Leftovers: Lamb Biryani

New Year’s day catching up with my old bookselling pals (see About!!) the table is spread with lots of homemade delights including my pea and ham soup, …but when offered leftover lamb from their NY eve dinner…..I quickly say yes!

Instantly my brain scans to this amazing Jamie Oliver recipe (Save with Jamie) and I cannot wait to cook this up! It’s a great recipe to use up leftover roast lamb shoulder, but equally keeping things fuss-free, lamb shank, the leg would equally work as well. I wouldn’t let the cut of meat stop me from making this!

Biryani (according to my Brummy husband) is renowned for being a high-fat dish. But this one for me is hearty, comforting but not a fat-laden dish, so great for new year health efforts. If you follow my fuss-free steps, this dish can be a great one to make ahead and then pop into the oven when you are ready.

There looks like quite a few steps, but to make it more fuss-free, rather than cooking my rice, I picked up two 200g plastic of pre-prepared basmati rice from Aldi and rather than making my own stock for this one I just used a chicken stock cube. This cut out 2 time-consuming steps and means you can cut to the chase! After writing this piece this morning, I have just reheated the leftovers….still lush!! Enjoy!

Incredible Lamb Biryani
Serves 4-6

400g basmati rice (prepared if wanting to make fuss-free)
250g leftover lamb, shredded
500ml lamb, chicken or veg stock
2 medium red onion, small dice
6 cloves, finely chopped or grated
2 inches ginger, finely grated
1 fresh red chilli, sliced
450g frozen spinach (or x2 bags fresh)
2 heaped tsp curry or garam masala powder
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp mango chutney
Splash of red wine vinegar (I used sherry vinegar!)
A handful of flaked almonds
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven at 200 deg c. Grease a dish (approx 25cmx30cm) with butter and set aside.
2. Put 2 pans on the hob and put a lug of oil in each pan on a medium heat.
3. Put half of the onion, garlic and ginger in one pan, and the rest in the other.
   Cook slowly for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
4. Add the frozen / fresh spinach to one pan with a splash of water. Season with salt and pepper.
5. In the other pan, add the chilli, curry/garam masala powder, flour, mango chutney and a splash of vinegar. Stir, and then add the lamb.
6. Pour in the stock, stir and simmer for 20 mins until the sauce is thick.
   Season, and then sieve the mixture over a pan to catch the delicious gravy. SO the meat and gravy are separate now.
7. Layer half of the rice in the bottom of your baking dish. Followed by all the spinach mixture and the meat mixture from the sieve. Finish by layering the rice on top.
8. Sprinkle with the almonds. Cover with foil, bake for 20 mins, then take off the foil and bake for 20 more mins until hot through.
9. Heat the sauce/gravy. Serve and pour over with a flourish of yoghurt and coriander if you so desire…I don’t.