This lamb and lentil curry is a twist on the traditional Indian Keema, and is quick to make.
Do you go in for the whole 'Meatless Mondays' thing? We've eaten a lot of vegetarian food since we were students, but I know it's not easy for everyone. If you'd like to cut down on meat without giving up that meaty flavour, try cooking with less meat and padding it out – like my recent Slow Cooker Sausage and Bean Chilli. It's a very old technique, as our impoverished ancestors stretched a meagre amount of meat to feed a large family – pies, for example, are a good British example of this, and Yorkshire puddings were designed to eat before the main meal so you were too full for a lot of meat.
I know mince (ground meat) is pretty cheap, but if you're really counting the pennies or have a lot of people to feed, or just want to eat less meat, it's really easy to pad out. This time I've made a variation of Keema, an Indian mince meat (ground meat) curry that I first made for my Keema Pie. It's really filling, and tastes great with a vegetable side dish – we've had it with a mushroom curry, and a creamy cauliflower curry.
I don't often talk about my buying preferences on the blog – my readers are perfectly capable of making their own minds up – but I prefer to buy less meat, but spend the extra pennies to make sure it's british, or ideally, free range. There are also good environmental reasons to eat less meat – I explored that here. Do remember that chilli is a very individual thing – check out my guide to chilli here. This minced lamb and lentil curry would, of course taste just as good using a blend of spices.
So go on, give it a try! A scrummy curry, with less meat.
Your lamb and lentil curry is ready to eat!
This easy minced (ground) lamb and lentil curry is filling and satisfying – perfect if you want to eat less meat, but not give it up entirely. Makes four generous portions.
Dice and fry the onion in a large frying pan or skillet.
Stir the mixture round 'til the lamb is well coated with spice and cook until it's browned on all sides.
Add the canned tomatoes, peas and lentils, and 800ml (3.38 US cups) of freshly boiled water or vegetable stock.
I love the idea of using less lamb and more lentils. Lamb is so expensive so using less makes sense and looks delicious too!
It is expensive indeed! But so tasty!
This sounds delicious. Love the fact that it can be made so quickly!
I'm all about the quick meals!
My husband made this for me one day and I absolutely loved it! Yummmy This is really very tasty! Perfectly! Thanks for the recipe!
what a great idea to use less meat to still give that meaty flavor, but without so much saturated fat and $$$. Plus, I'm all about curry and the flavors in this sound incredible!
Oh yes, I'm a big Indian food lover!
I love lentils. They are terrific "filler" to eat less meat. Great recipe!