Thai spiced lamb with Asian salad

The dinner party I went to on the weekend was excellent. I’ve known the hosts for the seven years and they’re very good friends of ours but, until now, we’ve never had an invite to dinner. I just didn’t think they were the type.

But my-oh-my have they been hiding some little tricks up their sleeves all this time. They killed it! The Asian feast included Thai chicken salad, duck with plum sauce, red (or maybe it was green!) curry (from scratch) and the starring dish – pork belly in a caramelised star anise sauce. All topped off with chocolate cheesecake. I know!

Anyway, those Asian flavours have had me all inspired this week and on Monday night I made this:

If you can’t tell from that terrible photo, it’s Thai spiced lamb with Asian salad.

Apart from the marinading, which really needs to be at least four hours, this is really quick to make, so it’s a great one to whip-up mid-week once you’ve finally got the little blighters to sleep.

Here’s how it works.

What you need.

Marinade

: 2tsp cumin seeds

: 165ml can coconut milk

: 1 ½ tbs Thai green curry paste

: 1 tbs chopped mint leaves

: 12 lamb cutlets (although I just used good quality lamb chops)

Salad

: ½ cup mint leaves, shredded

: 3 cups mixed baby salad leaves

: 100g bean sprouts trimmed (I didn’t have these to hand this time)

: 225g thin green beans

: 4 spring onions thinly sliced

: ½ cup Thai basil leaves

: ½ cup coriander leaves

Dressing

: ¼ cup lime juice

: ¼ cup fish sauce

: 2 tbs grated palm sugar

: 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, very finely chopped

What to do.

: Toast the cumin seeds in a small dry frying pan for 1 minute, until fragrant.

: Place in a bowl with the coconut milk, curry paste and mint.

: Season with salt and pepper.

: Add the lamb and toss to coat.

: Cover and marinade for at least 4 hours (it really needs this too, so try to be organised if you can!).

: BBQ or chargrill your lamb to your liking.

: Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake.

: Blanche green beans in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain.

: Place beans and all remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl.

: Toss salad with half the salad dressing.

*I also added some leftover sweetcorn I had in the fridge (because I’m crazy like that) and it turned out to be quite a good addition. So freestyle away if you fancy.

: Place salad on a plate, top with the lamb and drizzle on the remaining dressing.

Voila!

Do you have any tasty recipes to share this week? I’m all ears…