Instructions: Remove fat from meat; dice meat into 1/2-1" pieces; pat dry with kitchen towel and dredge with small amount of flour / corn flour.

Brown in a small amount of hot oil in a small frying pan / skillet; drain meat and set aside. DO NOT CLEAN OUT PAN.

Meanwhile heat grill (broiler) to medium. Lay almonds in single layer on baking tray and toast until lightly golden; be careful not to overcook - they burn quickly. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before roughly chopping. Set aside with the meat.

Re-heat the pan you cooked the meat in; when the remaining oil/lamb fat is hot, carefully add the whole spices and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. When cool grind spice mixture in pestle and mortar (or in dedicated spice mill). Set aside.

Heat oil in saucepan (to save washing up, I use a cast iron saucepan which I can use on the hob then put straight in the oven; the lid doubles up as a small frying pan for browning the meat). Lightly fry the onion for a few minutes until soft, then add the chopped chilli and ginger, then the crushed garlic. Stir-fry for a few more minutes, then stir in the ground spice mixture.

When the spice has warmed through add a couple of tablespoons of the stock; allow to come to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the coconut milk powder (or a small chunk of coconut cream), and stir in until the mixture is slightly thickened. Add the rest of the stock and bring back to the boil.

Add the meat and the almonds to the stock; bring back to the boil, then reduce heat until the mixture is somewhere between boiling and simmering. (The idea is to reduce the liquid slightly, without boiling the meat to death.) Continue to "simmer" the meat in this way for about 15 minutes. The sauce should thicken and reduce, but still cover most of the meat.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 (350F, 175C).

Melt a small piece of butter in a clean pan; add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes at low heat until all the grains are coated and glossy and starting to turn translucent. Add boiling water to the rice and simmer for two minutes. Drain rice thoroughly and set aside until the meat mixture is ready.

Soak a large piece of grease proof paper and a drying up cloth (or similar expendable piece of clean cotton cloth) in fresh water; wring out.

Stir meat mixture to ensure that all pieces are coated with the sauce, then carefully spread the rice on top of the sauce. Spread out the grease proof paper and lay over the rice, ensuring that the paper reaches over the sides of the pan. Spread the cloth over the paper; then place pan lid on top. If the pan lid is not a close fit you may like to seal the pan with kitchen foil before putting on the lid.

Put pan in oven and cook for one hour. At end of cooking time turn off heat and leave pan in oven for 10-15 minutes. When ready to serve, remove lid, cloth and paper, and stir rice into meat mixture.

The sauce should have largely evaporated, leaving juicy meat and plumped up, glossy rice. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander.

Scotch bonnet peppers are very hot, so beware. The long cooking mellows the heat, but it may be more than you like. Feel free to substitute with a milder chilli, or with chilli powder (or leave out entirely). The whole spices can be substituted with ready ground spices, in which case there is no need to fry them before adding to the onion. I used stock with a little coconut milk powder in place of the usual coconut milk; slightly fewer calories, and definitely less

I serve this with spinach (chopped onion softened in oil, chopped lemon grass, crushed garlic clove and chopped up fresh frozen spinach, cooked together for about five minutes, then turn the heat off and leave covered until the main dish is ready), and with homemade hot pickle (onion rings, green chopped scotch bonnet pepper, chopped mushrooms, fried together in a little oil for 10 minutes; add cubed deseeded cucumber, 1/2-tbs sugar, dash of vinegar, cook together until

"juice" is evaporated, and cucumber looks translucent).

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