the Ingredients
Instructions
These cumin, chilli lamb skewers are served by street vendors in Northern China. Traditionally, small pieces of lamb fat are threaded in-between the meat to make them extra juicy and flavoursome. It can be a little fiddly deboning the lamb forequarter chops, but they have the best fat to meat ratio for these skewers.
- Remove most of the meat from the chops using a sharp boning style knife. Keep at least 3 mm of fat, trimming away the excess. Leaving a small amount of fat behind will keep the skewers juicy. Cut lamb approximately into 2 cm cubes.Add the lamb to a bowl with the olive oil.
- In a mortar and pestle, grind the Sichuan peppercorns into a coarse powder. Add the salt, ground cumin, cumin seeds, white pepper, chilli powder and gently stir. Add the spice mix to the lamb, mix all ingredients to evenly coat.
- If desired, cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours to marinate. If using wooden skewers, soak in water for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the barbecue for cooking using direct medium-high heat (210°C - 250°C) and preheat as directed.
- Prepare the barbecue for cooking using direct medium-high heat (210°C - 250°C) and preheat as directed.
- Prepare the barbecue for cooking using direct medium-high heat (250°C - 290°C) and preheat as directed.
- Thread the lamb onto skewers.
- Once the barbecue has preheated, adjust your barbecue to the settings for direct medium-high heat (250°C-290°C). Refer to settings in Step 4.Once the barbecue has preheated, adjust your barbecue to the settings for direct medium-high heat (250°C-290°C).
- Brush the cooking grills clean with a wire brush. Grill the lamb skewers over direct medium-high heat, with the lid closed, until the lamb skewers have deeply caramelised, 8 minutes for a medium result, turning once.
- Remove the skewers from the barbecue and leave to rest for a couple minutes before serving.