Lamb Kofta Kebab

Saturday 10th January 2015

Monika wasn't convinced about this idea, having had only some rather chewy and dry kofta before. However these turned out very well. The minced lamb was mixed with coriander, cumin, mint and a very small amount of breadcrumbs. Then formed into sausages around skewers, which turned out to be much easier than I expected. I brushed them with a little garlic oil and did them under a very hot grill for 8 minutes, turning once.
The kebabs were juicy and tender, with a lovely flavour, and Monika's cucumber and yogurt salad was a perfect accompaniment.

Pepper Monkey Lamb Meatballs

Saturday, 2nd November 2013

I was not able to resist the title of this recipe. No luck getting monkey though, so I used only lamb. ;)
The butcher wasn't able to mince the lamb for me, so I did it myself at home. Unfortunately my hand-cranked mincer is not up to the job and it took an age. The meatballs came out quite tasty, but a little tough and I think the mashing of the meat when attempting to mince it may have contributed. With the spicing this somehow came out as a sort of cross between Indian and Greek.
The meatballs are meant to be barbecued, but doing them under the grill worked fine. Served with saffron rice and spinach with roasted pine nuts.

Jardalu Boti - Lamb with Apricots

Friday, 18th May 2013

Indian Cookbook p 433. Brown onions then add ginger and garlic and cook for a few minutes, then cinnamon sticks and cardamon pods. Then chilli powder, cumin, a little water and chopped tomatoes. Then diced lamb, black pepper and garam masala. Cook gently for 2 hours and add a little hot water if necessary. Add chopped apricots, a little sugar and a sprinkling of vinegar. Heat through and serve.
This recipe calls for dried apricots soaked overnight, but I used fresh apricots which worked very well.
Served with green beans, boiled, then stir fried quickly with a asafetida, a few yellow lentils, mustard seeds, lemon juice and cayenne (Madhur Jaffrey's Ulitmate Curry Bible p. 157). The recipe also says two hot chillies, but I left them out and the beans were pleasantly spicy enough.
Very successful.

"Loukaniko" greek lamb burger

Saturday, 10th November

This is actually a sausage recipe from the Hunter, Angler, Gardner, Cook website. But since I don't have the means to stuff sausages I just did them as little burgers. My mincer produces a very fine mince, so the burgers come out quite solid, but the mix of lamb, pork, spices and orange zest made a lovely flavour. I cooked double-fry chips and made some fresh tzatziki to go with them.

Grilled lamb steak and kidneys

Thursday, 1st November 2012

Lamb and Aubergine Makhani

Friday, 5th October 2012

Hamlyn, 200 Curries p52. Another curry triumph. Marinade cubed lamb in a blended mix of garlic, ginger, vinegar, tomato puree and yoghurt, for up to 24 hours. I only managed about 1 hour. Gently fry some cardamon pods, onion and cinnamon in ghee or butter, until the onion is softened add the lamb mix and cook for 10 minutes. Add diced aubergine and chilli powder and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes to thicken the sauce. Add a little cream and simmer for 5 more minutes. Garnish with a little more cream and chopped coriander.
Very nicely creamy with just the right edge or spice. It was a little too tomatoey for me, although my partner liked it that way. Went down very well with saffron rice and the turkish breads again.

Lamb chops

Sunday, 29th July 2012

The lamb is simply seasoned and grilled, hot, with rosemary for a few minutes each side.
The red cabbage is a special kind with a pointed shape, that you don't seem to get in England. It's called Spitzkohl in Germany, and is quite tender when you remove the core. I cooked it with onion in butter for 10 or 15 minutes and added some beer vinegar and sugar after it has started to soften.
The pseudo-chips are actually boiled for a few minutes and then roasted in the oven in a mix of oil and butter. I've tried to do them this way before and the problem is they need more time than I expect. These were better than the last lot, but could still have done with another 5 or 10 minutes of cooking to brown properly.

Slow Cooked Lamb

Sunday, 24th June 2012

Lamb shoulder cooked in the slow cooker, with onions and tomatoes, and pasta.
This was only OK. The slow cooking didn't do much for the flavour of the lamb and the sauce was far too liquid and without sufficient intensity of flavour.
Pasta was the wrong choice to accompany it.

Roast saddle of Lamb

Friday, 23rd March 2012

I roasted this fairly simply with salt and lots of rosemary, for about 30 minutes, not too hot. As you can see there was a huge amount of fat. I like lamb fat, but there was too much even for me. As you can also see, I like my lamb rare. Served with a potato gratin, and sliced fried courgette.
I looked at several gratin recipes and did something which had a lot of cream in with the potatoes, but cheese (parmesan) only on the top.

Lamb Kebabs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

Friday, 3rd February 2012

I have just finished an enjoyable novel called Arab Jazz, about an Arabic family in America, which included several tasty sounding food references, so I was inspired to try something vaguely arabic.
I tried and failed to get minced lamb (why on earth it is so hard to get lamb in a city with so many Turkish people, I have no idea), but managed to find a small leg joint and cut it into cubes (sort of). Marinate the meat in oil, garlic, onion, coriander and allspice, and then simply grill it on skewers. Soaking the skewers first is supposed to prevent them from burning, but it didn't work for me.
For the tomato sauce soften onions and garlic in oil, then add tinned cherry tomatoes, sugar and hot pepper sauce and cooked until thick. Spread the sauce on a dish and add greek yoghurt and mint, and then the kebabs.
I served them with basmati rice with toasted almond flakes, and olives, stuffed vine leaves and white beans, from the deli. Also some cauliflower florets stir fried in cumin, turmeric and more allspice, then a little water then added so it could cook through for 10 minutes.
It all came out very well, although some leaner meat would have been better. The spicy tomato sauce was particular good.

Lamb shoulder

Saturday, 3rd September

Bit of an emergency meal as we had not done any shopping. Fortunately the piece of lamb shoulder was in the freezer. This really needed 4 hours of slow cooking, but I left it too late so it only got two hours in a casserole with some wine, herbs, garlic and shallots. As a result not quite as tender as it could have been, but still good.
The shallots and sauce made quite a nice gravy.
To go with it aubergine and potatoes grown on my balcony! I put one small, sprouting spud in a plastic carrier bag of dirt in the spring, and it did nothing for months. Then suddenly lots of leaves and shoots came out and, when they had gone, I found enough little potatoes in there for about 3 of 4 portions. Not exactly self-sufficiency, but fun and delicious.

Lamb braised in White Wine

Friday, 22nd April (evening)

Done in the slow cooker while I was out. Braised the lamb in white wine with bacon, onions, garlic and rosemary. Served with sauteed potatoes.
The lamb came out wonderfully tender, but still with a nice meaty texture and flavour. The slow cooking helped the sweetness of the onions to come through, and cooked them perfectly without reducing them to mush. A hearty Turkey Flats Shiraz washed it down well.

Lamb and Spinach pie

Sunday, 3rd April

A dish I have not cooked for years!  The pie is made with cubed lamb, onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, spinach and a spoonful of orange marmalade in filo pastry. Together with rosemary potatoes and courgette with a yoghurt dressing. The pie was every bit as good as I remember. Subtly spicy and sweet, the lamb was tender, the spinach flavoursome and the flaky pastry a lovely contrast to the richness of the filling. The courgettes were overdone for my taste (the perils of playing scrabble while cooking!), but overall a win! A bottle of blanc-de-noirs Spätburgunder sekt washed it down very nicely.  

Lamb curry, Bhindi, Paratha, Lime Pickle

Saturday, 26th February

Nahari (Morning Delight) - India Cookbook p433, Bhindi Pyaz (crispy okra with onions) p246, Paratha (flaky bread) p609, saffron rice and home-made lime pickle.  The Nahari is a lamb curry with onions and a nice rich sauce spiced with coriander, black cardamom, turmeric, chilli, cloves, cinnamon, garlic and ginger  .  [For any German readers, "curry" is a generic term for any Indian main course dish (or, indeed, the meal as a whole) and not just a name for a spicy brownish sauce you have with sausages.]

The Nahari recipe calls for rather a lot of a sort of roux, made from garam flour, to be added at the end.  It seemed like far too much, so I left a lot of this out, but the sauce was still very glossy and thick.  With all the roux mixed in, the sauce would have been like glue I think.  Making the Paratha was fun and it did come out lovely and crisp and flaky, but still a bit floury in taste.  The bhindi were much better than I expected.  I cooked them for ages to reduce the gooiness but they still had a surprisingly good bite.  The home made lime pickle is something I did last year and which is still fabulous.  Not quite as hot as I would expect in an Indian restaurant in England, but very flavourful.