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by mitzireddy

LAMB FATTOUSH

January 20, 2012 in meat, Salad

20 Comments »

It’s a bit of a struggle to shrug off the holiday mode and get back into normal routine – and this includes blogging as well as getting into grip with the “new” platform where one has lost one’s subscribers – I look at the amazing pictures posted by fellow bloggers and despair as to whether I will ever get anywhere near that level of expertise – ah well –I will continue to plod along and give it a shot.

During this holiday season I had cooked and baked many of fellow bloggers recipes that I had saved to impress and wow my family and friends and also tried some new
recipes including this lamb fattoush which I had adapted from the BBC food
network by Simon Ritter.

I love the way the word fattoush rolls off ones tongue – fattoush is a Lebanese salad. The salad dressing uses an ingredient, sumac, a ground red berry, which adds quite a zing to the flavour.

SUMAC
This salad is crisp, crunchy especially with the toasted pita and has an unsual flavour of the sumac – delicious and healthy.  I have also tried this salad without the lamb – I have to admit the flavour of the lamb makes this a more special dish.

 

LAMB FATTOUSH

Serves: 4

 

LAMB MINCE

2 Tablespoon vegetable oil

250 gr lamb mince

½ onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tsp ground cinnamon

FOR THE SALAD

Cos lettuce (shredded)

¼ green pepper cubed (½ cup)

¼ red pepper (½ cup)

¼ yellow pepper (½ cup)

1 Israeli cucumber, quartered and diced (I used ½
English cucumber)

¼ cup carrot, grated

2 radish, chopped

½ cup parsley, finely chopped

¼ cup red onion, diced

¼ cup white onion, diced

1 tomato, diced

½ cup baby red cabbage, finely shredded

¼ cup baby cabbage, finely shredded

¼ cup fresh mint, finely shredded

1 toasted pita bread, tear into small bite size
pieces

Dressing

100ml olive oil

1 ½ lemons, juice and zest

1/2 garlic clove, crushed

20gr ground sumac

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Preparation method

  1. For the lamb, heat one tablespoon of the
    vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the mince for 4-5 minutes, or until
    browned all over. Remove the mince from the pan and set aside.
  2. In the same pan, add the remaining vegetable oil
    and fry the onion and garlic until softened. Return the lamb back to the
    frying pan, add the cinnamon, season with salt and freshly ground black
    pepper and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. For the dressing, whisk all the ingredients
    together in a bowl until well combined.
  4. For the salad, place the salad ingredients into a
    large bowl and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
    Pour over the salad dressing and mix until well combined.
  5. Serve the salad on a large serving plate or bowl
    and spoon the lamb on top.

 

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by mitzireddy

SAFFRON LAMB PULAO

January 11, 2012 in curry, meat, Uncategorized

2 Comments »

 

Wishing all fellow bloggers a wonderful 2012 and
many happy fruitful hours whipping up delicious food. It’s been awhile since my
last post – Rajen and I had been enjoying spending time with Luscious Lynn and
Lovely Linda over this festive period– with the holiday season over for most –
they have now gone back to chilly London and it’s time to settle back to my
normal routine.  The saffron lamb pulao
is an exotic dish to begin my posts for this year. This recipe from the Post
newspaper, is almost like a cheat’s biryani.

SAFFRON
LAMB PULAO

Serves 4 – 6

3 potatoes, peeled and cut into rounds

1 onion, thinly sliced

Oil for frying the potatoes and onions

10 saffron strands

200ml boiling water

 

50ml oil

1 cinnamon stick

4 cardamom pods

2 bay leaves

2 large onions, finely chopped

12.5ml crushed ginger

12.5ml crushed garlic

20ml red chilli powder

1kg leg of lamb or shoulder chops, cut into pieces

7.5ml coarse salt

5ml ground cumin

10ml ground coriander

5ml garam masala

2.5ml turmeric

500ml boiling water

62.5ml fresh cream

250ml frozen peas

3 cups cooked basmati rice

Fresh coriander and mint to garnish

 

Fry the sliced potatoes until golden brown. Remove
from heat and drain in a colander.

Fry the sliced onions until deep golden brown. Drain
on absorbent paper.

Heat the saffron strands in a frying pan for about ½
a minute. Crush the cooled saffron strands using your fingertips.

Pour the 200ml boiling water over the crushed
saffron. Let the mixture stand for at least 15 minutes – this process releases
the aroma and colour of the saffron strands.

Heat the 50ml oil in a pot on a medium heat.

Fry the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and bay leaves
for about ½ minute.

Add the chopped onions to the oil and sauté until
golden brown.

Add the ginger and garlic paste and stir for a few
seconds.

Add red chilli powder and stir for 2 – 3 seconds
only.

The mixture in the pot should resemble a thick spice
paste.

Add the lamb cubes and coat the pieces in the fried
onion paste.

Add salt, ground cumin, coriander, garam masala and
turmeric.

Continue stirring the lamb ensuring that the meat
does not stick and burn for about 10 minutes.

Add 500ml boiling water

and simmer for 45 minutes until the meat is tender.
Add more boiling water if necessary.

Stir in the fresh cream.

Remove from the heat and layer the peas over the
lamb.

Then add the fried potatoes followed by the rice.

Pour the saffron infusion over the rice.

Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid.

Steam the lamb pulao on very low heat until the
saffron infusion evaporates taking care to check that the lamb does not stick
or burn.

This should take about 10 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning and garnish with fresh coriander,
mint and fried onion slices.

 

 

 

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