Lamb Kebabs with Raita (Yogurt Sauce)

Many of you know that my godmother is Indian and she has instilled in my a great love of all Indian food. I recently picked up a cookbook in one of the bargain aisles of Barnes & Nobles called Best Ever Indian Cookbook. Some of the recipes are a little wonky (like they'll list ingredients but not tell you how to use them) but since I got it on clearance, it's okay with me. And you just kind of go with the flow on the missing ingredients!

My ex, Rajit's mom used to make lamb kebabs for us all the time, and they were so yummy. So, in my book there was a recipe for lamb kebabs and I made them last Friday night for Claire & Ryan. Claire (a true Swede at heart) thought these were spicy, but Ryan and I couldn't even taste the spice.

Lamb Kebabs
2 pounds lean ground lamb (yes, you can get this at Publix!)
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 inch piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 fresh green chile, roughly chopped (I used a jalapeno, but Rajit says it was probably supposed to be a little Thai chile)
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon garam masala (get this and the other spices at an ethnic grocery store)
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Mix everything except the lamb in a food processor until a paste forms.

Take the mixture out and place in a mixing bowl and mix in the lamb until just mixed. Cover and let marinate for at least an hour.

In the mean time, make the raita. Take a cup plain yogurt and mix with 1/2 cucumber finely chopped, 2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a squeeze or two of lemon. (I forgot to take a picture of the raita! My bad!)

Next, take the meat mixture out of the fridge, and get some kebab sticks ready. Form the kebabs. Claire helped me out and we made ours about 5" long and 1 1/2" wide. We basically formed them in our hands, then stuck in the kebab stick and finished forming the meat around it. I baked them on a half sheet pan lined with foil. It was a little challenging to turn them over, but definitely make the attempt so all the sides get crispy.

The recipe says to brush the kebabs with a mixture of a little bit of yogurt and oil before baking, but I'm not sure how that impacted the final product. Just skip it if you want!

Broil these for 8-10 minutes, or until brown all over. The recipe also says to turn them during the broiling, but when I tried to turn on, the kebab stick came out. However, once they were cooked all the way through, I could lift them with the kebab.

I served these with the raita and some homemade garlic cilantro naan (post coming soon!). The 2 pounds of lamb made about 12 kebabs. And these were SO good!! Try them out--they're not as complicated as they seem, promise.