Mini Lamb Keema Pasties

We've been eating quite a bit of Indian food recently, but one dish I've never tried making is Keema. To be honest, the only time I've heard of Keema is in a Keema Naan, as it's the husband's favourite naan bread. Keema is a dish made from minced lamb, which is cooked using different spices, with peas added towards the end of cooking. I've teamed up with Simply Beef & Lamb to show you how easy it is to cook, and share my recipe for serving it to my family.

I decided to cook up a double batch of Keema and use some of it for these tasty mini pasties, and put the rest in the freezer ready for a quick pasta dinner another day. My recipe for the Keema has been adapted slightly from the original recipe that can be found here. I chose not to add any fresh chillies as I felt it was spicy enough for the family as it was.

You could use puff or shortcrust pastry for these, but I opted to use my favourite cream cheese pastry, as it's not only really easy to make and roll out, but it's also really light and flaky. The pasties can be eaten as part of a main meal, or as a lunch or snack - or even taken in the school lunchbox.

Mini Lamb Keema Pasties - makes approx 15

Lamb Keema

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled & chopped

1 tsp garlic & ginger paste

2 tsp ground cumin

3 tbsp garam masala

450g lean lamb mince

4 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp tomato puree

100g frozen peas

Pastry

250g plain flour

150g butter

150g full fat cream cheese

1 egg, beaten

• Heat the olive oil in a large pan
• Add the onion and fry for approx 10 minutes
• Add the garlic & ginger, cumin & garam masala and cook for 1-2 minutes
• Add the lamb and fry until mostly browned
• Add the tomatoes and puree
• Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and cook uncovered for approx 20-25 minutes, adding the peas for the last 5 minutes of cooking 
• In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, butter and cream cheese
• Mix on a low speed until it becomes like breadcrumbs and then starts to come together
• Squeeze together into a ball and wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for around 30 minutes
• Roll the pastry out to approx 5mm thick and cut circles with a large round cutter or cut around a glass
• Brush beaten egg onto one half of the pastry disc and then a spoonful of Keema onto the other
• Fold one half of the pastry over the filling and press the edges together, and then crimp
• Lay the pasties onto a lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg
• Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy

Serve with a light salad of sliced cucumber, sliced red onion and a dash of tamarind paste, along with a spoonful of yogurt

I was provided with ingredients to make the Keema

Green Lentil Biryani

Since going on an Indian cookery course a couple of weeks ago, my 12 year old says that I have become a little addicted to making curries, and I'm inclined to agree with her. I'm sure it's just a phase and it will pass in time, but for now we're eating curry at least twice a week and we're enjoying it!

This weekend I cooked a Korma when family came over, and as usual I cooked far too much rice. I was going to make fried rice with it, but a last minute visit from the parents called for eeking it out a little further, and I cooked up some green lentils and made it into a biryani.

Green Lentil Biryani - serves 6/7

250g dried green lentils

vegetable oil

2 extra large onions, sliced

1 tsp garlic & ginger paste

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chilli powder (optional)

1 tsp turmeric

salt

600-700g cooked Basmati rice

flaked almonds, toasted

• Pour boiling water over the lentils and soak them for a couple of hours, then drain & rinse
• Add oil to a large pan and fry the onions until lightly browned
• Add the paste and spices and fry for 2-3 minutes, adding a little water to prevent it sticking
• Add the lentils and 200ml water and mix well
• Place a lid on, bring to the boil and simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed
• Stir in a pinch of salt and the rice and mix well and heat through
• Serve with toasted almonds scattered on top 

Chicken Korma Pie

If you ever fancied yourself as a bit of a piemaker then get your thinking cap on as Higgidy are on the search for their next pie, in their Higgidy Recipe Hunt.

I was sent a few goodies to help me create my own recipe to enter into the hunt, including my very own personalised rolling pin!

Since attending an Indian cookery course last week I've been a little addicted to making chicken korma, so I decided to make a chicken korma pie.

You can find the chicken korma recipe here (I used chicken breast) and my recipe for cream cheese pastry here, which I added a little turmeric to, to give it a great yellow colour. Instead of a pastry base I added approx 200g of cooked basmati rice to help soak up some of the excess sauce. Despite the shrunken pastry the pie was so good, and all the family loved it, and it tasted so much better than it looks. The pastry was lovely and light and crispy, and the offcuts were baked with a sprinkling of cumin seeds and salt and eaten with cheese & chutney!

It was a complete meal in a pie, however we enjoyed it accompanied by Naan breads, poppadoms and chutney.

Chickpea Biryani

It was 7pm, I was hungry and had forgotten to take the stuffed chicken out of the freezer. It had been a long day as Jack had been off pre-school with a suspected stomach bug, I'd missed parents evening as I needed to stay at home with Jack rather than take him to a friends & risk spreading the bug, he then threw up on the trampoline, kids were arguing & I'd been in the kitchen for the last 2 hours providing a conveyor belt of food!


I looked in the fridge for inspiration - mushrooms way past their best before that needed using up so that ruled out jacket spuds & beans. I then recalled the Biryani that I'd seen on Reluctant Housedad's Recipe Shed earlier in the day - but I had no chicken, except the frozen stuffed chicken breasts - in the house. Ah well, I could add a can of chickpeas & tell the husband that the chicken was chopped up very small & hope that he didn't notice.


Don't Tell The Husband There's No Meat in It Chickpea Biryani


1 onion
tbsp olive oil
1/2 pack Schwartz  bombay potatoes mix
can of chickpeas

couple of big handfuls of basmati rice

handful of sultanas
2 tbsp coconut
mushrooms
boiling water

If I'd had a banana I would've added that too


Sorry I can't be more specific with the weights & measurements but I don't usually measure unless I'm baking or following a specific recipe.

• Fry the onion in the olive oil for a couple of minutes.
• Add the spice mix and chickpeas and stir
• Add the basmati rice and some boiling water and stir, put the lid on keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't dry out.
• Stir in the sultanas, coconut and mushrooms
• Add more water, around a cupful at a time, until the rice is tender and water has been absorbed.

Serve with a spoonful of natural yoghurt and some of The Curry Guy's Lime pickle - or if, like me, you haven't got any lime pickle then any pickle or chutney would do (except Branston's, horrible stuff) - like my prizewinning Marrow chutney for example.