An Indian Summer

Barbeque fans lend me your ears (well eyes I guess). There is more to BBQ life than burnt sausages and suspect chicken drum sticks. Just look at the success of Grill Stock, a festival celebrating all that is BBQ that was so popular they now have two venues in Bristol (one at St Nicholas’ market and one at The Triangle). They offer a delicious slice of USA BBQ including pulled pork, babyback ribs and beef brisket to satisfy your meaty desires. Not your usual home BBQ cooking fare but why not? Here is another option for you, an Indian BBQ using one of the best meats going, leg of lamb and everyone’s favourite BBQ banana skin chicken.

The Prep

Your first job is making your marinade for the lamb and chicken. This is an easy process that you should really do the night before to get it on the meat overnight. However, if like me you forget these things or don’t plan that far in advance in really doesn’t matter if you don’t get it done until lunch time the day of the BBQ. For the lamb marinade you need to smash up:

·         4 garlic cloves

·         1 whole chilli

·         A chunk of fresh ginger

·         1 tsp turmeric

·         1 tsp paprika

·         I tsp garam masala

·         1 tsp cumin seeds

Once this is pretty much a paste add about 5/6 desert spoons of yoghurt so you have plenty to cover the lamb.

Now, the only tricky bit of the whole process, butterflying the lamb leg. You need to run a very sharp knife around the bone to get it out with minimal loss to the meat. Your biggest waste will be around the knuckle but don’t stress too much you shouldn’t lose too much. Once the bones out open up the fatter end of the leg so you can roll the meat out in a fairly uniform thickness. Slather the marinade all over both sides of the meat so none is uncovered and leave for as long as you can before cooking it.

The chicken will be cooked on skewers so soak these for a bit in cold water to stop them catching alight on the grill. The marinade is a mix of dry spices and yoghurt. You need to add:

·         1 tsp ground cumin

·         1 tsp ground ginger

·         1 tsp garam masala

·         1 tsp salt

·         1 tsp black pepper

·         2 tsp paprika

Mix up again with yoghurt and pour all over some chunks (2/3cm) of chicken breast. Once these are marinated, again for as long as possible, push onto the soaked skewers with some chopped up peppers and onions.

You now have a whole lamb joint and batch of chicken skewers ready to BBQ. I served this with a simple carrot and cucumber salad, an Indian style potato salad, naan breads and raita.

The Cooking

Get your BBQ fired up and nice and hot. The beauty of caking the meat in all that yoghurt is the acid in it will start to break down the meat and therefore it cooks quicker. You’re going to get the lamb on first as it will rest whilst the chicken cooks. Slap it right in the middle of the grill cooking for a good 5 minutes before turning. Ignore your mates telling you its burning, it is but that’s not a problem at all. Turn it over and keep it in the centre for another 5 minutes. It will look black as hell on both sides now but do not worry. Move the meat right to the edge of the grill and close the lid. Keep this shut for 5 minutes then turn it again and close the lid again.

Your meat has now had 20 minutes of cooking time and should be taken off the grill onto a board of plate and covered in foil for at least 15 minutes to rest. Trust me, underneath that charred, blackened exterior is a deliciously tasty, juicy, pink leg of lamb.

The chicken is pretty straightforward, chuck the skewers on the grill, stick pointing out, rotate them as soon as the meat starts to char on that side. About 10 minutes of turning and they are about done (depending on the size of your chunks of course).

That’s it. Grab a cold Kingfisher (it’s more refreshing than Cobra) and enjoy with friends. Try it, I promise it’s gooooood! The BBQ revolution is upon us, don’t get left behind.