Curried venison cutlets with lime pickle potato salad

Tony ‘the gamekeeper’ recently dropped round some muntjac for me to cook with; a small rack, the loin and a leg joint. I love the flavour of this little deer, sweet, subtle and less iron rich then some of it’s larger counter-parts. I decided to flavour the rack in a simple curry marinade and serve as cutlets with an easy but deceptively tasty lime pickle potato salad. Such a great way to kick off any dinner party. You can use any type of venison for this recipe or indeed lamb cutlets, if your butcher can’t get hold of any deer. Don’t be put off by the amount of spices needed for this recipe, it’s really easy to make and you can use them for so many other dishes. Alternatively you could just buy a ready made curry powder!

Serves: 2

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 30 mins (plus overnight)

Ingredients

For the cutlets:

2 small venison cutlets (you can use lamb if you like)
1 small onion
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
Thumb-sized knob of fresh ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp cayenne powder
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cardamom pods (crushed)
4 tbsp natural yoghurt
Squeeze lemon juice

For the lime pickle potato salad

7 new potatoes (diced)
3 tbsp lime pickle (jarred)
¼ can of chickpeas (drained)
Handful of coriander leaves
Small knob of butter

Hints and Tips

Venison

For this recipe I used muntjac cutlets which are tiny so have doubled up on the quantity and served 2 cutlets per person. The size of cutlet will obviously depend on the type of deer you buy. Just adjust the timings accordingly depending on the weight. Venison is best served pink otherwise it becomes incredibly tough, so less is more with this cut of meat.

Spices

It may seem that an awful lot of spices are required for this recipe but they can all be purchased easily from any supermarket. They also last well if stored correctly and can be used in a multitude of recipes so well worth the investment.

Curried venison cutlets with lime pickle potato salad

Method

For the cutlets

First make the marinade. Finely dice your onion and add to a small frying pan with the grapeseed oil, finely sliced ginger and all the dry spices. Cook on a low heat for approx. 20 minutes until the onions are really soft and just starting to turn brown around the edges.
Transfer the contents of the pan into a blender and whiz until you have a paste. Add the yogurt and the lemon juice and blend again.
Add your paste to a bowl with your cutlets and cover well, massaging the marinade into the meat. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
Remove the meat from the fridge one hour before you are ready to cook. Remove any excess marinade from the cutlets and place under a hot grill. The length of cooking time will vary depending on the size of your cutlet. For the muntjac it only took 2 mins on each side. For a lamb cutlet I would suggest 4 mins each side, but you will need to keep an eye on it. Remember, you don’t want to overcook the meat.
Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

For the lime pickle potato salad

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the diced new potatoes. I aim for 1cm square cubes of potato but you don’t have to be too exact.
While the potatoes are cooking drain and rinse ¼ can of chick peas and set aside.
Finely chop 3 pieces of lime pickle and a small handful of coriander and set aside.
Once the potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat and drain. Add to a bowl along with the chickpeas, lime pickle and a small knob of butter and stir well to incorporate. Finally add the chopped coriander, season to taste and mix one more time.

To plate

See photo below. I like to spoon a pile of the potato salad into the centre of the serving dish and then place the cutlet on top. I then drizzle some of the vibrant red oil from the lime pickle jar around the edge and over the top of the meat for a bit of extra kick.

Curried venison cutlets with potato salad

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