Cumin-Chili Lamb Skewers

 

Grilled meat skewers are just fun to eat. Think satay, kebab, chuan, souvlaki, sekuwa, yakitori, anticucho, arrosticini, churrasco, city chicken, kushiyaki, jeok, kkochi, espetada, espetinho, ražnjići, shaokao, etc., plus all the variations in spelling and regional cuisines.

Cumin Lamb Skewers are particularly common in Xinjiang due to the large Muslim community and proximity to Central Asia. You can use ground cumin, but I find freshly ground toasted cumin seeds give a better aroma. Of course I couldn’t resist making it spicy. It’s important to use pure ground chili pepper powder (cayenne pepper will work, too), not chili seasoning.

A charcoal grill would be better, but I don’t have one, so I adapted with a grill pan over the stove.

• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tblsp seasoned salt
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 tblsp vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 lb boneless lamb, cut into 1/2” cubes
• 1 tblsp cornstarch
• 1 tblsp cumin seeds, roasted, then coarsely ground
• 1 tblsp chili pepper powder

1. In a zip top bag, mix together onion, salt, mince garlic, liquid smoke, and vegetable oil. Add lamb cubes and marinate in the fridge overnight.
2. Soak bamboo skewers (estimate 5 pieces of lamb per skewer) overnight (I got 9 skewers out of the lamb).
3. Remove the lamb from the zip top bag and pat dry.
4. Put cornstarch in a mixing bowl and toss the lamb cubes in the cornstarch. Shake off excess cornstarch and thread onto soaked bamboo skewers (5 pieces per skewer).
5. Heat an oiled grill pan over high heat and grill the skewers for 3 minutes. Flip the skewers and grill for another 3 minutes.
6. Mix ground cumin and chili pepper powder. Coat the skewers with the spice mixture before serving.