Minced Lamb and Lentil Curry – Keema with Less Meat
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.
I know mince 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 curry that I first made for my Keema Pie. Unlike many British curries, this minced lamb and lentil curry isn’t really a meal to itself so I’d suggest eating it with a vegetable side dish – we’ve had it with a mushroom curry, and a creamy cauliflower curry.
So, should you be trying to eat less meat? Meat is more expensive, and it is high in fat. The bag of mince I used for this recipe cost £3, whereas the lentils used were approx. 57p. 100g of cooked lentils contains just 0.4g of fat, whereas the leanest mince is just 2% for turkey, 5% for pork or beef. *
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. 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.
*prices and nutrition information taken from Tesco groceries website 8 July 2016
Lizzie
Yields 4-8
27 minPrep Time
25 minCook Time
52 minTotal Time
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Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 4 tsp each cumin and coriander
- 2 tsp each garlic powder and turmeric
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 500g lamb mince
- 1 tin chopped toatoes
- 2 handfuls frozen peas
- 8oz red lentils
Instructions
- Dice and fry the onion in a large frying pan or skillet.
- Measure out and stir in the spices, and add the mince.
- Stir the mixture round 'til the lamb is well coated with spice and cook until it's browned on all sides.
- Boil the kettle.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, peas and lentils, and 800ml of freshly boiled water.
- Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.
- fry 1 onion and twice spices from keema pie, add 500g lamb mince, brown. Add 1 tin toms, 2 handfuls peas, 8oz lentils, 800ml water. Simmer 20 mins.
