Lamb Kebabs

Damn Sainsbury's. Do they do it deliberately? Do they sell their lamb mince in 400g portions, knowing that you need 500g to make a proper Shepherd's Pie? This means that I had to buy two packs of lamb mince and, after making Sunday's Shepherd's Pie I had more lamb mince leftover. What to do? I could freeze it for a later day but I know it would be left there for months until it's time to throw away. I'm not very good with freezers, see. For me they're like cupboards to hide food in and forget about. So, in the end, I decided to have more lamb the following evening. This time in the form of koftas. I served them with a tomato, shallot and lime salad and a carrot thoran.

Lamb Koftas with carrot thoran and tomato and onion salad (serves two)

300g lamb mince
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 green chilli, chopped
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
3 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
2 carrots,grated
1 shallot, chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of turmeric
30g dessicated coconut, mixed with 2 tbsp water.
1 tomato, cut in half and sliced
1 shallot, sliced
Juice of 1/2 lime

1) The lamb koftas are easy. First dry fry the coriander and cumin seeds until they give off an aroma. Then crush them all and put in a bowl. Next chop the garlic, coriander and ginger and add these to the bowl with the chopped coriander, lemon juice and the meat. Mix around into a big ball.
2) Now pick large chunks from the meat, roll into a ball, flatten it out into a log shape so it is about an inch thick and put it onto an oiled skewer Refridgerate for 30 minutes.
3) Put the grill on and put the koftas onto a baking sheet lined with foil. Grill for five minutes on either side.
4) While you are grilling the koftas, make the carrot thoran. For this you need to heat 1 tbsp of groundnut oil in a frying pan and pop the mustard seeds. Then add the shallot and the green chilli and fry for five minutes until softened. Add the carrot and coconut and continue cooking for a few minutes.
5) Finally the salad. Slice the tomato, alternate withe a slice of shallot, sprinkle with salt and squeeze over some lime juice. Serve it all up.

This would have been better had I not overcooked it but at least I can now say that there is no need to cook koftas for 20 minutes. Nor is there any need to have three yourself but they were really tasty, fragrant and mildly spiced. That's a good excuse isn't it?