Great lamb - with or without the risotto

Did you know that there's a whole chapter in your Edmonds book dedicated to recipes based on Rice Risotto? Well, that's overstating it a bit, since the entire "Quick and Easy with Rice" chapter consists of three recipes that take up a single page.

Even so, I never realised they were in there until I started looking more closely at my Edmonds book . The yoghurt lamb rice recipe (p108) caught my eye very early on, as something a little different. Of course, when you look closely, it's not exactly a Rice Risotto recipe, more a marinade for lamb which is then sautéed and served on top of a 'creamy tandoori' flavour Rice Risotto. Sounds good though, doesn't it?

The main ingredients are lamb leg steaks, natural yoghurt, and the packet of rice risotto. I had no trouble with the first two, but my local Pak N Save didn't have Rice Risotto in 'creamy tandoori' flavour. Since Pak N Save is not well known for variety, it's very possible that it is available at other supermarkets. Then again, it's also possible that they no longer make creamy tandoori flavour, or have simply renamed it 'Indian' flavour.

I found myself in a quandary: Make do with Indian flavour, or do the rounds of various supermarkets looking for the creamy tandoori? In the end I chose the easiest option and ran with the Indian flavour.

This is a very easy meal  - though perhaps not a good one for those times when you arrive home hungry and want to eat immediately, since the lamb has to marinate for an hour. But the marinade takes no time at all to prepare; just mix yoghurt with coriander and curry powder, cut your lamb into strips and stir it all together. The trick is to remember to do this over an hour before you want to eat.


Towards the end of the marinade time, start cooking the Rice Risotto as per the directions on the packet, and when that has about 10 minutes to go, heat some oil in a frying pan and sauté the strips of lamb - briefly, so they're still juicy and tender. When it's all done, serve the lamb on top of the rice.

It makes for a pretty tasty meal, really - but seriously lacking in vege. You'd want to serve it with a salad or maybe add some veges to the rice (the odd pathetic rehydrated pea or fleck of chilli included in the Rice Risotto doesn't count).


The lamb is absolutely delicious, and it goes quite nicely with the rice, but really, it's not the Rice Risotto that makes the meal. You could cook lamb like this and eat it with anything you want - it'd still be delicious.

I love lamb, but I hardly ever cook it. Lamb can be quite expensive compared to beef or chicken, especially cuts like leg steaks - but trying out this recipe has made me think that it might be worthwhile to get myself some from time to time as a treat.