Herbie's Saturday curry

Preheat oven to 145C (125C fan-forced).

Make curry powder by combining all ingredients in a medium bowl.

Heat a heavy-based pan on the stove; add curry powder and dry-roast, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon for around 2 minutes, being careful not to burn the mixture.

Add oil and make into a paste, then add panch phora and stir until seeds start popping. Add onion and stir for 2 minutes; do not overcook. Add meat, about 6 pieces at a time, making sure each piece is browned and coated with spices.

Add lemon juice, tomatoes and water, roughly chopping tomatoes while stirring.

Sprinkle garam masala and chaat masala over surface and drop in whole chillies and garlic flakes. Add tomato paste, curry leaves and methi, stir, then turn off heat.

Place in ovenproof pot with lid on and cook in an oven at 125C for 2 hours.

Remove from oven, allow it to cool and store in the refrigerator ready to heat and serve the next day.

Variations Chicken curry Use the same curry blend, but add 2 tablespoons of ground fennel seed and 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon quills and follow the method in the previous recipe, omitting the panch phora.

Vegetable curry Use the same mix (you can divide the first mix into three, then play around with the chicken and vegetable versions by adding extra spices) and add 1 tablespoon of ground fennel seed and 1 teaspoon of asafoetida to make the vegetable curry. The vegetable curry will be prepared in the same way as the Saturday curry, including the panch phora, but will not be dry roasted at the beginning and the quantity of curry powder and panch phora will be halved if using 500g of mixed vegetables.