A really very tasty (and also kind of healthy) lamb kebab!

I just made a totally yummy sort of lamb kebab for dinner and it was SO BLOODY GOOD that I'm blogging it before I forget exactly what I did! Unfortunately, I can't take all the credit because it was inspired by Jamie - I was watching his money saving meals thing the other day and he did a kebab that is probably EVEN BETTER than this one so you may as well search for that instead - but I've made this my way and it's probably a little simpler than his and kind of healthy too!

As I've just cooked this for me with left overs in the fridge for tomorrow, this recipe is for two, but everything in it is so easy to double or triple in quantity and I think it would be a brilliant help-yourself-around-a-table/finger-food dinner to make for friends!

For the kebab
2 flame baked chapattis (or whatever kind of flat bread type thing you can find!) 
about 250g/half a standard supermarket pack of lean lamb mince (we're not cooking in any fat so if you get a good quality mince then it really is pretty healthy!)
a tea spoon of garam masala (or a combination of warming spices, like cumin and coriander)
salt and black pepper

For the tasty bits
1/2 white cabbage, sliced finely
1/2 red onion, sliced finely
a couple of glugs of white wine vinegar
a tea spoon of sugar

about 250g/half a pot of low fat natural yoghurt
a handful of fresh mint, chopped
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tiny garlic clove, chopped finely/crushed (or a bit of garlic powder if you prefer)
salt

For the extras
a red chilli, chopped
a handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
1/4 cucumber, sliced
a handful or two of sweet gem lettuce, chopped

Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees and pop in your flat breads. Cook these according to packet instructions and make sure they're not piping hot when you serve up because you're going to want to be able to pick them up!

To make your kebabs you literally need to mix the spices and a good few twists of salt and pepper into the mince with your hands. Then split into four and roll each one into a kind of sausage shape - there's no need for it to be neat! If you've got some skewers then wrap the sausages around them, but I didn't bother and they still worked brilliantly (they'd be dead good barbequed but we've only just hit Feb so I think that might be a bit ambitious!)



Then get a griddle pan over a medium-high heat and pop the kebab straight onto it. Leave for several minutes on one side before turning - you're aiming for it to almost blacken with the fats inside the meat just sizzling away on the pan - and then turn until the whole sausage has been cooked. Remove onto a piece of kitchen roll to soak up any excess fats and then these are good to go - I made all of the other bits and bobs while the kebabs were cooking so the meal literally only took as long to make as these tiny sausages took to cook!

So while the lamb is on the hob, mix together the cabbage, red onion, white wine vinegar and sugar in a bowl and scrunch all together. The quantities here are too much for two people but this should keep pretty well so you could use it in another meal later in the week! In another bowl mix together the yoghurt, mint, lemon, garlic and a couple of twists of salt.

Make sure you've got all of the extras prepped and then dish up! I don't think there is a good way to eat this but I went with one hand and one fork and it went down pretty well...

Enjoy! No, seriously, you are really going to enjoy this!!

BBQ with the Girls

I meant to post this yesterday afternoon, sorry folks! But here it is, just in time for your Sat night BBQ!

Who said BBQs are a man's job?

http://www.crazywebsite.com/Pg-Free-Clipart-Graphics/pg-Celebrate_Labor_Day_Weekend/Funny_Barbecue_Clip_Art_Free_BBQ-2.html

 

Everyone assumes that the BBQ is a man's job - hilarious as it is (usually) the woman that does all the shopping for the food, marinating the meat, salad prep, taking out all of the food, plates, salad dressings etc. and the man just plonks the already flavoured meat onto the BBQ and nearly ruins it by either undercooking or burning it!! But on Thurs night I did a BBQ for the girls, and there wasn't a man in sight... as a result it may have been a little salad heavy and lacking in burgers and sausages! So if you fancy a refreshing change from the BBQ norm, then here are a couple of recipe ideas...

BBQ Bible

I used this book for recipe inspiration - BBQ Bible, published by Parragon years ago and probably not available any more. But if you can get your hands on it, it's a fabulous book! Colourful, full of different ways to cook meats and fish, with some very easy sauces and dressings; it's a good one to flick through and know that you will already have most of the ingredients in stock! The only sections that are uninspiring are the salad and veg dishes - but either you're a 'meat-only-BBQer' and this will not bother you, or a 'salads-make-the-BBQ' kind of chef, in which case you will probably have your own recipes! And the deserts section - but if you have room for desert after a BBQ then you're doing it wrong!

So I'll start with the meat recipes that I took from the book - Mustard and Honey Drumsticks and Middle Eastern Koftas.

Mustard and Honey Drumsticks

I used a combination of the marinated drumstick recipe in the book and a separate recipe for the honey mustard marinade, which I thought sounded like it had more flavour! So these measurements are copied from the book, but totally inaccurate as I just splashed in a bit of this and that!!



Ingredients
8 chicken drumsticks
125ml clear honey
4 tbsp Dijon Mustard
4 tbsp wholegrain mustard
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

Recipe
Combine all the ingredients except the oil into a large Tupperware.

Gradually add the oil, mixing it as you go until it is all absorbed.

Put the drumsticks into the marinade and coat them in it, then leave to absorb the flavours in the fridge for as long as you can (ideally make in the morning and leave all day before you BBQ).

When you BBQ, make sure that you cook the chicken all the way through but keep turning it so that one side doesn't burn (it will blacken because of the marinade, but you shouldn't get that charcoal taste!!)

Middle Eastern Koftas

Ingredients
750g minced beef (or lamb)
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
generous pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

Recipe
Blend the meat, onion, garlic, parsley, spices and seasoning to a smooth paste in the food processor. Or, if like me you can't find the food processor, then use ready ground coriander, cumin and black pepper, and just mix in your hands!

Gently roll the mixture between your hands and wrap around a flat skewer into a sausage shape.

The book then also instructs to marinate the kebabs in a Minted Yoghurt Marinade, which would have kept them nice and moist but I forgot to do... we had minted yoghurt as a side dish instead! (Recipe for that below)
 
So I would recommend to do that, then cook on the BBQ for about 10-15mins (depending on the thickness of your kebabs) and turn regularly. Worked well served with some ripped up naan bread, heated on the top BBQ rack for a few minutes!


The chicken will take a lot longer than the koftas, but I actually cooked them at the same time so we could eat the kebabs with some salads and have the chicken with corn on the cob afterwards!




Right, now that the meaty stuff is marinating and ready to go on the BBQ this evening, you can prep the salads!! It was so warm and lovely yesterday that I took everything outside with me and sat prepping in the garden! I used the Minted Yoghurt Marinade recipe from BBQ Bible as the dressing for my potato salad, and then also did a green salad and tomato salad.

Potato Salad

Ingredients
handful of new potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces
2 cloves garlic, crushed
pinch of salt
4 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped (or more if you love the flavour like me!!)
225ml natural yoghurt
1 tsp ground cumin, coriander or cinnamon, optional
handful of spring onions, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1/2 small white cabbage, shredded

Recipe
Boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and leave to cool.

Mix the garlic, salt, mint, yoghurt, and ground coriander (this is what I used but its your choice!) in a bowl.

Add the potatoes, spring onions, cucumber and cabbage and mix until everything is coated in the dressing. I also made a little extra to have as a dressing on the side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Salads

I made a couple of other salads to keep the BBQ light and fresh, as well as some corn on the cob cooked on the BBQ, so here are the ingredients I used!


Green Salad Ingredients
handful of iceberg lettuce (chopped), lambs lettuce and rocket
1 avocado, chopped
1/3 cucumber, chopped
100g feta cheese, crumbled






Tomato Salad Ingredients
3 tomatoes, sliced (probably need more, but there was only a couple of the girls that like them!)
few leaves of fresh basil, chopped finely
dash of olive oil
black pepper
(and some red pepper, for good measure!)

So there you have it!!! A huge BBQ with lots of fresh flavours, and one that you could take your time over and keep coming back to pick at! Try out one or two, or all of the recipes, and I hope they work just as well for you!