Lamb (or use any ground meat), chickpeas, rice, and warm spices come together for an easy one pot dinner. It all gets simmered together until you have perfectly cooked rice and kale gets fluffed in at the end for some greens. While it cooks, whip up the creamy tangy tahini dill sauce (see note about sauce). Serve slathered in the sauce with your crunchy toppings of choice!
Note: the sauce makes about 1 ¼ cups, which is enough for this recipe AND the Chopped Spring Salad.
Ingredient highlight
Lamb! Is a very underrated protein that also happens to be extremely nutrient-dense. It’s loaded with vitamin B12, selenium, zinc, iron, and healthy omega-3 fats.
Servings 5 – 6
Prep Time 5 minutes 
Cook Time 25 minutes Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground lamb*
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt, divided
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½-1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, for spice)
- 2-4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed well
- 2 ¼ cups water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 4 cups finely chopped kale (or use frozen)**
- ½ cup Tahini Dill Sauce (recipe below)
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- Lemon wedges
For the Tahini Dill Sauce:
- 1 cup packed dill (or use parsley or a combo)
- ½ cup tahini
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp mellow white miso paste
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Toppings:***
- Thinly sliced radish, snap pea, or cucumber (optional)
- Chopped parsley, dill, or other herb (optional)
- Chopped toasted nuts (optional)
- *This also works great with ground beef. You can use any ground meat, but lamb or beef taste the best!
- **If using frozen, thaw it first and just drain off the excess water before adding to the pot.
- ***Recommend topping with feta and toasted nuts!
- Note: ~ the Tahini Dill Sauce makes about 1 ¼ cups, which is enough for this recipe AND the chopped spring salad. Easily freeze the remaining sauce if you don’t plan to use it that week. To save time, you can skip the sauce and just top with yogurt mixed with lemon juice/salt (about 1 1/2 cup yogurt, 2 tbsp lemon, ½ tsp salt + water to thin + grated garlic if you have some!).
Instructions
- In a medium-large pot over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the lamb and ½ teaspoon salt and use a metal spatula to break into chunks. Let it cook, undisturbed, for 3 minutes or until browned, then continue to break into smaller chunks and cook until cooked through and browned, about 3 more minutes.
- If there is a lot more than 1 tablespoon fat in the pot, tilt it and spoon off the excess (this will just depend on how fatty your meat is).
- Stir in the chickpeas, spices, garlic and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and cook for 1 more minute, stirring often. Stir in the rice to coat in all the flavors, then stir in the water and soy sauce.
- Cover with a lid, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer (covered) over low or medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
- Add the kale and fluff it in with a fork. Turn off the heat.
- (Make the tahini dill sauce if you haven’t already, instructions below).
- Stir the yogurt into ½ cup of the Tahini Dill Sauce. Add a clove or two of grated garlic (optional). Taste it and thin it out with another tablespoon of lemon and/or a little bit of water until it’s more drizzle-able and tastes punchy.
- Serve topped with sauce, toppings of choice, and generous squeeze of lemon.
To make the sauce:
- In a high-speed blender, add all of the ingredients. Blend on high until totally smooth. If the sauce is super thick, thin it out with some water or more lemon (if it needs more acid). You want it to be drizzle-able, not super thick gloppy (it will thicken as it cools in the fridge).
Instant Pot instructions:
- Follow the recipe (cook the meat, etc…on the sautee setting on high). Once you’ve added the rice, press “cancel”, then stir in the water and soy sauce, scraping up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot. Secure the lid, make sure it’s set to “sealing”, and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. Let it naturally release for 10 minutes, then manually release the pressure. Remove the lid and fluff in the greens.
Items you can prep ahead (optional)
- Finely chop 4 cups kale (use the blender, or use frozen)
- Chop 2 cloves garlic
- Make the recipe
- Make the Tahini Dill Sauce + stir yogurt, etc…into ½ cup sauce (see recipe)
- Prep any toppings
Substitutions:
- To make vegetarian, use two cans of chickpeas instead of one. Cook them in oil and salt until crisp, like you would the lamb and follow the recipe. Top with a fried egg or two for more protein.
- To make vegan, see above. Replace the yogurt with a vegan yogurt OR skip the yogurt and stir 2 tbsp lemon juice into the sauce (you can use more than ½ cup of the sauce, unless you need it for this week’s salad – then just stretch the ½ cup sauce by adding some water and more salt and tahini).
- You can replace the miso with 1 tablespoon soy sauce in the sauce..
Storage:
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Leftovers + Repurposing:
- Warm up leftovers in the microwave until warmed through. Thin out the sauce with an extra squeeze of lemon or some water. Serve topped with sauce + toppings of choice.
- You could reheat it in a skillet in some oil to crisp it up (like fried rice) and add in some greens or other veggies you have laying around.
- Other good toppings: avo, pickled onion, feta cheese, fried eggs.
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