Mutton samosas and lamb burgers. Tasty Easy Fun

When I posted about the launch of the Lamb. Tasty Easy Fun campaign last week I mentioned that I had the recipe for the lamb burgers that Cyrus Todiwala had developed for the campaign, so I am going to share that with you today. I also have a recipe of my own to share, which is really delicious and I hope you will enjoy it.

Spiced lamb burgers stuffed with spiced blue cheese by Cyrus Todiwala for www.tastyeasylamb.co.uk

Blue cheese stuffed lamb burger (makes 6 burgers)

Burger ingredients
675g lamb mince
1 finely chopped medium onion
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 x 2" piece minced fresh ginger
1 slender-type minced green chilli (seeds included)
1tbs ground cumin powder
1 1/2tbs ground coriander powder
2tbs tomato puree
3 heaped tbs finely chopped fresh coriander
1tsp garam masala powder
1-2tsp salt
1tsp crushed black pepper

Stuffing ingredients
150g blue cheese, crumbled
2 finely chopped green chillies
1tbs finely chopped fresh coriander
2 finely chopped cloves of garlic

Rolls or bread, to serve

In a large bowl gently mix all the burger ingredients together. Divide into 6 evenly-sized burgers.

In a small bowl blend the stuffing ingredients together and shape into equal-sized balls to stuff the burgers.

Make an indentation in the centre of each burger with your thumb and fill with a ball of the cheese. Make sure the cheese is completely encased when you form the burger.

Cook on a prepared grill or barbecue for 6-8 minutes on each side or until any meat juices run clear.

Serve with your favourite bread or rolls with some sliced tomato, onion and lettuce and some relish.

Mutton keema

At the campaign launch Cyrus spoke so knowledgeably about the different breeds of sheep and the contribution sheep farming makes in communities with marginal agricultural land. You can raise sheep where no crops will grow, like the sturdy Herdwick sheep in the Lake District, and one job in farming stimulates something like seven jobs in the local community - all very worthwhile.

So I was feeling a bit inspired to make something from British mutton (as I mentioned before, we don't tend to eat lamb early in the season) with some of the spices Cyrus talked about, and Paul has been begging me to have another crack at samosas for him. I placed an order for some mutton shoulder with Turner & George, knowing that you get a card telling you what breed your meat is and where it was raised. And it turned out to be Herdwick, which was pretty perfect really.

Waiting for frying

The keema on its own is excellent, so if you can't be arsed folding and frying, just make that and have it with some rice or naan. You could bake them too, if you didn't feel like frying. And you can definitely use readily available minced lamb instead of mutton - don't be deterred!

Mutton samosas (makes about 18)

For the keema
600g minced mutton or lamb
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1" piece of fresh ginger
1-2 chillies (I used 3 red chillies with hardly any heat at all - you know your palate)
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp sea salt flakes (to taste)
1 handful frozen peas
1 tsp garam masala powder

For the samosas
Filo pastry
Melted butter
2 eggwhites, lightly beaten
oil for shallow frying

Roughly chop the onion, garlic, ginger and chillies. In a food processor, blend them to a paste with the vegetable oil (and a slosh of water if it needs loosening). If you don't have a food processor just chop them as finely as you can (I think it is nicer to have a fine texture in a little parcel, but if you are just eating the keema on its own, you can have everything a bit coarser).

In a sauté pan or deep skillet, fry the onion paste, stirring to stop it from catching, for a few minutes or until it starts to brown. Add the cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves and pepper and fry for just a minute until the powders are fragrant, then add the minced mutton. Brown the meat, breaking it up with a spoon. Add a little water if it starts to dry out too much. Add the peas and season with salt to taste. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until it is cooked through and fairly dry. Sprinkle with the garam masala. If you are going to make the samosas, allow to cool completely.

Filo has a slightly unfair reputation for being tricky. You can't take it too slowly but it honestly isn't that temperamental. To fold the samosas, take a sheet of filo and cover the rest of the pack with a slightly damp tea towel. With a sharp knife, cut the sheet into 3 long strips. I was a bit paranoid about getting them to seal properly, so I put a little eggwhite at each end of the strip, with some melted butter along the length for lusciousness and flake. Put about a heaped tablespoon of the cold keema at one end of a strip, fold the corner of the filo over it and then just fold and tuck to the end of the sheet. Repeat until you've used all the keema or all of the filo, whichever comes first. I had leftover filo so I made a little cherry strudel as well, because it doesn't store well.

Either shallow fry or bake the samosas immediately, or keep in the fridge until you are ready. If you need to keep them in the fridge, put a layer of baking parchment between each layer of samosas on your tray to stop them from sticking to each other. If you are baking them, brush the tops with a little extra melted butter before they go in the oven (I think 10-15 minutes at 200C should do it).

I served them with Mr Todiwala's minted mango and ginger relish and a sort of chaat-y salad of layers of boiled potato, yoghurt, fresh coriander chutney, chickpeas and other such deliciousness.