Lamb shoulder cooked in yoghurt and cumin seeds (yogurtlu kimyonlu kuzu)

If you have time, you can marinate the lamb in the yoghurt and spices for a few hours or overnight, but it will still be very delicious if you wish to cook it straight away. This dish is wonderful served with burghul pilaf, smoked eggplant dip or mint salad — or all three if you wish! Let the feast begin.

Credit: Turkish Fire

• serves

  6

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  2 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp cumin seeds, toasted (see Note)
• 1 tbsp pul biber (see Note)
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1–1.5 kg (2 lb 3 oz–3 lb 5 oz) lamb shoulder, boned and rolled, lightly trimmed of excess fat
• 250 g (9 oz/1 cup) Greek yoghurt
• 80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ cup) olive oil
• flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, to garnish

Resting time 30 minutes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF), or fire up a wood-fired oven or a hooded barbecue to a medium heat.

Mix together the cumin seeds, pul biber, salt and pepper. Rub the lamb with the yoghurt, then rub the spice mix in, so it all sticks onto the lamb. 

Wrap the lamb in foil and bake for 2 hours, or until it is meltingly tender and cooked to your heart’s desire. Remove the lamb from the oven and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Pull the meat apart and pile it onto a platter. Garnish with parsley and serve with your choice of side dishes.

Note

• Freshly toasted and ground cumin seeds add wonderful flavour to dishes. To toast cumin seeds, tip them into a small frying pan and lightly fry them over medium heat for a minute or two, until they smell fragrant, shaking the pan often to toss the seeds around so they don’t burn. Then just grind them to a powder using a mortar and pestle (a fabulous kitchen tool — everyone should have one!), or a spice grinder.

• Pul biber is a crushed red powder made from dried aleppo peppers. It is mild to medium in heat, and the Turkish love sprinkling it over just about anything. If you can’t find it in spice shops or Middle Eastern grocery stores, you can use chilli flakes instead.

Recipe and image from Turkish Fire by Sevtap Yüce (Hardie Grant and SBS, $55, hbk).View our Readable feasts review and more recipes from the book here. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.