Delicious, juicy and perfectly spiced up, these lamb kebabs are perfect for the grill, or skillet. Get yourself the ingredients and cook up some Arabian flavored awesomeness. They take about 5 minutes to cook and are a great dish to serve up for a party with many guests as thy can be prepared in advanced and cooked right before meal time with minimal effort.
Use a nice lean piece of lamb like a filet or loin or a trimmed shoulder or leg cut. A bit of fat is not a problem actually and in fact adds a lot of flavor if you don’t mind it.
— Makes 2 portions —
Ingredients for Moroccan style lamb kebabs and yogurt lemon mint sauce
For the kebabs
- 400g (~1/2 pound) lamb, cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes
- 2 red or green bell peppers cur into 2.5 cm (1 inch) squares
- Bamboo or metal kebab skewers, if using bamboo skewers, soak them for 5 min before use
For the marinade
- 2 tsp sweet or smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary, or dried
- 1 clove garlic, grated or finely chopped
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp extra virgin live oil
For the yoghurt, lemon, mint sauce
- 6 tbsp yoghurt, use Greek yoghurt if possible but it’s not critical
- 1 clove garlic, grated or finely chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 lemon zest
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 mint leaves, finely chopped and bruised with your fingers
- Salt to season
Instructions for Moroccan lamb kebabs
Step 1: Marinate the lamb
Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add the lamb pieces and mix. Ideally let this sit covered or in a bag overnight, but if you are pressed for time an hour will work and I have also done these lat minute – letting it marinade for 10 minutes – with great results.
Step 2: Prepare the sauce
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together and refrigerate till needed.
Step 3: Prepare the kebabs
Using the skewers, spike a piece of meat and then a pepper and push it down 3/4 the way down. Repeat, alternating meat and pepper till you get to the top of the skewer.
Step 4: Grill or pan sear the kebabs
Get the BBQ or your pan to a high temperature. Ultimately you want to cook these babies fast and hot to a temperature of medium-rare to medium-well-done as the meat should be pretty lean. It will take about 5 to 6 minutes to cook. You can always taste one to check how done they are. Remember that they will continue to cook a bit after you take them off the grill. So if when you taste them they are medium, when you serve them, 3 minutes later, they will be almost medium-well-done. When you are ready, add the kebabs to the grill or pan and turn 45 degrees every 1 minute to cook all sides. Continue cooking and turning till you get to the temperature you want.
If you are nervous about it, just cook one kebab as a test and time it. Taste and use those results to adjust your cooking times.
Step 4: SERVE
Serve your kebabs with a bit of yogurt lemon mint sauce and an awesome side like a chickpea tomato cucumber salad or this awesome quinoa, grilled vegetables, cucumber and tomato salad.
Do you have any awesome recipes for this summer’s BBQ sessions? Leave a comment below and we’d love to feature your recipes.
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