I’ve been making this dish since my uni days, I think because I felt a bit fancier than my usual student meals. And also, I had 3 herbs; turmeric, cinnamon and cumin. This used all of those so it was a winner, however, I’ve since added a teaspoon of ground cloves as it was a bit of a happy accident!
Back in the day, I think I used Quorn mince for this so I’m sure it would be fine to use today.
I love how fresh the dish looks and I still love the little pomegranate jewells strewn all around along with the cooling mint yoghurt dip and sharp lime. It’s a favourite in our house and I hope it becomes one in yours!
Ingredients
Serves 2 but there will be lots of mince, so I froze half to half another time.
- 120 g Dried Cous Cous
- 1 veg kallo stock cube
- Tin of chickpeas, drained
- 1 white onion chopped
- 500g lamb mince
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp desiccated coconut
- natural yoghurt
- mint sauce
- mixed Mediterranean veg (I had some frozen in the freezer; just a mix of courgette, aubergine, red onion and tomatoes.
- lime wedge
- 1 small handful of fresh pomegranate seeds
Method
- Cook cous cous as per packet instructions (I usually just pour over boiling water and add a stock cube in a big bowl and leave it alone until giving it a big stir with a fork to fluff it up)
- Add the chick peas to the cous cous
- Cook the meditarranean veg as per packet instructions or if fresh veg, in an oven for approx 30 mins at 200c/180c fan oven/gas mark 6
- Fry the onion and garlic and add the lamb mince.
- Add the cinnamon, cumin, cloves and turmeric and cook well. The lamb will produce a lot of fat so I drain the excess away mid way through cooking.
- Add the tomato puree and salt and pepper to taste and stir.
- To make the mint sauce, I mix a little natural yoghurt with mint sauce ( usually 1/3 mint sauce to 2/3 yoghurt. If you like it a little sweeter, you can add sugar)
- Add the coconut to the lamb. I find this gives a nice bite and texture.
- Plate up with cous cous, lamb, mint sauce and a lime wedge, scattering the pomegranate on top.
Make it Extra
I think its quite traditional to add dried fruits like raisins or apricots to similar lamb dishes, but I’m not a massive fan so we leave it out in this version!
