Chargrilled Lamb Steak with Red Lentil Curry and Mushroom Pilau

I’ve been travelling a lot over the Christmas period and have been very lucky to have some delicious food and drinks. On Christmas eve we got our mixologist skills on and made some cocktails, we had the traditional turkey with all the trimmings at my in-laws on Christmas Day, goose and lots of choice of puddings (our family is famous for it’s pudding making and eating prowess) at my Mum’s on Boxing Day, and the following day we had a trip to the Kings Head in Sevenoaks where we had a HUGE lamb shoulder sharing board that was demolished by myself and a couple of friends.

Needless to say after three days on the trot of delicious dietary debauchery, we needed a lighter meal. This was also partially forced upon us as after being away for a few days there wasn’t much food in the fridge and cupboards!

I pride myself on being able to keep it together in a crisis so I came up with this:

Some would argue that lamb isn’t very light, but as long as it is lean I find red meat often a lot easier to digest and more appetising than say a chicken breast. However chicken breast, white fish or prawns would all make great substitutions depending on preference and macronutrient needs.

You do know your macronutrient needs, right!?

Read here and here for why you should care and how to put it all to work.

The chargrilled lean lamb steak on top makes a great alternative to meat cooked in the curry itself, it retains its moisture and juices a lot better and as it is a decent cut of meat, it didn’t really need to be slow cooked to tenderise it. Plus having it grilled adds a great smokey flavour to the dish, kind of similar to the flavour you’d get from meats cooked in a tandoor oven at an Indian restaurant.

Don’t be put off by the number of ingredients, a lot of it is stuff you’d find in the cupboard and the method is super easy as most of it gets chucked in a blender or food processor.

Method

1. Put all of the ingredients for the curry paste in a food processor or blender and whizz until smooth and a paste like consistency achieved. Fry this off in a non stick pan for 2-3 minutes until it starts to smell amazing!
2. Add the lentils, stir until mixed through with the paste and continue to fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Add your tomatoes, stock and spinach. Stir well, cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the curry starts to look a little too dry and the lentils catch on the bottom of the pan just add a little water (just a few tablespoons or so).
4. Whilst your curry is simmering, cook the rice.
   For perfect, fluffy rice, I find this is the winning formula: take a ratio of one part rice to two parts water, so in our case 3/4 cup rice to 1 and 1/2 cups water. Add to a saucepan and bring to the boil then immediately turn the heat down low. Add the mushrooms on top of the rice and cover as tightly as possible. If you don’t have tight fitting lids then cover with foil and then put the lid on. Leave for 6-8 minutes until all the water has gone. Meanwhile, let’s cook the lamb.
5. Brush the lamb steaks with 1/2 tsp oil and add to a very hot griddle pan. Cook for 1 minute, rotate 90 degrees, cook for a further minute then repeat on the other side. This will cook the lamb rare, add an extra minute each side for medium, another minute for well done. Season the lamb with a pinch of salt and pepper and leave to rest.
6. Once the rice has finished cooking, remove from the pan and stir through 1/2 tsp turmeric, the chopped coriander leaves and a pinch of salt.
7. Slice your lamb steaks against the grain. Serve on top of the rice and curry. Enjoy!

Calories and Macronutrients (assuming 150g lamb steak & 75g rice per serving)

608 calories
49g protein
83g carbohydrate
19g fat