Leftover Roast Lamb Biryani

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A close up of a bowl of yellow leftover lamb biryani with green spinach and parsley.

5 from 12 votes

This leftover roast lamb biryani is a quick, easy and delicious one-pot meal. Cook spiced rice and lamb together in about 30 minutes.

Servings: servings

Author: Helen Best-Shaw

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Total Time35

Ingredients

1/2 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 onion - finely chopped
1 clove garlic - crushed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp paprika - or mild chilli
3 cardamom pods
150 g leftover roast lamb - cut into chunks
150 g basmati rice
50 g frozen peas
275 ml chicken or lamb stock
1 cup baby spinach leaves - (a good handful)
coriander or other fresh herbs
almonds or other nuts to garnish - (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Conventional instructions – oven cooking

Preheat your oven to 180 °C / 350 °F / GM 4.
Pour the oil into a flame-proof casserole dish and fry the onion for a few minutes.
Crush and add the garlic and spices. Cook for a further few minutes until the onion is soft and translucent. Remove from the heat.
Stir the lamb and rice into the onion and spices. Pour over the stock.
Cook in the oven for 25 minutes or until the rice has absorbed the stock. Add a little more water if the rice is slightly chalky to bite.
Add spinach and defrosted peas, and stir in. Return to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon, garnished with fresh herbs.

Instant Pot Instructions

Use the sauté function to cook the onion, garlic and spices.
Add the rice and an equal volume of boiling hot stock. Stir in the lamb, and set the Instant Pot to cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.
Let the pressure release naturally for 18 minutes on the keep warm setting.
Add the defrosted peas and spinach. Stir, replace the lid and leave on warm for 5 minutes. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon, garnished with fresh herbs.

Notes

This is a very forgiving dish as long as you get the rice to liquid ratio right.

Substitutions

Rice – We've made this dish using basmati and American long grain rice. I prefer the fragrant basmati rice, but long grain is fine. If you use long grain rice, you will need to cook the dish in the oven for about another 5 minutes.

Leftover roast chicken, pork or turkey – We used leftover roast lamb but you could use leftover roast chicken, turkey or pork.

Leftover gravy? Great! – Add it to the dish with the stock for a really rich, meaty flavour.

No pre-cooked meat? – If you are using uncooked meat, cut it into 1 cm / ½" cubes and fry with the onion at the start of cooking.

Make it vegetarian or vegan – Use chickpeas or other beans and use vegetable stock for a vegan version.

Add extra veg – This leftover roast lamb is the perfect dish for adding extra veg. Chopped leftover roast vegetables (potatoes, parsnip and carrots) work well, or stir in florets of cauliflower and broccoli 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. You can also use any leafy greens instead of spinach.

Garnishes – Use what you have. I love fresh coriander (cilantro) but any fresh herbs are delicious. Garnish with toasted flaked almonds, cashews or pine nuts for some texture and crunch.

Cooking Times
Oven cooking time will be about 25 minutes for basmati rice. With less delicate types of rice or if you use cold stock, allow another 5–15 minutes. I'd check after 25 minutes and then adjust the cooking time as required.

Nutritional Information

This recipe is 10 Weight Watchers Smart Points

• Please note that the nutrition information provided below is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

• Unless stated otherwise cup conversions have been made with an online tool. For accuracy please check with your favoured conversion tool. We recommend buying inexpensive digital kitchen scales.