Curried Lamb Burger

Using lamb mince is a much cheaper way to use this expensive meat.This should make four burgers.

500g lamb mince.
Crushed chilli as much as preferred
3 cloves garlic
Thumb sized piece of ginger
2 tbsp Garam Masala
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 onion, grated
Bunch of coriander, grated

Mix all the ingredients together, combining and seasoning well. Squash into thick burgers, put on a plate and chill; ideally over night. To cook, place into a pan, straight from the fridge, with a little oil. Fry till browned and carefully flip. When cooked through, remove to a warm place and rest for 5 minutes. Serve in a roll with shredded lettuce and hot mango chutney.

Speedy poached rump of lamb

This is an adaption of a Gordon Ramsay recipe; I was sceptical when I saw it, but it does work. This is for 2 people.

2 lamb rumps/chumps
Enough chicken stock to cover
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
Tbsp coriander seed
Black peppercorns

Bring the lamb rump to room temperature and add to a pan with the chicken stock, herbs and spices and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature to a light simmer. Then poach the lamb rumps for 8 minutes. Take them out and let them rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Reduce the stock to a decent sauce consistency.

Slice the rumps and serve with the sieved sauce and side orders of your choice; good with boulangere potatoes and green vegetables.

Goan Fish Curry

This is a really tasty curry from the south west of the country. It uses ingredients that are easy to find, you don't need to search out specialist asian shops. It also uses cheap white fish as the base. The final stage can be any seafood, mussels are particularly cheap.

This makes enough sauce for four, you can make it stretch by adding more seafood

Table spoon of black mustard seed
Table spoon of black onion seeds
Ghee or clarified butter
2 medium sized onions, thinly sliced
Can of chopped tomatoes
1 lime
2-3 inch piece of ginger
2-3 red chillies (depending on pain threshold)
6 cloves of garlic
Table spoon of coriander seed and cumin seed, dry fried and ground
Can of coconut milk
200g fillet of white fish (coley, whiting or pollock are good cheap alternatives)
Seafood (prawns, tiger prawns or mussels are good) 100g per person

In a decent sized pan, dry fry the mustard and onion seeds. When they start popping, add the ghee (be generous, a couple of table spoons) and the onion, season and fry on a low-medium heat, allow the onion to sweat and release the natural sugar. When they have softened well, throw in the other spices and after a couple more minutes, add the tomatoes and allow it to simmer for ten minutes.

During this time, smash up, or even better, puree the chilli, ginger and garlic. Add this to the tomatoes. Cook for a further two minutes, then add the coconut milk and the juice of the lime. Cook this for five more minutes. Chop the fish into decent sized cubes and cook in the sauce on a low simmer for ten minutes.

When the sauce has reduced to a thick liquid state, it is now ready. You can cool and refrigerate it at this point and leave it for a couple of days. When you come to use it again slowly bring it back to a low simmer. It can also be finished now, simply add the seafood at this stage. Try and find raw seafood, it is generally superior. Shell prawns if using, but mussels can be left whole, just make sure they've been cleaned and properly checked. Cook as you normally would and serve when the prawns are pink/mussels are open. If using cooked seafood, then simply warm it in the sauce.

This can be served with rice or noodles. I personally prefer it simply with a couple of chapattis, this makes it a much lighter dish.