean, boneless lamb (fillet or neck work best), cut into narrow strips.
175 ml natural yoghurt.
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds.
1 teaspoon of powdered chilli.
3 peeled, crushed cloves of fresh garlic.
1 teaspoon of garam masala.
Half a teaspoon of white cumin seeds.
Half a teaspoon of black cumin seeds.
2 tablespoons of fresh coriander, chopped.
2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
The grated zest of half a lemon.
3 deseeded red chillies, sliced into rings.
2 tablespoons of peanut oil.
1 tablespoon of tomato puree.
1 scant teaspoon of salt.
1 deseeded green chilli pepper, sliced into rings.

Start by grinding all the spices. You can use a mortar and pestle for this, or a coffee grinder. This may seem like a lot of trouble, and if you’re pressed for time or only have the pre-ground version you can use them, but the freshness of the spices you’ve ground yourself will add a lot of depth to the curry, so it is recommended.

Mix the yoghurt, cumin, garlic, chilli powder, garam masala, salt, coriander, tomato puree and lemon juice together. Use this mixture to marinate the lamb strips for at least two hours. However, you can choose to leave the mixture to marinate all day or overnight if you prefer the meat to be even more infused with all the flavours.

Heat your oil in a wok, and pick a few strips out of the marinade. Drip them dry a little bit, so you don’t end up with all the marinade in your wok, and brown the meat a few strips at a time. When they are all browned, throw them together in the wok with the marinade and cook the mixture for about ten minutes. Stir often to ensure everything gets heated through.

Add the sliced onions and continue to heat until they have been heated through. When the lamb is cooked to your liking, your food is ready. Serve with rice or naan.