Northwest Recipes, Bowland Venison Curry

Venison is widely considered to be one of the healthiest and most environmentally sustainable meats available and it certainly is very available here in the Northwest of England!

Here you can find almost all of our species of deer, native and introduced, including Red, Roe, Fallow and Sika, which I wrote about earlier this year, and numbers of some of these have increased so much that they have exceeded natural levels.

Recently several organisations which represent conservationists, farmers, foresters and others which own and/or manage our land have grouped together to push for venison to become a bigger part of our diet. This is out of concerns that the rapid, almost exponential increase in deer populations, currently estimated to be over 2.5 million, will cause massive damage to our ecosystems.

One such body is Forestry England, which here in Lancashire has teamed up with the East Lancashire Health Trust (ELHT) to provide venison on the menu in their hospitals sourced from the nearby Forest of Bowland.

With this in mind here is a tasty, versatile and easy recipe i’ve named ‘Bowland Venison Curry’ so you too can help to restore a bit of balance to our countryside.

(All measurements and cooking times are approximate)

Suppliers

There are several suppliers who source venison from the Forest of Bowland, including Morecambe bay shrimps and Gazegill Organics in the Ribble valley.

Drink and music recommendations

The natural accompaniment to a good curry is a quality Indian lager, I recommend Goa King, Cobra or Kingfisher which you can get from supermarkets or even better a pilsner like the one that Lytham brewery brew.

For cooking tunes may I recommend Deer Dance by SOAD or maybe No one knows by QOTSA?

Ingredients

600g of diced venison

Parathas or Chapatis

2 large finely-chopped onions

3 freshly crushed garlic cloves

1 chopped pepper

300ml of olive oil

300ml of red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of chilli flakes (if you haven’t got these substitute with chilli powder or a sauce like Sriracha or Tabasco but they will taste different and have different degrees of heat)

1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger (about 1 inch of ginger root)

1 tablespoon of garam masala curry powder

Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds, (if you find game to be too strong a taste for you substitute with fennel seeds)

2 teaspoons of brown mustard seeds

Instructions

First mix the ginger, garlic, garam masala, chilli flakes and turmeric powder together in a mixing bowl, this mix determines how hot your curry will end up being so be careful!

Marinade the Venison in this mix, making sure all of the meat is thoroughly covered, leave it to marinate for an hour or two.

When the Venison is marinaded heat up a pan on the hob and add the Venison to it to brown, it’s best to add in 2 to 3 lots to make this easier.

When it is all browned pour a jug of water over the Venison until it just covers it, then simmer for 45 minutes.

Now is a good time to place the bottles of lager in the freezer to flash cool them (don’t forget about them though!)

For the next steps you need 2 frying pans and some kitchen roll.

Heat up a frying pan and add the oil, then fry the onions until they just start to go brown and crispy, then remove them to a dish lined with the kitchen roll to disk up the excess oil.

In the other frying pan, toast the fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and pepper until it just begins to smoke.

Now is a good time to place the Parathas or Chapatis in the oven.

Finally, add the Venison to the remaining oil, then add the onions, peppers and toasted spices, stir until all of the Venison is coated.

Now is the best time to place your plates in the oven to warm up.

Remove the pan from the hob and pour in the red wine vinegar, then stir again.

Remove the Parathas or Chapatis from the oven and place on some kitchen roll and take the warm plates out too, also don’t forget to retrieve the bottles of lager from the freezer.

Then garnish and serve! like all marinades the flavour only improves with time so you can make this a day or two before serving, also if you make it fresh and have some left over you can leave it in the fridge, I hope you enjoy it!

A B-H