Sunday Thoughts

At this time of the year still too cool to concentrate on salads, but not cold enough to keep stuffing ourselves with endless casseroles, so today am giving a recipe to make a speedy biriyani that suits almost all weather conditions. The joy of this curry is that it can be started from scratch (once ingredients are assembled together) and be on your plate in under half an hour, with no need to turn on the oven.
If you wish this could be made with chicken instead of lamb, in which case use chicken stock.
Lamb Biriyani: serves 4
approx 11 oz (300g) lean lamb, cut into 1" cubes
1 tblsp mild curry paste (Korma) or medium if you prefer
2 tblsp sunflower oil
cayenne pepper
1 oz (25g) butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 lamb stock cube
10 fl oz (300ml) hot water
7 oz (200g) long-grain rice
salt and pepper
Place the lamb in a bowl with the curry paste and 1 tblsp sunflower oil and using your fingers, rub this round the meat so that it is thoroughly coated.
Put the remaining tblsp of oil into a large frying pan with the butter, add the lamb and fry gently for 5 minutes. Add the onion to the pan with the red pepper, and crumble in the stock cube. Stir to coat the vegetables with the flavours, and then pour in the hot water followed by the rice and pinch of cayenne, adding salt and pepper to taste. Cover and leave to simmer gently for 15 minutes, by which time the liquid should have been absorbed and the rice become tender. If necessary, add more hot water.
Serve in a warmed dish with mango chutney, raita, poppadums or what you will.