Lamb shawarma with pickled red cabbage and harissa dressing
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- + overnight marinating
- A little effort
- Serves 8
Skip to ingredients
- 1 leg of lambboned and butterflied
- 200g Greek yoghurt
- a handful mintchopped
- 1 clove garliccrushed
spicy marinade
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 cardamom pods
- a large bunch corianderfinely chopped
- about 20 mint leavesfinely chopped
- 2 cloves garlicfinely chopped
- 2 lemonszested and juiced
- 100ml olive oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp chilli powder
harissa dressing
- 5 cloves garlicchopped
- ½ onionchopped
- olive oil
- 1 beef tomatodiced
- 200g tin chopped tomatoes
- a pinch sugar
- 2-3 tbsp harissa paste
pickled red cabbage
- 150ml red wine vinegar
- 120g demerara sugar
- 1 tbsp mustard seeds
- 1 small red cabbagecore removed and very finely sliced
to serve
- flatbread or pitta bread
- pickled chillies
- finely sliced red onion
- chopped tomatoes
- fetacrumbled
- hummus
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal735
- fat44.4g
- carbs8.5g
- fibre3.2g
- protein67.8g
- salt1.2g
Method
step 1
To make the spicy marinade, heat a small frying pan and dry-fry the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds and cardamom pods for a few minutes until fragrant. Cool, then grind to a powder in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Mix with the other marinade ingredients and season with 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper.
step 2
Pierce the lamb all over with the tip of a knife. Put the lamb in a large shallow dish or strong freezer bag, pour over the marinade and leave overnight (at least 4 hours).
step 3
To make the cabbage, simmer the vinegar with the sugar and mustard seeds for about 20 minutes – it will thicken slightly and become very glossy. Allow to cool, then pour over the cabbage and leave for a couple of hours, tossing now and again. Drain off any excess liquid off before serving.
step 4
For the harissa dressing, cook the garlic and onion in 3 tbsp olive oil until soft. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes, then whizz in a blender until smooth. Add a pinch of sugar and enough harissa paste until you reach the heat level you like.
step 5
Mix the greek yoghurt with the mint and garlic and season.
step 6
To cook the lamb, heat the oven to 170C/fan 150C/gas 3. Heat a large griddle pan or heavy frying pan, take the lamb out of the marinade and cook on the griddle, turning until very well browned all over (you can also do this stage on a bbq when the weather is warm). Transfer to a roasting tin and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
step 7
Rest under foil for 20 minutes before carving into thin slices. Serve with the mint yoghurt, harissa dressing, pickled cabbage and other accompaniments.
