Serves: 2-4
Approx cost: €4
Approx calories (if served to 4): ~375
Approx preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes
So after my adventures with Moussaka, I still had half a packet of minced lamb left over. What to do, what to do, I thought. Well, I settled in the end for lamb kebabs. Quite simple and taste, and it allows you to enjoy the flavour of the meat with just the delicate hint of spices in the background. My wife recommended adding a little bit less cinnamon for next time but I disagreed – personally I thought the amount of cinnamon was perfect but see what you think!
I served this, quite simply with a salad and some Tzatziki – a perfect, light meal, although I would imagine that it would go really well with some fries or potato wedges, maybe a jacket potato, some bread, the choice is yours! Let me know if you try it and have a good day!
Ingredients
– 500g Minced Lamb
– 1 Onion
– 4-5 cloves of Garlic
– 1 handful of fresh Mint
– 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
– 1 tsp Cumin
– 1 tsp Ground Coriander
– 1 tsp Cinnamon
– Salt
– Pepper
Instructions
- If you can do this stage 24 hours in advance, so much the better. Giving the meat some time to allow the spices to infuse throughout really is beneficial to the final flavours. Peel and finely chop the onion and mince the garlic. Add both into a large bowl, along with the minced lamb, all the spices and around 1 tsp each of salt and pepper. Chop the mint finely and add this in. Mix well to combine everything and then, preferably, cover and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours. If you don’t have the time, then proceed as normal to step 2.
- Take 8 wooden sticks and soak in water for a few minutes. Divide the meat mixture into 8 balls and then push a wooden stick through the centre of each ball. Laying on a flat surface, press and stretch out the meat so it covers about half of the stick in total length. Turn the “sausage” as you do this to ensure the stick remains in the centre of the meat. Carefully transfer the sticks to a baking sheet.
- Place under a hot grill and cook for about 20-25 minutes, turning every 5 minutes or so, until the meat has browned around the outside. Enjoy with some Tzatziki, maybe some good bread and some fresh salad for an awesome, tasty meal!
Mmm… I love tzatziki with brochettes and the inclusion of mint with the meat is perfect. I like the simplicity of this summer meal – satisfying but light. Very nice Charles.
Thanks Kelly – After making the Moussaka and these I'm a big fan of cinnamon in meat now… makes me want to be more adventurous!
Charles, your kebabs look fantastic! I have always added cinnamon to ground beef (chili con carne) and it really improves the overall taste, but lamb sounds equally great. Thanks for the idea!
Unfortunately I won't be making these with lamb too often… had to order the minced lamb specially from England, but I love beef too so no problem. Never tried minced beef with cinnamon – after the moussaka I made and these I'm looking forward to being a bit more experimental with spices in meat!
Katherine keeps saying we should make these. I might have to surprise her. These look fabulous.
Cheers Greg – they did turn out rather well 🙂 I like my minced meat nice and dry too, although perhaps other people prefer them more "moist" 🙂
I've been meaning to make lamb kebabs for ages. And I love tzatziki with souvlaki so that's even more motivation to enjoy this tasty sauce again. Though I don't care for the texture of onion in things like hamburgers so I'd probably cook the diced onion before adding it to the meat.
I meant to originally make kofta, but then realised that that's something different entirely (well, similar, but different). If you don't like the texture of onion in the meat you could try grating it – if you do it finely enough you'll get only the wonderful flavour with none of the "bittiness" 🙂
I've had vegetarian koftas before but never lamb. I can buy locally raised ground (minced) lamb in my local market for $5.99 per pound (Canadian) which is pretty affordable so I may give either these kebabs or the koftas a try next weekend. Two birthday celebrations this coming weekend to plan any barbecuing.
This recipe for lamb koftas (also using mint and cinnamon) looked pretty good. I'll have to pick up an appropriate alcholic beverage to go with it. 🙂
http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Main/Herbs/reci…
Aaaah yeah, that looks soooo good. I love aioli too, my father in law makes the best aioli I ever had in my life. I'll be making some this week to eat with our "Swedish Crayfish Party" at home so I'll be sure to post the recipe for that then too 🙂
Great combination of spices in the kebabs, they sound so delicious. I also like that you're not sparing with the tzatziki sauce on your plate. 🙂
Thanks Caroline. No skimping on tzatziki at my dinner table! Something so easy and cheap to make, there's always plenty to go around! 😀 I could eat it with a spoon on its own actually, I love it so much!
I'm right there with ya!!
Love crayfish (crawfish) and haven't had any since I was last in New Orleans … 20 yrs ago. 🙁 Enjoy yourselves
Oops, meant to reply but didn't. I think the crayfish weren't so good this year. As it's a Swedish tradition there's usually one huge export company which sells the year's crayfish to multiple places in Sweden as well as to IKEA it seems, so we get our crayfish from there. This year they were from China, whereas often they're from Turkey… I think the ones raised in Turkey seem to have a more full taste. They were very good though all the same! 🙂
These look fantastic – they make me think of holidays in Greece. I might have to whip some of these up at the weekend and pretend I've just spent the day on a beach. 🙂
Hehe, add in a peach margarita from here or here and you're good to go! 🙂
I think you made these delicious lamb kebabs to tempt me lol. I had a nice healthy dinner and now I'm back hungry again lol. Very nice recipe
Ah, these lamb kebabs are pretty healthy, so you don't need to worry about eating a couple on top of a meal as a snack 😀
I picked up a pound of frozen minced lamb but had to toss it in the freezer for making these kebabs later. With my nephew home from school for only 3 weeks we're overdosing on all you can eat sushi, dim sum, fish and chips and other goodies he can't get where he's located so I have no time to bbq. Hopefully there will still be some good bbq'ing weather in September.
Mmmm, dim sum – I LOVE that stuff. Chuck a bit of hoi sin sauce and sriracha on top and they're heavenly. Here's to having good weather in September – I was supposed to go to a barbecue tomorrow but it's raining today so I'm not sure if it's still going ahead anymore 🙁