spices

We’re still in comfort food season in the UK. There may be sunshine during the day but the nights are cooler and a hearty dish is just the ticket. Meat doesn’t happen every day at The Birdhouse so when it does it is given careful consideration from beginning to end. An unexpected sunny evening has led us to cook outside. Everything is better outside, isnt it?

Meatballs are a family fave. Any style is good but, household heritage dictates that it is curried meatballs today. Lamb takes spices well and has the fat to avoid drying out too much. Let’s go make meatballs!

You should be prepared for the vast quantity of ingredients we have used here. This is Pakistani Asian cooking. Every Pakistani household would have all of these ingredients to hand. If you don’t then perhaps buy a jar of sauce. Unapologetic.

The dish is our own Birdhouse recipe. Not necessarily unique but no recipe books were opened or packet mixes used. All ingredients were carefully chosen, as basic as possible and blended by us for our own tastes. No hacks here. All quantities can be adjusted to suit your good selves. We are just a guide.

We have a wonderful local butcher: Kevin. He will supply all sorts of meaty goodies at the drop of a hat. He has minced a kilo of lamb shoulder for us. This will easily feed our family of six and maybe we’ll use any leftover sauce to turn into a ‘slightly’ more veggie meal next week (add a can of chickpeas, fry off some paneer, slice in tofu, a bag of spinach…your choice).

Here we go:

For the meatballs:

1kg lamb mince
2 green finger chillies, finely chopped (check they’re good and hot)
10 cardamom pods (yes, really ten)
3 allspice berries
3 cloves
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
a small handful of coriander seeds
a tablespoon of black peppercorns
half a cup of fried onions. These can be fried by hand or, bought pre-fried.
teaspoon of salt

The meatballs are flavoured with highly aromatic spices. This is not a dish for the fainthearted.

Grind up the spices with the salt, add to the mince, along with the garlic, green chilli and the fried onions. Smoosh the mince together and shape into walnut sized meatballs. Fry until golden brown.

It’s always worth doing a little taste test by frying a mini patty. This will give you a chance to taste the seasoning and heat levels before frying the whole batch of meatballs. And gives you an excuse to eat the meatballs before anyone else!

For the Sauce:

Whole spices: 3 bay leaves, 2 black cardamom pods, 4 green cardamom pods, 1 cinnamon stick
3 onions, sliced
2 red chillies, mild. Our’s come from Watt’s Farm, via Ocado. Seeds and all.
Tomato paste
Ginger root
Fresh turmeric
1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds
2 tablespoons corainder seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
3 allspice berries
3 tablespoons garam masala
Chilli flakes/powder to taste. We used our Birdhouse blend from 2019.
2 cans coconut milk
4 hardboiled eggs (honestly, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it)

Grind the seed spices: fenugreek, coranider, appsice and black pepper. Add the garam masala. Blend the ginger, garlic, tomato paste and turmeric with water until it is a smooth paste. Fry the onions in a little sunflower oil. Add the whole spices and then the spice grind. Fry off until the aromatic oils are released. Add the ginger/garlic/tomato blend. Add now the coconut milk. Cook until it had reduced to about half.

Or just plop everything in a pan until it is a brown, thick amalgam.

Still with us? Here we go for another round. We promise you’ll have a scrummy dinner at the end of this epic journey.

For the final dish:

Add the meatballs to the sauce
Add hard boiled eggs if you like that sort of thing.
Bubble away until it is all thick and unctuous. We’re cooking on a kadai but this stage could happen on the hob or in an oven.

And now the dish is ready. Meatballs are served with homemade bread, chopped salad and plain yoghurt.

Is it worth it? Totally. Cooking is a tonic for the soul. Feed yourselves and your family well and all is well.

Friendly warning…

This is not a recipe for the time poor…or those who like one-pot dishes…or folk who enjoy a jar of sauce as the backbone of their curries…or someone who is really hungry right now. No, not for them. Fair warning has been issued.

Lamb Pulao is a slow, luxurious layering of phenomenal flavours, built over a whole day, maybe even a number of days. Multi-staged, multiple pots & pans and many, many ingredients. A cooking experience to be cherished and best cooked for times of togetherness.

Don’t back away if you don’t have time today though. Bookmark the recipe and save it for a rainy day, for there is bound to be one soon. This sumptuous, aromatic dish deserves time and attention. It can wait until you’re ready.

First things first…the rice.

This may be a recipe that contains chilli but it is the quality and preparation of the rice that will make or break the dish. Basmati is the grain of choice here. It has super perfumed, long grains with snow white qualities. The Perfect Prince of Persia.

The rice should be treated with the care and consideration it deserves. Give it a thorough washing by gently whooshing it around in a large bowl. Replace the water a good few times. Try not to bash the grains too much. The aim is too remove the dusty starch from the outside of the grains but not break the grains and release more starch. After the initial rinsing, soak the rice overnight in plenty of cold water. The next day change the water a couple more times. The rice is more fragile after an overnight soak so again, try not to break it. Aim for clear water. Leave it sitting in a bowl of water until ready to cook the pulao.

Time for the stock. Apart from the lamb, there is a vast store cupboard list of ingredients. Perhaps grab a cuppa before reading on:

1 kilo of lamb bones, preferably with some meat left on them. Or pieces of lamb specifically for making pulao. Neck, cutlets and the like. The goal is to have the flavour from the bones but with pieces of meat within the finished rice. Ask your butcher, make him your friend and you will most certainly receive all sorts of goodies.
3 brown onions
3 bay leaves
2 inches of ginger
1 head of garlic
1 cinnamon stick/cassia bark
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tsp red chilli powder/flakes
6 cloves
6 black cardamon
3 Allspice berries
small handful of cumin seeds
10 green cardamon
handful of coriander seeds
salt to taste
3 whole green finger chillies
1 large tomato
fresh turmeric, only about a 1cm length.
3 tbsp sunflower oil

Here we go, the method…

Find your biggest pan and open the windows. Roll up your sleeves and get this show on the road.
Heat the oil in the pan. Brown the lamb. Smokey!
Once all the bones are sealed it’s time for the veggies, just halve them and add to the pot. You could deseed the chillies if you want. Your choice. Give everything a quick hot fry.
Chuck in the spices. There may be a lot but no need for special treatment, in they go like George’s Marvellous Medicine.
Then pour in the water. Stand back unless you want a spicy (and meaty) facial.
Bring the pan up to boil and then simmer for a good long while. Probably a couple of hours. The meaty bits of the lamb should be tender.
At this stage you should test the stock for salt. It should be a little over salty as it will be used with bland rice.
Strain the stock. The veggies and spices have done their work but when things have cooled down pick the meat from the lamb bones and keep it in a separate bowl.
The stock can be stored for a couple of days in the fridge or divided into meal sized quantities and frozen. Cook a great big vat of the stuff and your midweek meals will be transformed.

Your work for today is done.

And now, the pulao ingredients,

Don’t be scared but here comes another hefty shopping basket of ingredients. This makes enough rice for 6 hungry adults, maybe with a little leftover for the next day.

3 cups of pre-soaked, washed basmati rice
6 cups lamb pulao stock (double the number of cups of rice you will be using)
3 brown onions, sliced
ghee
1 cinnamon stick
pinch of saffron
small handful coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
lamb pieces from the stock
3 black cardamon
5 green cardamon
1 bay leaf

Fry the onions in the ghee until as dark as you would like. A little caramelisation is no bad thing. This adds a good depth of flavour and that strangely desirable dirty look to the rice.
Pop the whole spices into the pan and allow them to release their aroma. Careful not to burn anything at this stage.
And now the lamb pieces. Remember them? Ooooh, they’re going to be soooo good in the finished dish. Gently though, don’t break them up.
Add the rice, fry until slightly translucent. Keep it moving to allow all grains to be coated in the ghee and spice mix.
Stock next. Double the quantity of rice. So, 1 cup of rice = 2 cups of water. Just remember to use the same cup to measure.
Bring to the boil. Put on a tight lid. You can add a layer of tinfoil before the lid if need be. The pulao can be cooked in the oven or simmered on the lowest heat on the hob. There is less chance of the bottom layer of rice sticking if you bake it in the oven.
Cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to stand for a further ten minutes. The grains should be light and fluffy and separate.
Serve with your favourite dahl and maybe something yoghurty. A salad on the side would be perfect. Perhaps some fermented chilli sauce or fermented lime pickle. Ooooh, dinner is served.

Authentic, wholesome, comforting, aromatic and overwhelmingly delicious. Not much else to say except, you’re welcome.

Birdhouse Chillies

Adventures in growing and cooking chillies

Aromatic Lamb Meatballs