5°C
Nothing warms the cockles on a cold October evening like a bowlful of comforting spice and flavour. This month’s recipe, brought to you by Naresh from our extended Visitor Experience team, goes out to all the red meat lovers out there that like their lamb served with a good chilli kick!
This dish is extra tasty with salad and a dollop of Greek yoghurt on the side. Serves four.
Ingredients
4-5 lamb chops
3 mixed peppers, roughly chopped
3 onions roughly chopped and 1 onion sliced
5-6 green chillies, chopped
A small block of fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic
2 fresh tomatoes
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp salt, heaped
½ tsp meat masala (or you could use a tablespoon of tikka masala paste)
1 cup of basmati rice
Fresh mint and plain yogurt, to your taste.
Method
- Put the lamp chops in a big bowl and add the peppers and three of the onions in big chunks, not slices.
- Grind the chillies, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes together to form a sauce-looking paste.
- Add the turmeric, garam masala, 1 tsp of salt, and meat masala before adding to the bowl.
- Stir well, making sure the lamb, pepper and onion are coated with all the spices. Leave to marinate for an hour.
- Transfer everything onto a baking tray and add half a tsp of cooking oil of your choice over the lamb chops, or an oil spray.
- Put in the oven, preheated to 180C. I normally cover with foil very loosely first, and let it cook for about an hour, then remove foil and cook for another 45 minutes. But keep checking as every oven varies.
- While your lamb’s cooking, make the rice. Start by frying the onion in a little oil until it’s light brown in colour.
- Add a tsp of salt and the cumin seeds to the pan. Stir.
- Measure one cupful of rice and give it a good wash with cold water.
- Add the rice to the pan along with two cups of boiled water. Stir and cook on a high heat for a few minutes.
- Gently simmer the rice until the water dries and the rice looks fluffy. You may want to add additional water to ensure the rice is cooked through.
- Serve the chops with the rice, drizzling over any excess juices from the meat over the top.
