Pilau Mouton de Comores (Comorian Mutton Pilau)

Ingredients:

1kg mutton or goat, finely cubed
600g rice
2 tbsp oil
2 onions, coarsely chopped
500g tomatoes, blanched, peele and chopped
3 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Method:

Place the mutton in a casserole dish, cover with lightly-salted water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer then cover and cook for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the oil in a pan. Add the onions and fry for about 8 minutes, or until lightly coloured then stir in the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée. Stir to combine and season with the ground cumin, salt and black pepper.

Drain the cooked mutton (reserve the liquid). Add the mutton to the tomato mixture, along with two ladlefuls of the reserved mutton stock.

Thoroughly rinse the rice, add to the pan, bring to a simmer then cover and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender (add a little water if the mixture is thickening too much).

When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and set aside to stand for 10 minutes before turning into a dish and serving.