beef kofta curry with fluffy rice, beans & peas

Ingredients

For the curry

1 x 250 g pack of ready-to-eat Puy lentils

1 heaped teaspoon garam masala

400 g quality lean beef mince olive oil

3 ripe tomatoes

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger

2 spring onions

1 fresh red chilli

1 bunch fresh coriander

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon runny honey

2 heaped teaspoons Patak's rogan josh curry paste

½ x 400 g tin of light coconut milk

4 tablespoons fat-free natural yoghurt, to serve

1 lemon

For the rice

1 mug (300g) 10-minute wholegrain or basmati rice

5 cardamom pods

200 g green or yellow beans

200 g frozen peas

2 uncooked poppadoms

Method

Ingredients out • Kettle boiled • Large frying pan, high heat • Medium lidded casserole pan, high heat • Liquidizer

START COOKING
Put the lentils into a bowl with salt, pepper, the garam masala and mince, then mix and scrunch together with clean hands • Divide the mixture in half, then with wet hands quickly squeeze and mould each half into 6 fat fingers • Put them into the frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, turning when golden

Put 1 mug of rice, 2 mugs of boiling water and the cardamom pods into the casserole pan, then halve and add the beans and put the lid on • Squash the tomatoes into the liquidizer, add the peeled ginger, trimmed spring onions, half the chilli, the coriander stalks, turmeric, honey, curry paste and coconut milk, then blitz until combined • Pour into the kofta pan, bring to the boil, then simmer and season to taste

Take the lid off the rice, add the peas, mix it all up and give it just a few more minutes • Crack up the uncooked poppadoms and pop them in the microwave (800W) for a minute or two to puff up • Finely slice the remaining chilli and the coriander leaves and scatter them over the curry, dollop with yoghurt, then serve with lemon wedges, poppadoms and the rice, beans and peas