Lamb Kofta Kebab

 

In my previous post, I wrote about my first time dining at a Lebanese (or Middle-eastern) restaurant, Al Aseel. I had ordered the "Mixed Plate", comprising an array of dips and a three types of grilled meats on skewers - chicken, lamb and kafta. I wasn't a fan of the chicken as I found it a little dry. The lamb was not bad, but my favourite was the kafta.

 

Kofta generally refers to savoury balls of ground meat (or vegetables, potatoes, lentils etc) mixed with spices, herbs or other ingredients. In Lebanese cuisine, it's called kafta and is usually made with ground beef, allspice, parsley and onions. I decided to make a lamb kofta kebab instead by placing the lamb mince on skewers and then grilling them on the barbecue. You can use either beef, lamb or a combination of both.

You may serve this with some Lebanese bread (or any flatbread), hummus and tahini sauce with tabouli as a salad.  I also made some beef kebabs which is simply taking some good quality beef steaks (I used scotch fillet), cut into chunky cubes and skewered with alternating onions (or use bell peppers). Brush with oil and season with salt and pepper before grilling them on the barbecue. Serve together with the bread, dips and salad.

 

Lamb Kofta Recipe

Ingredients

500g lamb mince
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp chopped coriander
1 1/2 tbsp chopped parsley
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or substitute with chilli powder), or more to taste

Vegetable oil for brushing
6 metal skewers

Method

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (except oil) and mix well using your hands until it becomes pasty and sticks together. Refrigerate for an hour until firm. This makes it easier to skewer the meat without it falling apart.

Take a handful of the mixture and "mould" it onto the metal skewer to form a long sausage-shape. Try to do this in one go and not move the mixture around the skewer too much. Otherwise it might not stick onto the skewer properly. Repeat until you finish the mixture.

Prepare a barbeque grill. Brush some oil over the lamb skewers and place them on the grill. Cook, turning occasionally until it's charred outside. Once cooked, transfer onto a serving plate. Serve immediately with pita bread, dips and tabouli.

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Braised Lamb Shanks with Massamun Curry

 

 

 

The first time I had lamb shanks was at Mulligan's, an Irish restaurant in Sydney. I remember how tender the meat was and it just melted in the mouth, together with the luscious red wine gravy and mashed potatoes. Well, that was a really really long time ago, and since then, I had always wanted to cook lamb shanks but never did until now, after I bought a french oven that's large enough to fit those shanks. I decided to make a Thai version by braising the lamb in massamum curry with some potatoes. I had it in the oven long enough that the meat was so tender and just fell off the bone. It was delicious, and with all curries, it tastes even better the next day!

Massamun Curry Lamb Shanks

 

Ingredients

 

6 lamb shanks (about 2kg or 4lbs)

Salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

110g (4oz) massaman curry paste

2 cups coconut cream

2 cups reduced-salt beef stock

1 tbsp fish sauce (or to taste)

3-4 tbsp palm sugar (or to taste)

2 tbsp tamarind pulp concentrate

1/4 cup ground/chopped peanuts (optional)

500g (1 lb) potatoes, peeled and cut into golf-ball sized

Coriander leaves, for garnish

 

Method

 

Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Rub some salt over the lamb shanks. Heat up the vegetable oil in a large dutch/french oven or and sear the lamb in 2 batches on high heat, about 8 minutes each batch until browned. Transfer to a plate.

 

Using the oil left in the dutch oven, fry the onions, star anise, cinnamon stick and cardamom for 3 minutes, and then add the massaman curry paste. Fry until fragrant, then add half the coconut cream. Fry for 1-2 minutes until the oil starts to separate. Add the rest of the coconut cream and beef stock. Bring to a boil, then add the lamb shanks. Cover with a lid and place in the oven to cook for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and add fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind pulp and peanuts. Stir well to mix. Add the potatoes and cook in the oven again for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and place on the stove on medium-high heat. Remove the lid and let it boil for about 10 minutes to let the curry reduce slightly until thickened.

To serve, transfer to a serving dish and garnish with coriander leaves. Enjoy with steamed jasmine rice.

 

 

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