Slow cooked lamb with Lebanese baharat spice – salt free

PREP TIME

15 minutes

COOK TIME

90 minutes

SERVES

6 people

Ingredients

2 tbsp The Spice People’s Lebanese Baharat spice mix
1 tsp The Spice People’s Sumac Ground
1/2 tsp The Spice People’s Saffron Threads (optional)
1kg boned butterfly lamb
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup water only if oven baking, no water required fro crockpot or slow cooker
1.5 cups cous cous
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock for cous cous
1/4 cup pistachios and slivered almonds
1/4 cup parsley and or coriander leaves
steamed vegetables such as carrots and beans

The love this recipe

Lebanese Baharat spice mix or 7-spice mix is used in middle eastern cooking like garam masala is to Indian cooking. This delicate aromatic salt-free spice blend is used as the base flavouring in dishes from meat and vegetable to appetisers.

The addition of sumac is common to provide added tanginess to dishes such as lamb or chicken. Our slow cooker version using this spice is aromatic, with sweet spices and tangy sour notes perfectly balanced with savoury highlights from cardamom and cumin. A little salt can be added at the end of cooking if desired, but taste it first.

Directions

Mix all ingredients together except water and marinate with lamb for 1 hour in the fridge or overnight. Place “butterflied” lamb on a roasted rack in a large deep roasting dish, add the water, and roast at 150 degrees for about 2 hours, basting regularly with pan juices. Remove lamb from oven and rest for 10 minutes. This dish can be also cooked on the BBQ, or slow cooker.
Keep lamb on the roasting rack in the BBQ and use a foil baking pan half-filled with water to keep the meat moist while cooking.
While the lamb is cooking proceed with the couscous. Place couscous in a large bowl. Bring stock and saffron to the boil and pour over couscous, then cover and stand for 20 minutes, or until the stock is absorbed. With some of the couscous brands, they have been precooked, the time, in this case, is around 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork, then add nuts, lemon juice, oil, and parsley and mix well.
Divide the couscous mixture onto the plates, top each serving with thick slices of the lamb steamed vegetables, and drizzle with a spoonful of the warm marinade.