Late night alchemy: leftovers into biryani.

Sometimes they don’t finish - or even start - the second lamb cutlet, or chicken drumstick. Children’s appetites are unpredictable, except when you take them to McDonald’s. So let’s make short-cut biryani, the dish that layers meat, rice and vegetables with a fragrant spice blend that gives leftovers a second life especially when, having already cooked the first lot, you hear the call of something different - spicy - later at night.

I cleared away the mess of dishes and set the lamb cutlets aside, three or four fat pink glistening handles of protein. Then I boiled a pot of basmati rice adding turmeric for some happy late-evening yellowness. Now you freelance: combine the rice and meat with a shower of spice in a pan with just enough fluid to keep the rice moist. I’ve been using Shan ‘Biryani Recipe and Seasoning Mix’ (the actual name on the pack) which is a turbocharged flavour accelerant without the manufactured aftertaste that affects so many products of this type. Now add cucumber, tomato, boiled potato, or any leftover vegetables. Add dried raisins for sweetness. They’ll puff up proudly in the steamy heat like the fat grapes they once were.