Spiced Lamb Pilaf

The Ginger Pig Meat Cookbook has pride of place in my kitchen. It's crammed with honest, simple and seasonal recipes and this one will use up the leftover lamb from yesterday's Sunday roast and it only takes about 30 minutes. I've tweaked it a bit and marked my additions as being optional. I have to say, if you'll forgive me, it looks, smells, and tastes fabulous.

Ingredients

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 onion, peeled, and finely diced

1 garlic clove, crushed, peeled and chopped

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves

4 cardamon pods, crushed

10 whole black peppercorns, optional

1 teasp black mustard seeds, optional

1 teasp turmeric

200g basmati rice

350g cooked lamb, chopped

600ml vegetable stock

Leaves from a bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

3 spring onions, roughly diced

1 mild red chilli, deseeded and sliced, optional

2 tomatoes, seeds removed, roughly diced

Leaves from a bunch of coriander, chopped. 

Method

Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan over a medium heat and add the onion.  Gently sauté for 5 minutes and then stir in the garlic and spices and cook for a further 3 minutes.  Add the rice, stir well, add the lamb and stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes.  Mix together the parsley, spring onions, tomatoes and coriander and add to the pan.  Serve with chutney and pickles.