Middle Eastern Food Mood

Middle Eastern Lamb Kebabs (01-August-2017)

I was walking through Safeway and looking in the meat section and saw Open Nature Leg of Lamb at 50% off. I could not let that go, so I bought one. This meant that I had to hurry up and figure out what to do with it. I had been thinking about Middle Eastern food lately. We sometimes miss the shawarma, chicken korma, salads, shrimp and hamour (grouper fish) that we had when we were in the Middle East. So Middle Eastern kebabs it would be!

I looked through several recipes for lamb online and in a couple of books, but nothing shouted at me. So I finally decided to just do something. The Baharat spice mix recipe from Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook by Tess Mallos beckoned me. I made the Baharat spice mix, sprinkled some of it on cubes of meat, added a little olive oil, sprinkled on some salt, mixed it up, added yogurt and stirred again. Marinated the meat in the fridge for about 5 hours then grilled it. The kebabs came out flavorful, tender and delicious.

Baharat Spice Mix (approximately 1/8th of the Tess Mallos recipe):

Note:  T.=tablespoon, t.=teaspoon

• 1 T. black peppercorns
• 1 ½ t. coriander seed
• 1 ½ t. cassia bark (1.5 grams)
• 1 ½ t. cloves (2.5 grams)
• 2 t. cumin seed
• ¼ t. cardamom seeds (not pods, but the seeds inside the pod)
• ½ nutmeg, grated (about ½ teaspoon)
• 1 T. ground paprika (I changed this and substituted Aleppo pepper instead)

Grind first 6 ingredients (I use a Krups coffee grinder). Place contents in a container and add in nutmeg, paprika or Aleppo pepper. Cover and shake.

Lamb Kebab

• About 2 pounds of lamb leg, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
• 1 ½ T. Baharat Spice Mix
• 1 to 2 T. olive oil
• sprinkling of fine sea salt
• 1 cup yogurt, drained

Sprinkle spice mix on lamb cubes. Add salt and olive oil. Mix well to distribute. Add yogurt and mix. Marinate in refrigerator for a few hours.

To cook and serve:

• Wooden skewers soaked for an hour in water
• Veggies – onion, peppers, bell peppers, etc. – tossed in olive oil
• Pita bread
• Yogurt

Place lamb and veggies on skewers and grill until done. Serve with pita bread and yogurt. Note: We usually have all meat skewers and all veggie skewers so that the cooking can be better controlled. Nice sides to have are tabouli, hummus or moutabel/baba ghanoush. We had tabouli, warm lentil salad, sautéed green beans and store bought hummus on this day and a couple days after. Good leftovers!

WA Pub: 2017-Aug-09 15:30 Cuisine:Middle Eastern Cooking: Main Kebabs
WA Pub: 2017-Aug-09 15:30 Ingredients:Lamb