Indian Minced Beef with a Fresh Tomato Salad

There are many things one can cook with a punnet of minced beef; it is perhaps one of the most versatile ingredients available. This, for instance, is a variation of a dish I used to eat a lot of at university, though since I’m a much better cook than I was 2-3 years ago it tastes slightly better. This recipe is taken from BBC GoodFood, though I used my own blend of spices and perhaps even my own initiative at times – do not be too shocked, WordPress.

One of my true loves when cooking food is creating simple dishes which make use of only a short list of ingredients, yet taste better than those which are far more complex. In my humble opinion, this is one such dish. Each and every flavour is incredibly punchy, yet they are individually distinguishable from one another. The tomatoes and coriander provide a freshness to an otherwise devilishly warming plate of food. I’ll admit to having eaten copious amounts of this over the weekend – it is dangerously moreish. I thought my days of eating gargantuan portions of food unnecessarily were over; it turns out that this isn’t the case, though I’m rather sure I’ll survive what should have been a critical blow to my self-esteem.

Please, readers, if you set about making this dish use your own spice blend, or at least the one I have provided. I realise that it can be a little time consuming and often rather irksome having to traipse around one’s local supermarket hoping to find all the necessary flavours, but it surely is worth it. Pre-mixed curry powders provide one with standard blends of spices which will cause one’s curry to taste like it was brewed inside an insipid school cauldron. I suppose there must be interesting varieties out there, but one can only imagine that they are rather overpriced. One may serve this dish in any way one pleases; it is rather nice in a wrap, though if one was in a rather more traditional mood a naan would do quite nicely.

Indian Minced Beef with a Fresh Tomato Salad

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 400g minced beef

• 1 onion, diced

• 3 tsp of curry powder

• A generous handful of red split lentils

• A pint of stock, chicken, beef or lamb will do

• A handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered

• A handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped

• A fresh red chilli, finely chopped

• Seasoning

• Oil

Method:

1. Quickly toast the spices in a little oil, then add the onions and cook until they have become translucent. Add the minced beef and cook until browned, break it up as you go along. Add the stock and the lentils and boil at a rather high temperature until the lentils are tender and the mixture isn’t too wet. Serve in a wrap together with a few of the tomatoes, a little of the coriander and sprinkling of the fresh chilli – this will provide a final little kick.

Cost: This entire meal, including the wraps should cost no more than £4, which makes each portion a rather tidy £1. Now, to make use of what has become an informal British idiom, you can’t fay fairer than that.