Ground Lamb with Peas and Jasmine Rice

KEEMA BIRYANI – BIRYANI WITH GROUND LAMB AND PEAS

Biryani is an elaborately made and fragrantly flavorful rice dish that has its origins in Persia and then traveled through Afghanistan to India. Indian adapted it to its taste and regions and each region in India has its version of the biryani. The flavorful meat mixture is layered with amazing herbs and spices and combined with rice and peas. I topped it with crumbled Feta which is not traditional.

The spice paste that I made is – cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, black pepper, ginger, garlic, mint and cilantro and a dash of allspice. I placed them all into my mortar and pestle and ground them to slowly let the spices release their aromas. I didn’t use all fresh as I didn’t have them on hand. Some were dried and some were fresh like the cilantro and garlic.

The rice is cooked separately and just added to the cooked meat at the end and given a quick mix. Garnish with cilantro, Crumbled Feta and serve with a side salad and your ready to go

For the rice

• 1 1/2 cup jasmine rice

• 3 cups chicken stock, to cook the basmati rice

• salt, to taste

For the spice paste

• 3 cloves ( whole)

• 1 inch piece of cinnamon/ or 1 teaspoon

• 1 teaspoon allspice

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 5 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp chopped ginger

• a handful of Cilantro leaves lightly chopped

• 1/2 cup mint leaves lightly chopped

For the meat mixture

• 1 Tbsp Avocado Oil

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 red onion, chopped

• 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced in half

• 1 tsp turmeric powder

• 1 tsp cayenne powder

• about 1 lb organic ground lamb

• 1 cup frozen green peas

• salt, to taste

• 1/4 cup minced cilantro, to garnish

• Crumbled Feta, to garnish

Method:

Cook the rice in the 3 cups of stock with salt added till most of the water evaporates. turn off the heat, cover the rice, set aside.

Grind all the ingredients in the spice paste list to a coarse paste using a mortar and pestle.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the bay leaves. Toss in the red onions and sauté till translucent. Add the spice paste and the turmeric and cayenne. Let it cook over medium high heat till all the spices combine with the onions.

Add the ground lamb and salt and let it cook well. Toss in the tomatoes and green peas and let it all combine and get warm.

Add the cooked rice and gently toss around to just about mix together. Do not over mix or the rice will get mushy. Top with minced cilantro, and Feta.

I also served it with a little salad on the side.