This is by far the best lamb I’ve had in a long while…

Hope everyone is having a great holiday! My 10 day holiday started yesterday and I am enjoying it like anything. My husband and I first thought of going on a vacation somewhere south. Then we decided to vacation at home – waking up late, cooking whenever I feel like or dining out, watching movies, driving around town, catching up with friends, etc.

We have travelled a lot in the past 5 years and it does feel little uncomfortable to sit tight at home. But it didn’t take us long to realize that at-home vacations are the best thing to unwind and recharge your batteries. We can have fun sitting at home by creating a vacation feel. If you explore the city you live in, you would be surprised to see that there are a lot of things to do. I know when we go on a vacation we dine out a lot, so do the same when you vacation at home. Eat at least one meal a day outside be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. If you have any favorite activity try each activity everyday, for instance: bowling, pool etc etc. Go out to the movies. Hit the spa one day and pamper yourself with your favorite massage, facial etc. There are endless things you can do to make your at-home vacation experience better.

This morning I woke up very late like 12:30(okay afternoon) and so first we thought of going out for lunch. For some reason the sight of lamb in my freezer tempted me to cook that for lunch. I was not up for any major cooking, so made lunch in a very relaxed way. I watched a movie while cooking, since I baked the lamb I didn’t have to do much. The oven does all the work for me. As a side, I made a quick asparagus and mushroom stir fry. Voila, in no time and without much effort a delicious lunch was ready on the dining table coffee table, watching movie in a quite messy way and not feeling guilty.

I am sharing the recipe for both baked mint lamb and asparagus-mushroom stir fry in this post. This definitely makes a great holiday lunch/dinner.

Baked Mint lamb Recipe

Ingredients:

• Lamb, shoulder cut- 2 large pieces or more
• Coconut oil or any oil- 2 tbsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp or as required

For making paste:

• Ginger, chopped- 2 inch slice
• Garlic, chopped- 4 cloves
• Shallots or small onions- 4 no’s
• Mint leaves- 15 leaves
• Whole black pepper corns- 1 tsp
• Salt- 3/4 tsp
• Water- little

Preparation:

1. Puree the above mentioned ingredients ‘for making paste’ in a blender to a smooth paste, add some water to get the paste constituency.
2. I used shoulder cut lamb, you could use lamb chops or any bone-in or boneless pieces.
3. Spread the paste over the lamb and marinate for 30 minutes or more the better. Or marinate it overnight.
4. Place a non-stick oven proof cooking pan or oven proof skillet over medium heat.
5. Add 2 tbsp oil and swirl the pan to coat all over the pan.
6. Place the marinated lamb, cook on medium heat for 10 minutes flipping to both sides.
7. Don’t cook till all the water dries off, there should be water in the pan (as seen on the above picture)
8. In the meantime, preheat oven to 400 F.
9. After 10 minutes of pan frying, cover the pan with aluminum foil.
10. Place the pan into the oven on the rack placed at the middle of the oven.
11. Bake for total 25 minutes.
12. After 15 minutes of baking, take the pan outside (please wear an oven gloves) and flip the lamb to the other side, cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 10 more minutes.
13. Since the pan is covered with aluminum foil, the lamb will be still moist, it won’t dry out.
14. After total 25 minutes of baking, remove the pan from the oven and place it over the stove top.
15. Pan fry the lamb over medium heat till the both sides turn light brown, about 3 minutes.
16. If you want sprinkle some ground pepper and pan fry it.
17. Remove from the heat.
18. Serve with the Asparagus-Mushroom stir fry, scroll down for the recipe.
19. While the lamb is baking, you could make the stir fry.

Asparagus-Mushroom Stir fry

Ingredients:

• Asparagus, remove the top and tough ends- 1 bunch
• Mushroom, white sliced- 1 packet
• Mint leaves- 6 leaves
• Worcestershire sauce- 3 tbsp
• Red wine vinegar- 1tsp (optional)
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- little
• Water-little
• Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Place a wok over medium heat.
2. Add olive oil.
3. Put the asparagus into the oil, saute for a minute.
4. Add the mushrooms, saute for a minute.
5. Pour worcestershire sauce, sprinkle salt and ground pepper over the veggies.
6. Add little water and cover the wok, let the veggies turn tender.
7. Remove the cover, stir fry the veggies.
8. Add red wine vinegar, combine well.
9. Stir fry till all the water dries off and the veggies turn light brown.
10. Gently stir fry and be sure not to break the asparagus.
11. This makes a delicious side with Baked Mint Lamb.

Last couple of days, I had done a lot of googling for biryani recipes and I was overwhelmed to see the different kinds of biryani and the different methods for making it. At the end as usual, I decided to stick with my mom’s irresistible biryani recipe, which am sure would definitely beat the other recipes and it did. And remember you don’t have to have any celebrations to make biriyani, any day biryani would be a big hit. So here is a sumptuous feast you could have with your family and friends.

I know the lengthy preparation method would make some of you guys to double think about making this. Trust me, this is not as hard as it seems. Have all the things ready and then start the cooking. You could even do all the chopping and marination part ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator.

Lamb Biryani: serving: 4 adults

Ingredients:

For making rice:

• Basmati Rice- 2.5 cups
• Whole cardamom-3
• Cinnamon stick- 3 inch stick, sliced
• Cloves-3
• Bay leaves-2
• Ghee-2 tbsp
• Salt- as required
• Water-  5 cups (for stove top cooking), 3 cups (if using rice cooker)

If you are using rice cooker: After washing and draining the rice, put it in the bowl along with all the above ingredients and 3 cups water. For cooking Basmati rice in rice cooker, less water is needed, mostly it is 1:1 rice: water ratio, here I used 1/2 cup more water.

Cooking on stove top: Wash and drain the rice. One a deep bottomed non-stick pot/vessel, add the ghee and the other ingredients(cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves), slightly fry it and add the rice to this. Roast the rice for few minutes and add the water. Cover the pot and cook in medium flame. Cook until rice is fully cooked and water is absorbed. After the cooking, using a fork gently fluff the rice to avoid sticking.

Marinating the Lamb: First remove any excess fat from the lamb cubes. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and pour 2 tbsp lime juice, wash the meat and drain it.

Ingredients:

• Boneless or bone-in lamb, cut into big cubes- 2 lbs (1 kg)
• Chilli powder-1 tbsp (or depending upon your spice level)
• Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
• Fennel powder-2 tbsp
• Coriander powder-2 tbsp
• Garam masala-2 tsp
• I make my own garam masala: cardamom-8, cloves-4, cinnamon stick-3inch, grind all these in the blender and use 2 tsp of this.
• Lime juice- juice of half lemon
• Salt- as required

• Marinate the lamb with all the above ingredients and keep it aside for 30 minutes.

For making the Masala:

• Onions- 6 (if big) or 8 (medium) cut thin, vertically (make sure you cut like this)
• Ginger chopped- 3 tbsp
• Garlic chopped-3 tbsp
• Green chillies sliced- 3 tbsp (or depending upon how spicy you want)
• Small onions chopped- 8 no’s
• Tomatoes, chopped- 2
• Yogurt- 1/2 cup
• Curry leaves- 1 string (optional)
• Cilantro chopped- 1/3 cup
• Cardamom- 3
• Cloves-3
• Cinnamon stick- 2 inch
• Oil- 3tbsp
• Ghee-2 tbsp
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

1. In a pressure cooker, add ghee and oil, put the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and slightly fry it.
2. Add the onions and fry in the oil until translucent. Add curry leaves to this.
3. Coarsely grind garlic, ginger, green chillies and small onions in a blender.
4. Add the ground ginger/garlic/green chillies/small onion mix and cook until the onion starts to turn light brown.
5. Add the tomatoes and cook till it gets smashed.
6. Add the marinated lamb and give it a stir.
7. Now add the yogurt, mix everything . Add cilantro and salt.
8. Cover the pressure cooker and cook in low-medium flame for 3-4 whistles or until the lamb is cooked well.
9. Open the cooker, if the masala is watery, turn the heat to high and cook uncovered until the masala has almost thickened.
10. Don’t make the masala too dry, it should need some gravy.

Layering Rice-Lamb masala and final cooking:

Ingredients:

• Onion, cut thin vertically- 2
• Cashew nuts, roasted in 1tsp ghee- 1/4 cup
• Raisins, roasted in 1 tsp ghee- 1/3 cup
• Cilantro chopped- 1/3 cup
• Saffron strands – 2 pinches, soak in 2 tbsp milk for 15 minutes
• Ghee- 3tbsp

Layering:

1. Fry onion in oil until golden brown and transfer into a paper towel, keep it aside.
2. Grease a large cooking pan with 1 tbsp ghee.
3. Add the first layer of lamb masala, then add one layer of cooked rice on top of this.
4. Pour 1tbsp ghee over the rice, sprinkle 1/2 of the saffron in milk on the rice, evenly spread half of the the fried onions, put half of the roasted cashew nuts and raisins, half of the chopped cilantro on top of the rice.
5. Repeat this step one more time.
6. Finally, on top you will have the rice, garnished with saffron, fried onions, cashew nuts/raisin s and cilantro.
7. Tightly seal the dish with aluminum foil and close it with its lid
8. Place on stove top with very low flame and cook for 15 minutes.
9. You could also do the final cooking in the oven: Preheat oven to 350F. Do the layering in an oven safe dish, close the dish with aluminum foil and bake it for 20-25 minute.
10. Enjoy the Lamb biryani with Raita or pickle.

Easy Yogurt Raita:

• Onion minced-1/2 onion
• Tomato minced-1
• Yogurt-1/2 cup
• Green chilli sliced-1
• Cilantro chopped-1 handful
• Salt- to taste

• Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl and serve as a side dish with biryani.