A curry in 15 minutes that doesn’t involve picking up the phone to your local takeaway? There are many reasons Jamie Oliver’s books spend months at the top of the best-seller lists, and recipes like this, for no-fuss comfort food, are just one of them.

Kcal:

706

Saturated fat:

7.6g

Preparation time:

5 minutes

Cooking time:

15 minutes

Ingredients (Serves four):

For the curry

• 250g ready-to-eat puy lentils
• 1 heaped tsp garam masala
• 400g lean beef mince
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 2 spring onions
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp runny honey
• 2 heaped tsp Patak’s rogan josh curry paste
• Half a 400g tin of light coconut milk
• 4 tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt, to serve
• 1 lemon

For the rice

• 1 mug (300g) of 10-minute wholegrain or basmati rice
• 5 cardamom pods
• 200g green or yellow beans
• 200g frozen peas
• 2 uncooked poppadoms

Method

Step 1: Put the lentils into a bowl with salt, pepper, the garam masala and mince, then mix and scrunch together with clean hands.

Step 2: Divide the mixture in half, then with wet hands squeeze and mould each half into 6 fat fingers. Put them into the frying pan with 1 tbsp of oil, turning when golden.

Step 3: Put 1 mug of rice, 2 mugs of boiling water and the cardamom pods into the casserole pan, then halve and add the beans and put the lid on.

Step 4: Squash the tomatoes into the liquidizer, add the peeled ginger, trimmed spring onions, half the chilli, the coriander stalks, turmeric, honey, curry paste and coconut milk, then blitz until thoroughly combined. Pour into the kofta pan, bring to the boil, then simmer and season to taste.

Step 5: Take the lid off the rice, add the peas, mix it all up and give it just a few more minutes.

Step 6: Crack up the uncooked poppadoms and pop them in the microwave (800W) for a minute or two to puff up. Finely slice the remaining chilli and the coriander leaves and scatter them over the curry, dollop with yoghurt, then serve with lemon wedges, poppadoms and the rice, beans and peas.

From Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver (£26, Michael Joseph)