Lamb Korma: 1, Steph: 0

Hi all,

Today, things did not go smoothly in the kitchen for me! The house mom, bless her, is very good about not trying to micro-manage, but I know she was wincing. I was definitely not looking forward to hacking the lamb from the bone, and was even LESS thrilled to find out it was several bones, including some ribs. Combine this with not so sharp knives and there was definitely an issue. Luckily, I had help with the onions and the lamb.

Things were going well, but time-crunched, until I got to the seasoning. For whatever reason I blanked and added cayenne pepper. Oh dear lord. I frantically tossed in cinnamon-turmeric-cloves-ginger-cumin and even sugar...but to no avail. Even the coconut milk and double the yogurt couldn't tame it!

The other co-worker (from India) had the day off today for special reasons and was absolutely thrilled when he came down. He kept exclaiming "It smells like India! It's like my soul is there!" and was reveling in the korma. He was incredulous that me, a white girl who'd never been to India could cook like this. Of course, I found it EXTREMELY spicy, but still managed a small portion. We only had 3 villagers for lunch today, and two liked it. Although one asked me why her lips were burning after her second portion...

The third villager took one bite and said "WUUUUUF" and shove her bowl away in a decided manner. We all broken into laughter, couldn't help it! So, lamb korma officially kicked my butt. House mom's opinion was to try it again, and console me with stories of other people's culinary misadventures. Next time I'll hack apart the lamb (appetizing, no?) the night before and mix the spices properly and with no hurry!

Hope all is well,
Steph