Korma pilau

Rice with spiced lamb in yoghurt

Quantity	Ingredient
1/4 teaspoon	saffron strands
185ml	hot milk
2 tablespoons	rosewater
3 drops	kewra essence, (optional)
2 tablespoons	ghee
1 quantity	Korma
1 quantity	Yakhni pilau, using lamb stock or water in place of chicken and cooking rice for 15 minutes only
1	ripe tomato, thinly sliced, to serve
1	cucumber, thinly sliced, to serve
1	onion, thinly sliced, to serve
2	fresh green chillies, seeded and thinly sliced, to serve
3	hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced or quartered, to serve
3 tablespoons	slivered almonds, toasted, to serve

Soak the saffron strands in the hot milk and press to diffuse as much of the colour as possible. Stir in the rosewater and kewra essence, if using.
Preheat the oven to 150ºC. Grease a large ovenproof casserole dish with the ghee and arrange the lamb korma and pilau in layers. Sprinkle each layer of pilau with the saffron and milk mixture. Finish with a layer of pilau. Cover the casserole and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
Garnish the top of the korma pilau with the remaining ingredients and serve hot.

Alternatively, you can cook the pilau for 20 minutes. Remove two-thirds of the pilau from the pan in which it was cooked, sprinkle the pilau in the pan with one-third of the saffron milk mixture and add half of the lamb korma, spreading it to the sides of the pan. Cover with half the pilau, sprinkle the pilau with half of the remaining milk. Make a layer of the remaining korma and cover that with the rest of the pilau. Sprinkle the remaining milk over the top, cover, and cook over low heat for 25–30 minutes.