Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Grilled Lamb Chops with Indian Spices


When my kids were younger, I used to have this dream -- that they are now older, responsible teenagers and hence doing everything on their own, leaving me with huge expanse of plump, golden afternoons of nothingness. I used to crave for those afternoons of nothingness. I used to fantasize about all things I could do then like -- exercise,new recipes every other day, social media updates by the minute, blog every hour, write a new book every week...

Future seemed glorious.

I was like that kid who wanted to be an adult until she becomes an adult and has to pay mortgage!

Now that my kids are older, those afternoons seem to have vanished. I do not have afternoons. And if I have any, they are gone so fast that I miss them. My afternoons seem to sprint faster than Usain Bolt and vanish in the blink of an eye.

My younger one thinks I could have got hold of those afternoons to do some conditioning and get fit abs like her. My older one thinks I should use those afternoons to do anything but check her Physics hw.

I do neither and honestly I have no idea what I am doing really other than wasting my time browsing what-to-watch-on-Netflix. I keep saying I will get more time once the kids are in college, but those are all excuses. Clearly I am ignoring all these well-meaning quotes about "Living in the now". Or maybe I am actually "living-in-the-now" by doing nothing.



So anyway, instead of wasting my time describing afternoons, let me share the recipe of these delicious grilled lamb chops or more like grilled rack of lamb. With fresh garlic, ginger and Indian spices it is a very, very flavorful recipe. I learned it from my friend Deepsikha and just like her I make this dish completely in the oven. No browning in skillet or anything. You can use the same recipe for lamb chops too, only cooking time may vary.

Technically this is not grilling as I am doing it in the oven but I will take convenience and taste over jargon any day. So you can call it what you may but a morsel of that lamb in your mouth and you will agree it is delicious. Period.

I am sure you will love it as much as we do. For a summer dinner, I served it with a salad and a cool Tzatziki which Big Sis made.





Rack of Lambs with Fresh Indian spices

1. Go straight to Costco or your favorite and buy a rack of lamb. About 1.2lb. Rinse and pat dry.

2. Make a paste of
8-10 cloves of garlic
1.5" ginger
1/4th Cup of thick yogurt
1 tbsp Olive oil

3. Now you can use different spices in the marinade. Pick what suits you.

Spice #1 easiest option

1 Tbsp of store bought Raja tandoori masala
1 tsp red Chili Powder
2 tsp Black pepper powder

Spice #2 Make your own Dry Spice powder

Whole Coriander seeds -- 1 Tbsp
Fennel seeds -- 1 tsp
Cumin seeds -- 1 tsp
Black peppercorn -- 1 tsp
Dry Red Chili -- 2
Lightly roast all the above spices on a skillet until you see the spices turning a hint of brown and you get a spicy aroma. Cool and make a fine powder

4. In a bowl mix the
Garlic+Ginger+Yogurt paste from Step 2
Spice Powder from Step 3
Salt
This is your fragrant marinade

Arrange the rack of lamb in an oven proof tray. Marinate the 1.2 lb of lamb rack with the marinade. Make sure the meat pieces are all luxuriously coated with the spices.

5. Cover and let it sit in refrigerator for more than an hour while I finished my chores. Yeah I have plenty. The longer you marinate the more flavorful the result.

6. Preheat oven to 400F

7. Take out the rack of lamb from refrigerator, drizzle some olive oil and put it in the oven

8. After 20 mins, turn the meat pieces over and into the oven again for 15-20 mins. Total time 35-40 mins. If you like your meat medium rare, reduce oven timing.

9. Take it out. Cover the rack loosely with a foil and let it rest for 10 mins.

10. Enjoy! Oh and I add vegetable like potatoes, onions in large chunks, brussel sprouts in the same tray and they got cooked in the meat juice. Mmmm😋

Quick Easy Tzatziki

Drain regular store bought Plain yogurt in a strainer for 30 mins. About 1/2 Cup

Put the strainedyogurtt in a bowl

Grate 1/2 of a large cucumber

Add
grated cucumber
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp of Olive Oil
salt to taste
pinch of dried and crushed mint leaves
1/4ths tsp of Black pepper powder

Mix and refrigerate.

Serve grilled lamb with salad and Tzatziki

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1 comment:

  1. Thanks! I'll try it next Saturday. It seems and looks great!

    ReplyDelete

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