Crispy Lamb & Poppadom Carrots

Recipe courtesy of Psychologies Magazine and is taken from the book : Salad Feasts: How to assemble the perfect meal by Jessica Elliott Dennison. 

This dish is full of great textural contrasts : crunchy poppadoms, smooth cooling yogurt, creamy chickpeas and aromatic spiced lamb; all of which are brought to life with pink pickled onion and a big dollop of mango chutney.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• ½ red onion
• 2 limes
• 300g minced lamb (around 15-20 per cent fat)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ – 1 tsp chilli flakes (depending on how spicy you like it)
• ¼ tsp sea salt flakes
• 4 carrots (a variety of colours is nice if you can get them)
• 6 small poppadoms
• 100g radishes, finely sliced
• 400g tin chickpeas in water, rinsed and drained
• Small bunch (20g) coriander
• 2 ½ tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 20g fresh ginger, peeled
• 150g natural yogurt
• 70g mango chutney

1. First, peel the onion, slice into half-moons as finely as you can – a mandolin if handy for this – then place in a small bowl. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime, then set aside to lightly pickle.
2. Next, put a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the lamb and mustard seeds and cook for 5-6 minutes until caramelised.  Reduce the heat to low.  Add the ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon, chilli flakes and salt, then cook for a minute.  Turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the hob so the lamb stays warm.
3. Top, tail and peel the carrots then shave ribbon lengths (stop once it gets too hard to peel the core) and transfer to a platter. Roughly crush 2 of the poppadoms and scatter them over the carrots along with the radishes and chickpeas.  Pick over the coriander leaves.
4. At this stage, the onion should be bright pink and nicely pickled. Add the oil and honey to the bowl. Finely grate the ginger, then squeeze in the juice (discard the grated root).  Stir to combine.
5. To assemble, scatter the onion over the carrots and gently toss with your hands, ensuring all the vegetables are coated in dressing (squeeze in more lime if it feels to dry). Spoon over the warm crispy lamb to finish, then serve with the rest of the poppadoms, yogurt, mango chutney and wedges of the remaining lime.