Easy Lamb Korma Stew (Keto, Paleo, Whole30)
by This Jamie Oliver-inspired Lamb Korma is creamy, rich, and super aromatic. With toasted spices and loads of fresh herbs, the boneless lamb leg meat is melt-in-the-mouth tender. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to make this lamb stew. If you love food, wine, and dinner with friends and family, this easy Lamb Korma recipe is perfect for a smaller gathering!
The original recipe was published in 2016. The update includes new photos and recipe writings to make the instructions more clear and simpler to follow.
Keto and Dairy-Free Lamb Korma Recipe
I found myself sharing lamb recipes a lot more in December. Perhaps it’s the cold weather or the holiday season, making a pot of lamb stew feels warm and festive for the holiday season. 🙂
I decided to revisit this older recipe and give it a fresh new look and simplify the cooking steps to make it easier to follow.
The boneless lamb leg meat is slowly simmered in the coconut cream sauce with all the warming spices and herbs until it soaks up all the delicious flavors. Surprisingly much EASIER and FASTER to make!
So don’t feel intimidated to make a pot of lamb stew at home! If you are hosting a smaller holiday dinner this year with a party of 2 or 4 people, this dish will be perfect!
What is korma
According to Wikipedia, Korma is an indian dish with mild curry meat or vegetables braised in yogurt, cream, spices, and stock to create a thick creamy sauce.
The Korma style of cooking is similar to western braising techniques. The meat is first seared under high heat then slow simmered to fork tender with minimum of added liquid.
Today’s recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s homemade Indian curry korma paste.
Ingredients for lamb korma
I’ve simplified the recipe and make it easier to make. Here are some key ingredients –
- Lamb – I recommend using boneless lamb leg meat or lamb leg steak. Good quality lamb meat is the key to a pot of flavorful lamb stew. Using freshly cut lamb meat is the best.
- Fresh Herbs – garlic, ginger, cilantro, and shallots (or yellow onions)
- Dry Spices – Garam masala, cumin, coriander, shredded coconut, and almond flour.
- Coconut Cream – I use Whole Foods 365 brand coconut cream from a can. Whole Foods canned full fat coconut milk used to be thick and creamy but recently they diluted the texture and it became too thin. So now I recommend using their coconut cream, if you are buying it from the same source.
How to make homemade Lamb Korma
Trust me, I had a fear of making lamb dishes because growing up cooking lamb – with the exception of ground lamb meat – is not a common choice my family would make at home. We do, however, love ordering lamb curry when we eat out so here are the simplified steps to make a pot of delicious stew!
Lightly season the lamb with coarse sea salt. Sear and brown it over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven.
Set the lamb aside to cool before you dice them to chunks.
Use the fat to saute freshly chopped herbs until fragrant.
Lower the heat and add the spices and lightly roast for 30 seconds.
Add the coconut cream and return the diced lamb to the Dutch oven. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or until the lamb is fork tender.
What Type of Lamb To Use
I recommend using boneless lamb leg meat or lamb leg steak. Good quality lamb meat is the key to a pot of flavorful lamb stew. Using freshly cut lamb meat is the best.
It’s also good to know that American lamb is fed with grains so the flavor is sweeter whereas the grass-fed lamb from New Zealand or Australia have stronger and more intense flavor.
The Cooks Illustrated and Mashed articles will help you learn more about different cuts of lambs and the flavor intensity.
Storage tips
This lamb korma recipe tastes great even the day after. I recommend best finishing it the next day or within 3 days when stored in the refrigerator.
What to serve with lamb korma
Traditionally the dish is served with rice and/or naan bread. Here are some suggestions if you prefer to keep it lower in carb.
- Broccoli fried rice
- Shirataki fried rice with garlic chips
- Tatsoi salad Asian greens
- Lemon garlic broccoli
- mung bean sprouts salad recipe
- Asian-Style Chopped salad
More Lamb and Curry dishes
- Xi’an Cumin Lamb Meatballs
- Homemade Chicken Korma
- Roasted lemon chicken legs
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Chicken Curry
- Mini Lamb Burgers
- Thai Green Curry Chicken
- Dutch oven roasted red curry whole chicken
- Whole30 vegan vegetarian curry
Lamb Korma (keto, paleo, Whole30)
Ingredients
Fresh herbs:
- 0.6 oz garlic, finely chopped, about 4 large cloves
- 0.4 oz fresh ginger root, finely chopped
- 2 whole green or red serrano chilies, diced
- 4 oz. shallots, sliced, (about 2 large)
- 1 oz. fresh cilantro, chopped
Spices:
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 4 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp almond flour
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
For the lamb:
- 2 lbs boneless lamb leg meat or lamb leg steak
- ½ tsp coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 14 oz. canned coconut cream
- 8 oz. mixed mushrooms, baby bella, cremini, white, trumpet, or clam shell
- 2.5 oz. baby spinach
- ¼ to ½ one whole lime juice, or to taste
- 2-3 tbsp dairy-free yogurt, unsweetened
Instructions
- Prepare the fresh herbs in a large plate.
- Combine the spices in a bowl. Lightly season the lamb with coarse sea salt all over.
- In a well-heated medium size Dutch oven, add 2 tbsp oil. Sear the lamb over medium-high heat about 2 minutes per side (4 minutes total). Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Use the remaining fat, add 1 tbsp oil, saute the fresh herbs in the plate with ½ tsp salt over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Lower the heat to low, add the spices in the bowl. Stir for 30 seconds and turn off the heat.
- Slice the lamb to 1.5-inch bite sizes and add them to the pot with coconut cream. Use a wooden spoon to stir and scrap the bottom to make sure nothing sticks. Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or until the lamb is fork tender. Remember to scrap and stir the pot periodically so nothing is stuck to the bottom.
- Slice the mushrooms or use your hands to separate them. Add them to the pot with spinach. Stir for 1 minute. Season with salt to taste.
- Drizzle with lime juice and stir-in the yogurt. Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Was just wondering if I can make this in a slow cooker?
I haven’t tried it but it should work. You will need to adjust the time for a slow cooker.
How do you get your nutritional table? 1g protient for any dish made with meat seems very wrong. I’m keto due to being diabetic so I always look for the carbs, expecting anything labeled keto to be lower carb than both protient and fat. With the protient only showing 1 g per serve I’d say it’s incorrect which makes me hesitant to trust the carb count, which seems high for keto but doable if other meals had alot less in a day. My daily limit is 20. Most recipies I use have less than 8 per serve
Hello! We use an automatic calculator that comes with the recipe plug-in. It takes the ingredients input and calculated by itself and divides it based on how many servings. I just checked the input and it should reflect more clearly now. Please note that these are automatic calculations and the results can be vary based on the type of products you use. You are more than welcome to do the calculations based on the bottles and ingredients you use. 🙂 Thank you.
Soooo delicious! Made this for Christmas eve dinner. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!!!
LOvely! Thank you!
Oh my, this was so good! It’s been added to our regular rotation list, with lots of eager suggestions for using chicken, hardboiled eggs, etc. to eat all of that yummy sauce!
Thank you for this recipe! I love lamb and curry – so comforting and delicious!
So tender and yummy with that creamy yogurt sauce in every bite!
The meat is SO tender and amazing! My new favorite way to eat lamb.
Wow, the finished dish looks so creamy and good. I love all the fat and flavor in lamb and am a big korma fan.
Is there a substitute for almond flour? Would coconut flour or chickpea flour work?
HI Kortney, thank you! The almond flour adds a light toasty flavor. Since the quantity is not a lot, I’d say coconut or chickpea flour should also work. 🙂
Thank you for sharing. You make your narrative so so real. I can literally hear oil searing the meat and the flavours around me. Just reading your mail. I plan to make this over the weekend. Will share how I managed to make it.
Lots of hugs and love.
Thank you!
The whole house smells like heaven in France. For some reason I could not get the photo’s in this message. Anyway, we are enjoying the lovely food. Greetings, simone