Pre-cooked meat is one of the most important batch cooking recipes on my blog!
This is batch cooking at its best. Change the seasoning and you can use this technique for any cuisine that requires tender meat.
Whether the restaurant is a low cost Indian curry house or an upmarket Indian restaurant, the chefs will normally cook meat before service so that it is tender and ready to use. This recipe can be adjusted by changing the spicing to work in any cuisine.
About this recipe.
When you make this pre-cooked meat recipe, you will notice that it tastes a lot like a great curry when you're finished.
In this case, it is actually a delicious lamb curry in its own right. It is mild but you could spice it up. You could also do other things to it like stir in yoghurt or coconut milk.
That isn't really the idea here though. Batch cooking recipes like this are meant to get you deliciously cooked meat that you can have ready for your curry house style curries.
Why should you batch cook your meat for curries.
As mentioned above, this is not just something that is done at low cost curry houses to speed up the cooking process. This is batch cooking that you will see done at the best restaurants regardless of the cuisine.
It is easy to pre-cook your meat and it is great to have on hand. By getting this job done, you can prepare a weekday meal in 10 minutes rather than an hour plus!
Who should pre-cook meat in this way?
The reason chefs batch cook their meat is simple... if they didn't do it, it would take too long to serve their delicious curries. Pre-cooked meat is essential in many of my curry house style recipes to make things quick and easy. Doing this not only speeds things up but also gives the curry another delicious layer of flavour.
If you want to be able to turn around amazing curries in minutes, then it's batch cooking recipes like this that you need to know.
Batch cook your meat and you will take your curries to the next level.
How do you use the pre-cooked meat?
You just need to put the amount required next to your work station so that it is ready to add to any curry house happen to be making.
This is a batch cooking recipe that will come in handy whenever you want deliciously cooked meat to add to your curries. If a recipe calls for pre-cooked lamb, for example, just add some of this and a little of the cooking liquid and you will have an amazing meat curry in minutes.
If cooking a curry house style curry, just add some of this pre-cooked meat when the recipe calls for you to add it. By adding a good splash of the cooking liquid to the sauce, you will add even more flavour.
Your curry will taste as if it has slowly cooked for hours when you actually whipped it up in about 10 minutes. Batch cooking has many advantages!
Should you cook the meat on or off the bone?
Either but you will get more flavour if you cook the meat on the bone.
In the photos below, I cooked the lamb cut into small pieces on the bone. If you do this, you may need to remove the bones after the meat has cooked, depending on the recipe.
This is an easy process as you will be cooking the meat until fall off the bone tender!
If you would rather, you could cook the meat off the bone and add a bone to the cooking stock as in the video on this page.
Can you add this batch cooked meat to any curry?
Yes. Even if you are making a chicken chilli garlic or chicken korma recipe, you can substitute some of this pre-cooked meat for the chicken if red meat is what you want.
All of the curry house curries on my blog and in my books can be made with the protein of your choice, regardless of what the original recipe calls for.
Do you have other batch cooking recipes that will help with my curry house curries?
I sure do! You should also check out my batch cooking recipes for pre-cooked chicken and pre-cooked potatoes.
BIR (British Indian Restaurant) style cooking calls for a lot of batch cooking recipes that will make it quicker, easier and tastier for you to achieve the most amazing curries.
You will also want to check out my batch cooking recipes for curry house style base sauce, tandoori chicken tikka and tandoori lamb tikka.
How long to you cook different meats in this way?
Different meats as well as different cuts of meat need to be cooked for longer or shorter amounts of time.
If cooking lamb, you will need to cook it longer than beef, for example. Lambs run around a lot and build up muscle. The meat is naturally tougher than beef.
Cows are lazy animals so generally speaking, they will not be as tough and can cook to tender in about 40 minutes where lamb meat could take over an hour.
Lamb leg is usually more tender than shoulder. Just keep this in mind when cooking your meat of choice and be sure to check for tenderness as it stews.
It is important not to rush things!
For batch cooking recipes like this, it is important to let the meat cook until tender. There is no point going to all this work if you end up with tough meat!
The meat you cook, in this case I used lamb, needs to cook until deliciously tender. If your meat is not enjoyably tender to eat, keep it cooking.
How long can you keep this pre-cooked meat in the fridge?
Batch cooking recipes like this are great to have in the fridge if you plan ahead. You can store your pre-cooked meat in the fridge for about 4 days in the cooking liquid.
As it rests in the fridge, the flavours will develop and the sauce and meat will taste even better.
Can you freeze this meat and sauce?
Yes and that is one of the main things I do with batch cooking recipes like this.
It will freeze very well for about 6 months. Be sure to freeze it in some of the cooking liquid in portion sizes that will be convenient for you.
If you know you will just be cooking for yourself, then portion it out for a 1 to 2 portion curry. If you will be cooking for a crowd, you could get away with freezing the meat in larger portions.
Step by step photographs
When you make this pre-cooked meat, you might like to try it in one of these famous curry sauces.
Tikka masala sauce
Korma sauce
Pasanda sauce
Chasni sauce
Chilli garlic sauce
Ceylon sauce
Pathia sauce
Jalfrezi sauce
Keema sauce
Bhuna sauce
Methi sauce
Madras sauce
Vindaloo sauce
Phaal sauce
Have you tried this pre-cooked meat?
If yes, please give it a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I love receiving your feedback and I'm sure other readers of my blog do too. Thank you.
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Batch Cooked Pre-Cooked Meat
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
- 6 whole cloves
- 8 black or 10 green cardamon pods
- 10 black pepper corns
- 1 x 5cm (2 inch) cinnamon stick
- 1 piece mace
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
- 3 Indian bay leaves (cassia leaves)
- 1 Kilo (2 pounds) leg of lamb cut into 1 inch size pieces on the bone
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp good quality mild paprika
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the ghee/oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
- When the oil is visibly hot, stir in the whole spices and let them infuse into the oil for about a minute. Be careful not to burn them!
- Pour in the chopped onions and stir to coat with the oil and spices. Cook this for about five minutes before adding the garlic and ginger paste.
- Fry for a further 10 minutes until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Now add the meat and the ground spices and stir well to combine.
- Brown the meat for a couple of minutes and then add just enough water to cover and simmer for about one hour to one and a half hours until the meat is nice and tender.
- When tender, allow the meat and the sauce to cool for use in your curries.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 185Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 166mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 4gSugar: 3gProtein: 6g
Jared says
Just wondering how long this would keep in the fridge and if it would freeze well?
Dan Toombs says
Hi Jared
It's really down to how old the meat is but if you are cooking meat with a long date on it, you could probably keep it in the fridge for about three days. It freezes well. Use within three months.
Dan
Duncan says
Dan, I have your book and it's already seen some great results.
On the subject of the pre cooked meat I am always ending up with more cooking stock than I can use in my curries before the meat itself runs out, I was thinking perhaps that any unused ice cubed stock could be tossed in with the next batch of pre cooked meat, can you see any issues with refreezing the latest batch if using previous frozen cooking stock?
Dan Toombs says
Hi Duncan
I do this all the time. It's is great to have the frozen stock cubes on hand. Especially when you are using tandoori style meat and you don't have any stock. Go for it.
Thanks,
Dan
Suzanne Parker says
Hi Dan,
Right now a double batch of your pre-cooked meat is simmering away on the stove, and my husband is going crazy for the fragrance! I have one question: When the meat is tender, is there a need to strain out any of the whole spices (certainly the large ones like the cardamom pods and cassia bark)? This is the first time I've tried one of your recipes, but we love curries, so I'm sure it won't be the last. Thanks for such good directions. I'll be ordering your book too!
Suzanne in the Colorado Mountains
Dan Toombs says
Thank you Suzanne
The US edition of my book is out in April 2018 and is available now for pre-order. 🙂 You could leave the whole spices in. I usually remove the meat for my curries. Then I strain the stock to use in my meat curries along with the base sauce. It adds delicious flavour.
Thanks,
Dan
LAURENCE says
hello, can I substitute mace with nutmeg and cinamon for cassia bark (excuse the mistakes) ?
I've made some of your recipes (not as hot because in France!) and it has been a success each time.
Thank you
Dan Toombs says
Hi Laurence
You can definitely substitute cinnamon for cassia. They taste the same and I often do. You could use mace instead of nutmeg but it will taste different. They may be from the same plant but they are quite different. Not sure how that would taste really. Might give it a go.
Thanks
Dan
Teresa says
Hi,
I'm busy pre cooking some lamb. Smells are amazing wafting through my house! I know you state to use the liquid for further recipes, but as there are an awful lot of flavours going on, would it not spoil another recipe? Or are there any particular recipes the liquid be suitable for? Thanks, Teresa
Dan Toombs says
Hi Teresa
Adding a tablespoon or two of the sauce really adds a lot to lamb curries. It's really just a suggestion as many Indian restaurant chefs do this so that their lamb madras sauce tastes different to their chicken madras sauce. I use a little in all of my restaurant style lamb curries but not all chefs do this.
Thank you and have fun experimenting.
Dan
Will says
Discovered your site a few months back. Loving it !! Top work.
Having a curry party this weekend and going to use your recipes.
I'll be getting the book on Amazon soon.
Well done.
Will
Western Australia
Ps any substitute you'd recommend for crushed fenugreek leaves?
Dan Toombs says
Hi Will
Thanks. You could use a pinch of fenugreek powder if you can get it. If not, just leave it out. There is no real substitute so your curry will taste different but still very good.
Thanks
Dan
Paul says
Have to say as a chef your curry base and madras etc.. Recipes are about as close as I've come to making authentic restaurant style curries .
Excellent cheers
Would love some more recipes where can I find them?
I see you have 6 or so recipes curry on here
Thanks Paul;)
Dan Toombs says
Hi Paul
I have many more but I'm hoping for a book deal so haven't posted them yet.
Thanks
Dan
Mark says
Hi Dan
I have just discovered your site for the first time .I made the chicken dopiaza as I have tasted this in lots different restaurants. Your version is the best I have ever tasted .it is a lot of fun to make too and very rewarding . Thank you very much
Dan Toombs says
Hi Mark
Thank you very much. Really glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Dan
David Phillips says
Hi Dan
I've been looking at a couple of your curry recipes and was wondering what you class the cloves as, in the UK we would normally class them as garlic but you have garlic/ginger paste so are the cloves another ingredient ?
Regards
David
Wendy says
Cloves are a sweet spice; you're thinking of cloves of garlic. Look for whole or ground cloves in the spice and seasoning section of you store.
David says
Regarding pre cooked lamb. I have some lamb chops and was wondering if this is a sound idea. I made pre cooked chicken and froze the sauce it was cooked in. Could I use this leftover sauce to slowly cook the lamb chops? By the way your recipes have made a big difference in our eating habits. On Vancouver island the Indian restaurant are not at all good. So now we have the real deal. Thank you so much for posting your recipes and ideas!!!
David
Dan Toombs says
Hi David
Thanks for stopping by and I'm really glad you like my recipes. You could do that with the chicken stock but there is little reason to do it. If I were you, I'd keep the chicken stock with the pre-cooked chicken. It tastes great added to chicken curries with the base sauce. I have a pre-cooked meat recipe on the blog for lamb and other red meats. This makes a delicious meat stock that can be added to meat curries with the base sauce. You could use your lamb chops for that but I usually use less expensive cuts of lamb for curries. Lamb chops are great on their own. That said, I do have a lamb chop curry recipe that I'll be posting on the blog soon. 🙂
Thanks,
Dan
Janine Hill says
Hi Dan,
I'm a Brit living in USA and every year between xmas and new year I put on a big Indian feast for my American friends, and they love it. I used to cook everything from traditional recipes , it would take me 3 days to prepare a meal for 14 people - but not now I've discovered your great website and curry base sauce. They love new chicken tikka masala using your method. One question for you, so this year I'll also do the lamb vindaloo - to pre cook the meat I see Cassia bark and Mace in the recipe - difficult to get here and now its too late to order before xmas - any suggestions on what to substitute instead of these things?
Thanks for making my life easier and tastier!
Janine
Dan Toombs says
Hi Janine
Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been checking my site over the holidays! I hope you worked it all out. For the cassia, you can use an equal amount of cinnamon. For the mace, try a pinch of nutmeg. Hope this helps.
Dan
Paddy Hannan says
Hi Dan.
Just discovered your site and it's great. A couple of things - can I simply use the above recipe for pre-cooking pork for curries? If so how long would you suggest cooking the pork for?
Also, could I re-use the "stock" again for cooking more meat at a later date? What would you recommend?
Dan Toombs says
Hi Paddy
You could definitely use this recipe for pork. How long you cook it depends on the size of the chunks. You really can't overcook pork but it will become stringy (still very tasty) if cooked for a long time. I suggest monitoring it the first time. When the meat is good and tender but not falling apart. it will be perfect.
Thanks,
Dan
brian says
Dan, you have said here that you cook your chicken in a different way, so that the curries do not all taste like they have been made from the same base sauce.Chicken is my preferred meat,so I am hoping that you may be able to give some advice about how you do this.By the way I have got my book pre-ordered and can hardly wait for it's arrival.
Dan Toombs says
Hi Brian
Thank you very much for ordering my cookbook. All is explained in it but I'll try to help you now too. I have a lot of tandoori chicken recipes on the site. You can use any of them in your curries. Also, I have a pre-cooked chicken recipe. Just type it into the search field. This is a stewed chicken that has a nice tasting stock as well that can be added to curries. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks
Dan
Steve Marron says
Hi Dan
I came across your site a couple of weeks ago. I went in the opposite direction to you - from England to California. Needless to say I've spent the last 20 years telling anyone who will listen that the Indian restaurants here in LA are nothing like those in the UK. Every time my Californian-born curry-loving girlfriend take a trip back to England we eat at least every other dinner in an Indian restaurant! I made your chicken madras last week and was extremely impressed, now it's the lamb vindaloo's turn. Thanks for the tips about pre-cooking the meat; I could never figure out how the restaurants get the lamb so tender. I've used Felicity Choate's recipe from the Guardian for chicken tikka masala, I'll give your version a spin next time out. Thanks!
Dan Toombs says
Thank you very much Steve! I'm really glad you're both enjoying the recipes. I've got a good CTM recipe in my new book. It's similar to the one on the site but I've learned a lot since posting that. Keep in touch!
Cheers,
Dan
Dave says
Hi Dan, I've just ordered your new book whilst prepping your Lamb Vindaloo for the first time. I must admit that every one of your recopies that I've tried has turned out perfectly, had lots of complements, and I'm looking forward to serving the vindaloo. Just wondering if you have experimented with different vinegar's and if so do you have a preference? I like using plain old malt having tried cider, wine, palm etc . I do like a prominent vinegar flavour so for a vindaloo I would usually marinate the meat in a paste of vinegar, tamarind, ginger, cloves, chillies and sugar though today I'm using your precooked method with the addition of a little vinegar in the stock. I'm going to serve it with a pineapple chutney and a coconut rice to balance the vinegar. Hope your book does really well and makes it to the best sellers list and please pass my complements to the photographer on your site, the photo's make your food look as great as it tastes. thanks Dave
Dan Toombs says
Thank you very much Dave. The photographer is me. I don't really know what I'm doing. I just bought a good lens. LOL. I'm really happy you like my recipes and thank you so much for purchasing my book. The new recipes in the book are similar to those on the site but I think they're better. Re. vinegar, I don't really have a preference. I usually just use white wine or cider vinegar. I often add a little more tamarind too. Thanks again and keep in touch. Let me know if you have any recipe questions from the book. I love talking food and I'm very happy to help.
Dan
Steve says
Hi. I just need to clarify a small point. In your pre cooked lamb and chicken is the meat removed completely from the sauce before being added to the recipe being prepared? The photos indicate a good deal of sauce that I guess would make a pretty good meal itself.
Dan Toombs says
Hi Steve
The pre-cooked meat (lamb) is an excellent curry in its own right! I usually store the meat with some of the sauce. As this is used with the base curry sauce in your curries, the meat and chicken stock are great added for additional flavouor. This not only gives the curries a great flavour but also ensures that your lamb, chicken and vegetable curries have completely different tasting sauces even though the same base curry sauce is used.
Hope this helps.
Dan
Michael Malone says
Hi Dan.
Being trying to make 'authentic' BIR curries for many years. Never successful, until I came across your recipies.
Made the Madras last week; so, so good.
Want to try the Rogan Josh next.
You mention whole peppercorns in the ingredient list, with a quantity of 10m.
What, pray tell, is 'm'?
Excuse my ignorance.
Mike
Dan Toombs says
Hi Michael
That must have been a typo. Sorry for the confusion. Just ten peppercorns.
Cheers,
Dan
Adam says
Hi Dan,
I absolutely love your recipes, I have your book and it has changed the way we look at curries in our house forever!
Quick question regarding this recipe; I have a King Pro pressure cooker, how would you recommend adjusting the method to cook this recipe using that?
Thank you!
Dan Toombs says
Hi Adam
The first time you do it, I would only stew the meat for about ten minutes. Lamb will become stringy if overcooked. You can always adjust the time when you next cook or continue cooking on the hob. I have a Pressure King Pro and have had good and bad results. These days, I usually only cook the meat for about 15 minutes and then finish it up on the hob if needed.
Thanks,
Dan
Joy Cohn says
I've made the pre-ccoked lamb twice and it's turned out well. However, I'd offered it to Indian friends and they were taken aback by the peppercorns, pods and cinnamon.
My understanding of roasting spices was that it was done without oil, and the spices were then ground.
Is this not true of BIR cooking?
Dan Toombs says
Hi Joy
There are quite a lot of ways of cooking spices. This recipe is just one of them. With BIR cooking, the whole spices are usually removed before cooking but that isn't essential.
Cheers,
Dan
Kieren says
Hi Dan,
Can you pressure cooker the red meat such as Lamb? I know this wont really work for Chicken but perhaps Lamb being a slightly tougher meat this would work OK? If so for how long?
Cheers,
Kieren
Dan Toombs says
Hi Keiren
You definitely can but the amount of time depends on your cooker. I use a counter top pressure cooker. Tougher cuts of meat can stew for about 30 minutes but you might want to be a bit careful the first time and just cook for about 15 minutes and see how it goes.
Cheers,
Dan
Paul says
Hi. Do you know a recipe for making your own ginger-garlic paste? I’m living in Nicaragua at the moment and can’t get it here, but I love making your recipes! The vindaloo was the best thing I ever made!
Dan Toombs says
Hi Paul
There is a recipe for garlic and ginger paste on my blog. Just type it into search. Really easy.
Thanks,
Dan
Keith says
Hi Dan
I recently came across your site and now have lots of base curry sauce! My son kindly bought your book for me so that we could learn how to use it. In general iI find the book excellent but sm confused by some of the quantities, particularly the pre-cooked lamb. The recipe calls for 1kg of meat (it’s not clear if that is on or off the bone but I assume off) and says it makes 10 servings! The chicken one on the opposite page calls for 2kg of chicken for 10 servings, so twice as much. The Lamb Madras recipe uses 800g of precooked meat, which estimate 1kg would cook down to for servings. It gets even more odd when you suggest doubling the quantity for a nice meal on the day - for 10? 😊
In short, I feel that the 10 servings on the pre-cooked meat should say 4. Is that right?
Dan Toombs says
Hi Keith
That is the first time that has been pointed out! Thank you. To be honest, I never weigh the meat out. I just throw as much in as I can as it adds depth to the sauce. Generally speaking, as serving is 150 - 200g of meat. I hope you enjoy the book. Thank you very much for picking it up.
Dan
Louise says
Hi Dan, we love your recipes and your first book was our first BIR curries downloaded onto our kindle. I have a pressure king pro would this recipe work in the pressure king , if so for how long on what bar?
Best Wishes
Louise
Dan Toombs says
Hi Louise
I have a Pressure King Pro. To be honest I haven't cooked meat in it for a while but I have in the past. I would put the meat on stew and cook it for 20 minutes as a test. You don't want to overcook or the meat will become stringy.
Good luck,
Dan
Frank Macleod says
If I don't have whole spices can I use ground spices instead?
Dan Toombs says
Hi
Yes you could certainly use ground spices instead.
Thanks
Dan
Charles says
Dan, first of all... THANK YOU for everything you’re doing.
Second... I have frozen lamb stock from making this once before. I want to pre-cook/stew some more lamb quickly. Would it be weird if I thawed the frozen lamb stock and cooked more lamb in that?
Thanks!
Dan Toombs says
Hi Charles
Thanks for your kind words and great you are enjoying my recipes. I think it would be fine to cook more lamb in the thawed lamb stock.
Dan
Frank says
Hi,
I'm planning on making this soon, and was wondering if it will work with lamb neck fillet, as I have 2 kg of this in my freezer. Would the cooking time be the same?
Greetings from the Netherlands.
Dan Toombs says
Yes, I think this would work with neck fillet. Just cook it for a bit longer until it is tender as I think it will need a lot of cooking but will taste good.
Thanks
Dan
Frank says
An hour turned out to be enough. It came out fantastic.
One general comment about your website, a 'jump to recipe' button on top of a page would be a great addition.
Dan Toombs says
Great to hear. I will look into your suggestion.
Thanks
Dan
Frank says
I love your site! As a Dutch man who has lived in the UK I sorely miss a good beer and curry night.
Last weekend I made base gravy for 60 meals, froze half. With the rest I made Lamb Rogan Josh and Lamb Saagwala, both with pre cooked lamb neck fillet, a prawn madrass, chicken tikka and a garlic chicken curry. Made tandoori style chicken in the oven, and charred it a bit under the grill. All dishes came out fantastic and I'll be eating like a king for ages.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Dan Toombs says
Great to know and I am glad you are able to replicate the dishes you enjoyed in the UK.
Thanks
Dan
S says
You don't actually mention ANY timing on precooking the lamb?
How do your website's users know how long it's supposed to cook for?
Dan Toombs says
Not really sure what you mean as the instructions in step 6 in the recipe state to cook it for 1 - 1/2 hours or until tender.
If that is not clear please let me know.
Thanks
Dan
Joseph Nicholas says
I recently bought a case of square cut lamb shoulders. I was just wondering what the best way to pre cook this meat would be- should I separate as much of the muscle and I can from the bone and cut that into the appropriate size, then pull the smaller bits of the meat off the bone after it is done simmering?
Dan Toombs says
Yes use my pre cooked meat recipe as you suggest and pull the tender meat off the bone when cooked.
Thanks
Dan
Brian Wright says
I always have more lamb stock ice cubes left over from the previous precooked lamb. Can these cubes be used in other meat curries, ie chicken. Also, do I add the cubes to the gravy or direct to the sauce. Thanks, Brian.
Dan Toombs says
Thanks for your message. Yes, you can use the lamb stock in whatever curry you like. I am sure it would add excellent flavour.
Dan
Stuart Kirk says
Should you seperate the meat from the stock and freeze these seperately ?
Dan Toombs says
You can do or freeze together. The stock can be used to give another flavour level to any curry.
Thanks
Dan
Richard Partridge says
Hi Dan
What can you do with the broth after cooking slow cooked lamb. Seems a shame to waste it
Thanks
Richard
Dan Toombs says
You could add a little bit to the curry for extra flavour. Or maybe freeze it as it wouid be a nice gravy with roast lamb. You could also make this lamb soup with it.
https://greatcurryrecipes.net/2016/03/18/lamb-soup/
Thanks
Dan
Jayne says
Absolutely fantastic! Everyone who has eaten one of my curries using this pre cooked meat says its the best curry they have ever had!
Dan Toombs says
Really good to hear.
Thank you very much.
Dan