Experimenting

Oct 4

By now, I'm sure you've gathered {between the hutch reveal and the DIY centerpiece} that we had a little dinner party the other weekend. Of course, I turned to one of my go-to ladies for a no fail recipe, The Barefoot Contessa. We made the provencal leg of lamb, which is always a huge hit, but leaves us with tons of leftover lamb.

So, when I ran across a recipe for Lorraine Pascale's Lamb Biryani in the BBC Good Food Magazine, I knew I could adapt it to work with our leftover leg of lamb.

Not familiar with biryani?

An Indian inspired rice dish, where the rice is cooked separately and layered with a rich, thick curry sauce.

I'm going to tell you right now, this dish is not spicy! So don't look at the word, curry, and immediately turn your nose up to this recipe. Try it, you'll be surprised. It's warm, comforting and hearty. Perfect for this time of year!

For the curry:

vegetable oil

2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp tumeric powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder (more if you want more spice)

1 bunch spring onions, thinly sliced

1 c carrots, thinly sliced

2 c. leftover protein (i used lamb), cut into bite size pieces

For the rice:

2 c basmati rice

1 small (14 oz) can coconut milk

1/2 c sundried tomatoes

small handful mint

1/4 c raisins

butter

1/4 c toasted flaked almonds

1. Warm about 1 tbs oil in a medium sauce pan over low heat. Add the spices and cook 2-4 mins, stirring occasionally. Add another tbs of oil, the spring onions and carrots to the pan and cook until tender, 3-5 mins. Add the protein to just warm through.

2. Meanwhile, put the rice in a pan with the coconut milk and 1/2 c water. Cover with a tight fitting lid, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 15 mins. Do not stir.

3. Roughly chop the sundried tomatoes and mint.

4. Once the rice is cooked through, stir in the sundried tomatoes, half the mint, and the raisins. Taste the rice for seasoning and add a tbs of butter, if desired.

Serve the rice with the curry layered on top, mint and almonds.

{I mixed ours together, otherwise picky Miss T wouldn't even try it!}