Easy Lamb Korma from Pantry Staples

I looove Indian food and before kids and when I was single, I would thing nothing of buying all the Indian whole spices and grinding them into a beautiful Indian curry paste. Now that I’m married and with kids and I’m still the only one who loves spicy food, they are a thing of the past except when I made this easy Lamb Korma from pantry staples.

 

Lamb is so expensive here at the moment so I picked up this diced lamb marked down at the supermarket. It’s not something I would normally buy. So I wanted to make something really tasty with it and I immediately thought of Indian. You can achieve the same flavour as a Korma with basic pantry staples.

How to Make

I cooked this in the slow cooker but fried the onions first in a little olive oil.

Coat the Meat with the Spices

I then mixed all the spices together in a plastic bag, added the meat.

 

Make sure each piece of meat was well covered with the spice mix.

 

Add the coated meat to the frying onions.

 

Add some chopped (or tinned) tomatoes.

Slow Cooker, Stove Top or Cooked in the Oven

 

Add the meat and onion mixture to the slow cooker with the remaining ingredients. You can cook this on the stove top, in a saucepan or in the oven. I love how the slow cooker makes the meat melt in your mouth.

 

Mix it all together and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

Serve with Pappadums

 

For a bit of ‘authenticity’ I like to serve my curries with boiled rice and pappadums. Pappadums are cheap and you can get about 100 in a packet for a couple of dollars.

They keep for a really long time in the pantry and are quick and easy to prepare by shallow frying in a bit of oil.

And that’s it! An easy slow cooked Indian lamb dish that the whole family will love without the usual heat from Indian food. It pays to keep a few basic spices in the pantry for moments like this. The spices will be used for many other dishes.

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Easy Lamb Korma from Pantry Staples

An easy to prepare Indian Lamb Korma made from pantry staples that can be made in the slow cooker, on the stove top or in the oven.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 15 minutes

Servings 4

Author Anne

Ingredients

• lamb diced
• medium onion cut into wedges
• olive oil for frying
• 3-4 to matoes roughly chopped (or 1 can tinned tomatoes)
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 tbs tomato paste

Spice mix

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbs sugar

Instructions

1. Combine the spices in a ziplock bag.
2. Add the diced lamb and coat well with the spices.
3. Fry the chopped onion in a little olive oil.
4. Add the meat and fry until just browned.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes.
6. Add the meat/onion mixture to the slow cooker (or continue cooking in a saucepan or add to an ovenproof dish if cooking in the oven).
7. Add tomato paste and beef stock.
8. Cook on high for 4 hours or low on 8 hours.
9. Serve with rice and pappadums.

Recipe Notes

Dried cumin and coriander are the predominant spices in so many cuisines around the world.
Garam masala is found in the spice section at the supermarket and can be used in other curries.

Moroccan Lamb & Vegetable Traybake

Do you ever feel like you’ve won the lottery these days when you see meat marked down at the supermarket, in particular lamb? I can remember when I was young, lamb was on our dinner plates every other night. It was so cheap. I happened to be at the supermarket at the right time this particular day when I scored two trays of marked down lamb cutlets, one of the more expensive cuts. Winning! I was spoilt for choice on how to use them but I had all the vegetables to do an all in bake of some sort when I thought of this Moroccan Lamb & Vegetable Traybake.

Don’t you just love ‘throw it all in’ type dinners? The ones where you layer the bottom of your dish with the vegetables, place the meat on top and them throw it in the slow cooker or oven? I had plenty of sweet potato, onions and tomatoes and I love Moroccan seasoning because it’s not too spicy and the kids like it too. 

I started by marinating the lamb cutlets in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and seasoning then about an hour before dinner time, threw the cutlets on top of the chopped vegetables. You could do this early in the morning, ready to throw in the oven later or this would be perfect for the slow cooker. Although, I wanted to break down that fat on the cutlets by crisping it up in the oven. I love the cheaper lamb chops for the slow cooker like my Greek Lamb dish I cook often.

Just before you pull the lamb traybake out of the oven, boil some greens (or in my case a frozen vegetable medley mix) and because I was serving my lamb with an Orange Couscous, I threw in a bit of orange peel while the vegetables were boiling. I added a knob of butter to the vegetables just before serving too.

This was such a tasty meal and devoured by everyone and I mean everyone, including the ‘fussy one’. She ummed and ahhed about the lamb but loved the couscous. Believe me when I say I’ll be preparing more dishes with couscous from now on. I’ll do anything to get her to eat what I put in front of her. You could try this with chicken, pork or veal cutlets if you like too.

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Moroccan Lamb & Vegetable Traybake

An all-in-one delicious lamb cutlet and vegetable traybake flavoured with Moroccan spices and baked in the oven in under an hour.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 6

Author Anne

Ingredients

• lamb cutlets or chops
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 2 tbs Moroccan seasoning
• grated orange rind
• vegetables sweet potato, potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes

Instructions

1. Mix together the olive oil, grated orange rind, Moroccan seasoning, salt and pepper and marinate the lamb cutlets in the mixture for at least 1 hour beforehand.
2. Prepare the vegetables and lay flat in a suitable baking tray.
3. Place the marinated cutlets on top of the vegetables and bake in a 170 deg C (375 deg F) oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the meal and vegetables are cooked.
4. Serve with couscous and other vegetables of your choice.

Recipe Notes

The lamb could be substituted with chicken thighs, pork or veal cutlets.

 

 

Moroccan Lamb & Roast Pumpkin Salad with Date Vinaigrette

Have I told you how much I love trying new ingredients? They aren’t always in the budget but running my kitchen like a restaurant, where I top up my basic pantry/fridge/freezer staples each fortnight, enables me to sometimes have a bit leftover in the grocery budget to buy unusual ingredients which can turn an ordinary meal into something extraordinary. Dressing a pretty standard Moroccan Lamb & Roast Pumpkin salad with a date vinaigrette sent an every day kind of meal to something extraordinary.

On this occasion, I was pretty lucky to receive two bottles of Exotic Date Vinegars, one sweet and one authentic. I didn’t even know they were ‘a thing’. If I would’ve known about them, I probably would’ve been using them all summer to dress my salads. They gave a beautiful taste to the salad ingredients which complimented the Moroccan flavours of the lamb really well in this dish.

Date vinegar has been used for both food and medicine (*) for many years in the Middle East. Some of the health benefits include:

• assists in weight loss
• prevents cancer
• remedy for a weak heart
• eases childbirth
• menstrual disorders
• strengthens immune system
• high in iron and potassium
• improves fatigue
• eases a persistent cough and helps to remove phlegm
• relieves headaches
• heals burns and skin inflammations

Exotic Date Vinegars are made from 100% dates, nothing else. There is no artificial colouring or preservatives and no chemical filtration. Who would’ve thought dates could be turned into something so delicious and healthy at the same time.

Date nights with my husband are becoming more of an ‘at home’ thing with me spending a little extra on a nice cut of meat instead of paying some ridiculous amount of money for something similar out at a restaurant. Even though these lamb steaks were $26 per kilo, these 5 steaks only cost $9, which was the only cost. I had all the other ingredients. Still a pretty cheap meal, considering. I marinated the leg steaks in a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and a Moroccan spice blend. I buy the blend already made as I use it a lot in cooking but you can make it yourself with basic pantry spices. For a cheaper option, you could use either chicken thighs or breasts or go vegetarian by using chickpeas.

While that’s marinating, cube some pumpkin and toss in extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until tender. I just happened to be baking that day so these were popped in between trays of cookies and cake. After roasting, cool until required.

The easiest way I’ve found to mix any kind of vinaigrette is to put all ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake like crazy. It emulsifies pretty well. Use the date vinegar in place of your standard wine or balsamic vinegar that you would use in a normal vinaigrette.

Grill your lamb steaks until just cooked. You want it to be a little pink inside with a lovely char on the outside.

To dress your salad greens, I pour a little of the salad dressing on the platter I’m serving the salad on then toss the greens in the dressing.

For this recipe, I had rocket (arugula) and added a few sprigs of coriander (cilantro) and mint.

Place the roasted pumpkin, sliced red onion, chunks of tomato and the sliced lamb on top of the salad greens. Finish with more coriander. Pour more dressing over the top and you’re done. This was such a quick and easy meal to put together. You can prepare a whole heap of roasted pumpkin in advance and freeze and use until required. It’s a great addition to any salad. My husband and I ate from this one platter. It was romantic (and saved on washing up).

I hope you give it a try. I can’t wait to try the sweet date vinegar. Will let you know what I come up with.

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Moroccan Lamb & Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Date Vinaigrette

All the flavours of Morocco with this easy lamb and roasted pumpkin salad flavoured with a simple vinaigrette made with date vinegar.

Author Anne

Ingredients

• lamb steaks or chicken thigh or breast fillets
• pumpkin cubed and roasted with extra virgin olive oil and salt & pepper
• salad greens rocket, lettuce etc
• red onion sliced thinly
• tomatoes cut into chunks
• fresh herbs coriander, mint, parsley etc
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup Exotic Date Vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• pinch of sugar
• Moroccan spice blend
• Extra olive oil for marinade

Instructions

1. Marinate lamb (or chicken) steaks in Moroccan spice blend, salt & pepper and olive oil.
2. Leave in fridge for at least 2 hours.
3. Add 3/4 cup olive oil, date vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar to a jar and shake.
4. Toss salad greens and fresh herbs in a little vinaigrette.
5. Pan fry lamb steaks on high until just cooked through and charred on the outside.
6. Allow to sit before slicing.
7. Assemble salad by placing salad greens on a platter, adding roasted pumpkin, red onion, tomatoes and top with sliced lamb.
8. Top with additional coriander to serve.

Recipe Notes

Can be served on a bed of cous cous.
Can use chickpeas instead of meat for a vegetarian version.

Disclaimer: I was gifted two bottles of Exotic Date Vinegar. All photos, thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not paid for this post.

(*) The health benefits of Dates Vinegar may not be fully documented and the information provided, should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice and treatment. Please consult your health care provider if you have any history of medical problem or before taking any alternative remedy.

Lamb & Potato Frittata

There’s nothing like leftovers from last night’s roast dinner to help with your menu planning. In fact, in our grandmother’s days the Sunday roast was the base for most of the next week’s meals. Without refrigeration like we know, the meat had to be used up as quickly as possible.

Meat is pretty expensive here in Australia so when it comes on special, I tend to grab a roast and get a couple of meals out of it. I don’t like to pay any more than $10 per kilo for proteins. This Slow Cooked Greek Lamb was going to get every inch of it’s life used up and with eggs and potatoes in my pantry I came up with this Lamb & Potato Frittata.

Both of my children love to help in the kitchen but my son loves cracking eggs so he was on egg duty.

I peeled and thinly sliced the potatoes and par cooked them in the microwave for a couple minutes just to speed up the cooking process. Once cooked, mix with sliced onions, the leftover lamb and beaten egg mixture.

Pour into a casserole dish, top with grated cheese and bake until set and golden on top. It couldn’t be any easier. It’s great served cold too.

Served with a side salad, you’ve got a complete meal with leftovers, yet again (if you’re lucky) for lunch the next day. Any kind of roast meal (or cold cuts for that matter) would work well in this dish. A great standby for a quick mid week meal. I might add, this frittata isn’t cooked in the traditional way but it tastes just as good.

Lamb & Potato Frittata

• leftover roast lamb, roughly chopped in bite sized pieces
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2-3 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 brown onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt or cream
• salt & pepper
• grated cheese

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C.
2. Par cook thinly sliced potatoes in boiling water or microwave until just tender.
3. Combine beaten eggs, yoghurt/cream, potatoes, onions and lamb with salt and pepper.
4. Pour into a greased casserole dish.
5. Top with grated cheese.
6. Bake until egg has set and cheese on top is golden brown. (Approximately 20 minutes.)
7. Serve with vegetables or a side salad.
8. Suitable to eat cold.

For more recipes to using up leftover roast meat, try these:

Leftover Roast Chicken Soup

Greek Lamb & Potato Free Form Pie

Greek Lamb Wraps

Individual Omelettes

Slow Cooker Greek Lamb with Garlic Sauce (Gravy)

In an attempt to get more (or at least some) order in my life and balance family, study, blogging, a wedding and a new relationship, I’ve been using my slow cooker for just about every meal these last few months. In fact, most of my meal planning incorporates the slow cooker. As well as being the perfect appliance for heart warming stews in winter, it is perfect for the warmer months as it won’t heat up the kitchen but it will cook a joint of meat, such as this lamb, just perfectly. This is how I cook lamb all the time. I’ve shared this Free Form Lamb & Potato Pie before plus using the lamb in wraps, but I thought I’d share the recipe on it’s own and how you can make the perfect sauce made with the juices.

It really couldn’t be any easier than throwing as many cloves of garlic you like in the bottom of the slow cooker (skin and all), place the lamb on top, sprinkle on oregano, salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil. That’s it! Just leave it to do it’s thing.

Once cooked, retrieve the garlic cloves and squeeze out the garlic. It’ll be soft like butter.

This delicious squishy mush will be used in the sauce for the meat. Put the meat aside to rest while you make the gravy.

Pour the juices into a saucepan and carefully skim off any excess fat. Make a paste from 2 tablespoons of flour with water until a smooth paste forms. Add this to the juices from the lamb and over a medium heat, stir until thickened. Adjust seasonings if required. Return the roasted garlic to the gravy.

The lamb may not be as crispy as if you cooked it in the oven but the meat will fall off the bone and be so full of flavour.

Serve with vegetables of your choice and besides the above recipes for using up the leftover lamb, stay tuned for another tasty recipe to come. Make use of your slow cooker as much as you can. Your evening meal is prepped in the morning, cooking all day which makes your job a lot easier come dinner time.

Slow Cooker Greek Lamb with Garlic Sauce

• leg or shoulder of lamb
• 5-6 cloves of garlic (no need to peel)
• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Garlic Sauce (Gravy)

• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• enough water to form a smooth paste
• juices and garlic from the lamb

1. In a slow cooker, place 5 to 6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled.
2. Place the joint of lamb on top of the garlic and sprinkle with the oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil.
3. Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
4. Once cooked, set the lamb aside and retrieve the garlic cloves, squeezing the soft garlic from the garlic peel.
5. Pour the juices from the lamb into a saucepan and carefully skim off any excess oil.
6. Make a smooth paste from the flour and water and add to the sauce pan with the soft garlic. (If you don’t have enough juices from the lamb add 1 cup of stock.)
7. Stir over a medium heat until sauce is thickened.
8. Serve with vegetables of your choice.

Greek lamb & haloumi skewers

I’ve been on the Greek ‘bandwagon’ a lot lately, really loving the food and flavours of Greek cuisine. My fridge has had feta and haloumi cheese in it for the last couple of weeks. With the warmer weather upon us, I’ve been eating a lot more salads and you can’t go wrong with a quick meal of Greek Lamb & Haloumi Skewers.

Even at around double what I would normally pay for protein (ie beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish, ham, bacon etc), these lamb steaks were very lean and there was no wastage. I managed to get two night’s meals out of 4 small lamb leg steaks for my son and I. I marinated the meat for about 15 mins in garlic, olive oil, dried oregano and lemon juice. You wouldn’t want to leave it any longer as the lemon juice would start ‘cooking’ the lamb.

I threaded the diced lamb alternately with cubes of haloumi cheese and by the time I chopped a few salad ingredients, dinner was done. It was super delicious.

I had a couple tortillas (eeek, I know Mexican) but bread is bread and these worked perfectly with the lamb skewers and salad. The salad was a simple tomato, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives, balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

Greek Lamb & Haloumi Skewers

• diced lean lamb
• haloumi cheese, cut into similar sized cubes as the lamb
• lemon juice
• extra virgin olive oil
• dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon crushed garlic

1. Mix lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic in a bowl and toss through diced lamb.
2. Allow to marinate for 15 minutes.
3. Thread onto skewers alternately with haloumi cheese.
4. Grill under a stove top grill or sandwich press.
5. Serve on top of flat bread with a side salad or remove from skewer and put in wrap with salad.

Lamb, roast capsicum & feta meatloaf

In the last week or so I have become addicted to feta cheese. I’ve always loved it but for some reason I can’t get enough of it. I guess our taste buds change over time and maybe my desire for the salty, smooth, creamy taste of feta has grown stronger. I had some lamb mince in the freezer and I thought about meatballs, moussaka and all of the other usual suspects but how could I incorporate my much loved feta? Time was running out for dinner so I threw it all together in a meatloaf.

There really wasn’t anything to it. Just add the ground lamb, chopped feta, onion, herbs, roast capsicum (bell peppers) etc. I was going to add olives but I didn’t think my son would eat them.

Lamb is has a very high fat content so it will shrink quite a bit which is good because you just drain the fat off after it’s cooked.

I just wish I would’ve had a bit of Greek yoghurt to blob on top but it was nice as is, just the same.

Lamb, Roast Capsicum & Feta Meatloaf

• 300gm lamb mince (or beef, pork, veal)
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• roast capsicum (bell peppers), chopped finely
• 125gm feta, crumbled
• 1 egg

1. Mix ingredients together.
2. Press firmly into a greased baking dish and bake in a 170 deg C preheated oven for approximately 20 mins.
3. Slice and serve warm with a Greek salad and a dollop of Greek yoghurt or serve cold in a salad or on a sandwich.