Sasranga is a North Indian dish with Persian roots. It contains no spices, just a delicious combination of lamb, coriander, chillies, onion, garlic and ginger, held together with egg. You can add as many chillies as you like, and if you go for the milder varieties you will find that they add flavour rather than heat. And don’t leave out the salt - this is a rich dish, best served with rice and raita, and the seasoning is very important. serves 4

500g lamb mince
1 tbsp oil
1 heaped tbsp raisins, finely chopped
1 heaped tbsp flaked almonds
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
thumb-sized piece skin-on ginger, grated
handful fresh coriander, chopped
6-10 green chillies, finely chopped
60 ml single cream (4 tbsp)
3 eggs, beaten
juice of a lime
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the raisins for about a minute, until you can smell the sweetness. Remove and do the same to the almonds. Remove.
Fry the lamb mince in the same pan until all browned, then cook for another 20 minutes or so until the lamb fat is cooked off. Season well.
Meanwhile combine the onion, garlic, chillies, ginger and coriander with the raisins and almonds. Add maybe 1 tsp salt and some black pepper, then stir in the eggs and a squeeze of lime juice.
Line a small casserole or deep cake tin (about 15-18 cm) with grease-proof paper (sides as well as base).
Put half the lamb in the tin, drizzle half the cream over and cover with half the green mixture. Repeat the layers, seasoning as you go.
Cook in a medium oven for about 40 minutes, then leave to cool for ten minutes before removing from the pan/tin and serving.
Serve with rice, an extra squeeze of lime juice and a cucumber raita.

Cook’s notes

You can easily make a larger version by doubling all the ingredients and baking in a 20-22cm dish. Or cook in a loaf tin, since this is just a rather exotic meat loaf!
Try serving this with a pilaf using our pilau rice blend with raisin, almonds and peas stirred through.