spicy meat pulao

Papa had a whole load of super cheap reductions from the meat counter one evening shift at work, and so we put a load of steaks and similar in the freezer for future "pay it forward" use.

I defrosted a beautiful sirloin one day, and had intended to add it to a salad, but it turned out to be a cold and gloomy day and so I decided we needed something warmer and more comforting.

I trimmed the fat off and rendered as much as I could down in a very hot non-stick pan.  I cubed up the beef into quite small dice (1-1.5cm) and then seared them quickly in the hot fat.  

Next I added a teaspoon of ground cumin, one of onion salt and a heaped teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper. Then I added a bay leaf and once that was nice and fragrant, I put in 2 cups of washed basmati rice.

I sprinkled in some Marigold powder and stirred it around and finally added in 3 cups of boiling water.

I put the lid on and once it was boiling again, I turned the heat down to allow it to simmer and then set a timer for 13 mins.

Once the timer went off, I simply switched off the heat, and set another timer for another 5 mins.

Once THAT timer went off, I added a little grinding of salt and served it with butter.

It was delicious and an amazing way to make one steak go a LOT further.