Recipes › Lamb

Lamb recipes

124 recipes from 16 countries, none of it adapted from anybody else.

By country

China (2)
Cyprus (2)
Egypt (2)
France (1)
Germany (2)
Greece (7)
India (17)
Iran (18)
Italy (9)
Japan (1)
Lebanon (12)
Mexico (2)
Morocco (8)
Peru (2)
Tunisia (4)
Turkey (35)

Every lamb recipe

Abbacchio, sourced from Italy. Young lamb roasted hard with rosemary and garlic, finished with anchovy melted into the pan juices. Lamb, Fish.
Abgoosht, sourced from Iran. It is cooked in one pot and then strained, and the solids are pounded into a second course. Lamb.
Adana Kebabı, sourced from Turkey. Pressed onto a wide flat skewer with the palm, never threaded, and the tail fat is what holds it there. Lamb.
Alinazik Kebab, sourced from Turkey. The smoked aubergine and yoghurt bed is the dish, and the meat is what goes on top of it. Lamb.
Analı Kızlı, sourced from Turkey. Two different dumplings go into one bowl — bulgur-shelled meatballs and whole chickpeas. Lamb, Egg.
Arnavut Ciğeri, sourced from Turkey. Tiny floured cubes fried hard and then dressed cold, served as a meze rather than hot off the pan. Lamb.
Arrosticini, sourced from Italy. Small cubes of mutton on skewers, grilled over a narrow trough of coals and seasoned with nothing but salt. Lamb.
Ash-e Doogh, sourced from Iran. The yogurt is the liquid rather than a finish, so it is tempered before it is heated. Lamb, Egg.
Baeckeoffe, sourced from France. Three meats marinated overnight and layered raw with potatoes under a pot sealed with a rope of dough, which is not opened. Pork, Beef, Lamb.
Baghali Polo, sourced from Iran. The beans are boiled in the rice water and the dill is layered in dry. Lamb.
Barbacoa, sourced from Mexico. Lamb wrapped in maguey leaves over a pot of stock, so that what drips out becomes the broth served beside it. Lamb.
Berkoukes, sourced from Tunisia. The semolina is rolled into pellets the size of peppercorns, several times larger than couscous. Lamb.
Beuschel, sourced from Germany. The organs go in whole and are only sliced after cooking, and the sour broth becomes the sauce. Lamb.
Beyran, sourced from Turkey. Built bowl by bowl over a fierce flame, from lamb that was cooked the night before. Lamb.
Biryani, sourced from India. Two layers of rice with the meat between them, which is what a pilau is not. Lamb.
Bonab Kababi, sourced from Iran. Three ingredients and no pepper, made as one enormous skewer rather than several small ones. Lamb.
Boulfaf, sourced from Morocco. Lamb liver wrapped in caul fat and grilled over coals, where the fat melts away and bastes it as it goes. Lamb.
Bozbash, sourced from Iran. The green version of the mashed stew: herbs and leeks where the other has potato and tomato. Lamb.
Briouat, sourced from Morocco. Small triangular pastries folded like a flag and fried, where the last fold is sealed with flour paste rather than water. Beef, Lamb, Egg.
Buğu Kebabı, sourced from Turkey. Steamed in a sealed pot with no added liquid and no flame — the name means steam. Lamb.
Burdur Şiş, sourced from Turkey. Marinated in plain milk rather than anything acid, which tenderises without firming the surface. Lamb.
Cağ Kebabı, sourced from Turkey. Grilled horizontally on a turning spit, then carved and re-threaded onto a small skewer to be served. Lamb.
Chairo, sourced from Peru. An Andean soup built on freeze-dried potato, soaked and crushed, whose black soaking water is thrown away. Pork, Lamb.
Champaran meat, sourced from India. The pot is sealed with dough and then shaken, not stirred. Lamb.
Chelow Kabab, sourced from Iran. The skewer is laid on the rice and pulled out from under a piece of flatbread held on top of it. Beef, Lamb.
Chorba Frik, sourced from Tunisia. Green roasted freekeh is the body of it, and it is added late because it swells to three times its volume. Lamb.
Ciğer Kebabı, sourced from Turkey. A cube of tail fat between every piece of liver, because liver has none of its own and dries in ninety seconds. Lamb.
Çöp Şiş, sourced from Turkey. Tiny pieces on soaked wooden twigs, cut small enough to cook in two minutes before the wood can burn. Lamb.
Dhansak, sourced from India. Meat cooked into a sweet and sour lentil sauce, with caramelised rice beside it. Lamb.
Doner kebab, sourced from Germany. The sandwich form is Berlin's, and Germany formally objected when Turkey tried to fix the recipe. Beef, Veal, Lamb.
Döner Kebab, sourced from Turkey. A vertical stack carved from the outside in, so only the outside is ever cooked and the inside waits its turn. Lamb.
Dopiaza, sourced from India. The onions go in twice, boiled into the gravy and fried over the top. Lamb.
Dopiaza, sourced from Iran. The onions go in twice, boiled into the sauce and then fried on top. Lamb.
Düğün Çorbası, sourced from Turkey. Thickened twice over — flour browned in butter first, then egg yolk and lemon off the heat. Lamb, Egg.
Dürüm, sourced from Turkey. The filling goes in a line down the middle and the bread is rolled tight and then toasted shut on the seam. Lamb.
Etli Ekmek, sourced from Turkey. Rolled out to half a metre long and baked directly on the oven floor, so it is all edge and no middle. Lamb.
Fattoush, sourced from Lebanon. The bread is fried and goes in at the last second, so it is still crisp when it reaches the table. Lamb.
Gerashi Yogurt Kebab, sourced from Iran. The cubes are spread on a cloth to dry before the yogurt goes on, and then marinated for at least a day. Veal, Lamb.
Gheimeh, sourced from Iran. The potatoes are fried separately into crisp straws and go on at the table. Lamb.
Ghormeh Sabzi, sourced from Iran. The herbs are fried slowly until they darken and smell nutty, and that is most of the flavour. Lamb.
Giouvetsi, sourced from Greece. Lamb braised until it is nearly done and then finished in the oven with raw orzo, which cooks in the braising liquid. Lamb.
Gondi, sourced from Iran. Chickpea flour binds it instead of bread or rice, and cardamom is the only spice in it. Chicken, Veal, Lamb.
Gözleme, sourced from Turkey. Unleavened and rolled paper-thin, filled, folded flat and cooked on a dry griddle. Lamb.
Harira, sourced from Morocco. A thick soup finished with a flour and water slurry poured in slowly at the very end, which is what gives it its body. Lamb.
Hrisseh, sourced from Lebanon. Cooked until it pours from the spoon like thick cream, with no grain left whole. Chicken, Lamb.
Hyderabadi haleem, sourced from India. Mashed as it cooks until the meat is no longer in pieces. Lamb.
Hyderabadi marag, sourced from India. A thin mutton soup thickened with cashews and cream rather than flour. Lamb.
İçli Pide, sourced from Turkey. The long edges pinched up and closed over the filling into a boat, and an egg cracked into the middle near the end. Lamb, Egg.
İnegöl Köfte, sourced from Turkey. Worked with a pinch of bicarbonate and rested overnight, which is what makes it soft instead of springy. Beef, Lamb.
İskender Kebap, sourced from Turkey. Assembled rather than cooked — the dish is foaming butter poured over it at the table. Lamb.
İskilip Dolması, sourced from Turkey. Nothing is stuffed — the rice steams in a cloth bag above the meat and the pot is sealed shut with dough. Lamb.
Jalfrezi, sourced from India. A stir fry made to use up cold meat, with the technique brought by Chinese labourers in Assam. Chicken, Lamb.
Jingisukan, sourced from Japan. Lamb grilled on a domed pan with the vegetables in the trough catching everything that runs down. Lamb.
Kabab Barg, sourced from Iran. The meat is cut into thin strips, which is what barg means, and marinated in olive oil rather than yogurt. Beef, Lamb.
Kabab Koobideh, sourced from Iran. The mince is kneaded semi-frozen so the fat stays in separate particles and bursts as pockets of juice. Lamb.
Kağıt Kebabı, sourced from Turkey. Each portion cooked in its own sealed paper parcel, opened in front of the person eating it. Lamb.
Karnıyarık, sourced from Turkey. The lamb is cooked before it goes in and the dish is baked in sauce and eaten hot, with a pepper laid on each one. Lamb.
Keşkek, sourced from Turkey. The grain and the meat are beaten together with a mallet until they become one stringy mass. Lamb.
Khichra, sourced from India. The same pot as haleem with the meat left in chunks. Lamb.
Khoresh Bademjan, sourced from Iran. The aubergines are salted, fried and added at the end so they keep their shape. Lamb.
Khoresh Karafs, sourced from Iran. It is soured with verjuice and the celery is the bulk of it rather than a flavouring. Chicken, Beef, Lamb.
Kibbeh, sourced from Lebanon. Shaped into a pointed torpedo between wet palms and deep-fried, so the shell goes crisp and the filling stays loose. Lamb.
Kibbeh Nayyeh, sourced from Lebanon. Pounded with ice rather than water and never allowed out of the cold, because it is eaten raw. Lamb.
Kleftiko, sourced from Greece. Lamb sealed so completely that nothing escapes for four hours, which is a different cooking method from roasting it. Lamb.
Koftet el Hati, sourced from Egypt. Laid straight onto the grill bars with no skewer at all, which is why it is shaped short and fat. Beef, Lamb.
Kokoretsi, sourced from Greece. Lamb offal threaded on a spit and bound in intestine wound round it like thread, cooked slowly until the casing crisps. Lamb.
Kolokasi with Lamb, sourced from Cyprus. The taro broken against the knife and never washed after peeling, because water turns the cut surface to slime. Lamb.
Korma, sourced from India. It is braised in yoghurt and it is deliberately the mildest of these, aromatic rather than hot. Lamb.
Kousa Mahshi, sourced from Lebanon. The rice goes in raw and half-fills the shell, because it doubles as it cooks in the tomato. Lamb.
Kreatopita, sourced from Greece. A meat pie whose filling is braised and then cooled completely, because hot filling steams the pastry from the inside. Lamb.
Kuru Fasulye, sourced from Turkey. The beans start in cold unsalted water and the salt goes in only once they are soft. Lamb.
Kuzu Haşlama, sourced from Turkey. The broth is skimmed obsessively and served first as its own course, before the meat it came from. Lamb.
Kuzu Şiş, sourced from Turkey. Cubes cut to one size with the fat left on, marinated in onion juice rather than anything acid. Lamb.
Kuzu Tandır, sourced from Turkey. Cooked on a rack above a tray for five hours so the fat drips away, and uncovered at the end so the skin crisps. Lamb.
Laal maas, sourced from India. Mathania chillies in a yoghurt sauce, hot enough to have covered the smell of game. Lamb.
Lahmacun, sourced from Turkey. The topping goes on raw, spread paper-thin, and everything cooks in three minutes in a very hot oven. Lamb.
Lamb Curry, sourced from China. Lamb with whole spice and yoghurt stirred in off the heat, and no coconut at all. Lamb.
Loobia Polo, sourced from Iran. The meat and beans are cooked to a finished stew before any rice touches them. Beef, Lamb.
Lukhmi, sourced from India. A flat square pastry whose dough is made with yoghurt instead of water. Lamb.
Magiritsa, sourced from Greece. A lamb offal soup thickened with egg and lemon, where the offal is blanched twice before it is allowed near the broth. Lamb, Egg.
Makanek, sourced from Lebanon. Fried whole and then the pan deglazed with pomegranate molasses, so the glaze is made in their own fat. Beef, Lamb.
Mantı, sourced from Turkey. The dumplings are tiny — forty or more to a plate — and the smallness is the whole achievement. Lamb, Egg.
Maqluba, sourced from Lebanon. The whole pot is inverted onto a platter and lifted away, so what was the bottom arrives as the top. Lamb.
Mazzarelle, sourced from Italy. Lamb offal and herbs bound in chard leaves and braised in parcels. Lamb.
Méchoui, sourced from Morocco. Lamb rubbed with spiced butter and cooked for five hours until it is pulled apart by hand and dipped in cumin salt. Lamb.
Merguez, sourced from Morocco. A thin red lamb sausage with no pork fat in it, where the fat is lamb and must be kept cold throughout. Lamb.
Mixiote, sourced from Mexico. Rabbit sealed inside the thin membrane peeled off a maguey leaf — a bag, not a parcel, so nothing escapes at all. Lamb, Rabbit.
Moussaka, sourced from Greece. Aubergine, a dry spiced mince and a thick béchamel in layers, where every layer is cooked dry before it is built. Lamb, Egg.
Mrouzia, sourced from Morocco. Lamb cooked down with honey and raisins until the sauce is a glaze, sweet enough that it once kept without refrigeration. Lamb.
Msoki, sourced from Tunisia. Matzah is crumbled into it at the end, and the vegetables are whatever the spring has given — a dozen of them. Lamb.
Mughlai paratha, sourced from India. A wheat flatbread folded round egg and onion and fried flat, as a gozleme is. Lamb, Egg.
Nihari, sourced from India. Shank and marrow cooked overnight, flavoured with long pepper rather than black. Beef, Lamb.
Orecchiette alla Materana, sourced from Italy. Orecchiette baked under lamb ragu, egg and pecorino until the top sets. Lamb, Egg.
Pachamanca, sourced from Peru. Meat and roots cooked in a pit between stones heated until they crack, sealed under earth for two hours. Chicken, Pork, Lamb.
Panada, sourced from Italy. A Sardinian standing pie built by hand, filled raw and sealed with a pleated lid. Lamb.
Pasanda, sourced from India. Meat flattened into strips, in a sauce of almonds ground in warm milk. Lamb.
Pecora alla Callara, sourced from Italy. Mutton cooked for hours in a copper cauldron with nothing but herbs and wine. Lamb.
Piti, sourced from Iran. It is baked in sealed individual crocks under a lump of tail fat. Lamb.
Piyaziye, sourced from Turkey. The onion is the container, boiled whole until its layers come apart as unbroken cups. Lamb.
Rogan Josh, sourced from India. The red comes from alkanet or Kashmiri chilli, not from tomato. Lamb.
Sarburma, sourced from Turkey. A stack of separate thin sheets is rolled into a turban, so the layers stay countable instead of fusing. Lamb, Egg.
Şevketibostan Yemeği, sourced from Turkey. The peeled thistle stalks are held in lemon water or they blacken within minutes. Lamb, Egg.
Sfiha, sourced from Lebanon. The dough is pinched up at four corners into a small open square, so the meat sits in a boat rather than on a disc. Lamb.
Shab deg, sourced from India. Turnip and mutton left in the pot overnight, which is what the name says. Lamb.
Shami kebab, sourced from India. Meat and chana dal boiled together until tender, ground, and bound with egg. Beef, Lamb, Egg.
Shawarma, sourced from Lebanon. Pressed into a loaf tin and roasted as a block, then shaved — which is the honest way to do it without a vertical spit. Lamb.
Sheftalia, sourced from Cyprus. Wrapped in caul fat, which bastes the meat and then all but disappears — there is no skin and no casing. Pork, Lamb.
Sheikh al-Mahshi, sourced from Lebanon. The filling is meat and pine nuts with no rice in it at all, and it finishes in a yoghurt sauce. Lamb, Egg.
Soğan Kebabı, sourced from Turkey. The onions outnumber the meat and are the point, cooked until they are sweet rather than soft. Lamb.
Souvla, sourced from Greece. Fist-sized pieces of lamb turned slowly over embers for hours, which is a different method from the small skewers it shares a root with. Lamb.
Spaghetti alla Chitarra, sourced from Italy. Square-section strands cut by pressing dough through strung wires. Beef, Lamb, Egg.
Stigghiola, sourced from Italy. Cleaned lamb intestine wound round a spring onion and grilled over embers. Lamb.
Stuffed Dates, sourced from Lebanon. Savoury, not sweet — the dates are filled with spiced lamb and herbs and served over rice. Lamb.
Stuffed Mallow, sourced from Lebanon. The leaves go into boiling water for seconds only, because mallow is far more fragile than a vine leaf. Lamb.
Tagine, sourced from Morocco. A lid-shaped pot that cooks almost dry, where the steam runs back down the cone instead of leaving. Lamb.
Tahchin, sourced from Iran. The rice is bound with yogurt and egg so the base sets into a slab you can cut. Chicken, Lamb, Egg.
Tangia, sourced from Morocco. Lamb sealed in a tall urn and left upright in low heat for six hours with nothing to stir and no vegetables in it at all. Lamb.
Tantuni, sourced from Turkey. The beef is boiled first and then fried on a flat plate, and the bread is steamed on top of the cooking meat. Beef, Lamb.
Tire Köfte, sourced from Turkey. Flattened thin between wet palms and grilled, never rolled into a ball at any stage. Beef, Lamb.
Tirit, sourced from Turkey. Stale bread is the body of the dish, and the broth is poured over it at the table. Lamb.
Torly, sourced from Egypt. The vegetables are layered in order of how long they take, rather than piled in together. Beef, Lamb.
U' Pastizz 'Rtunnar, sourced from Italy. A hand-raised Lucanian pasty filled raw with diced lamb and pork. Pork, Lamb.
Usban, sourced from Tunisia. Liver and heart are chopped in with the rice, and it is simmered in the couscous broth rather than cooked alone. Lamb.
Xinjiang Lamb, sourced from China. Lamb seared hard and tossed with whole cumin toasted in the same pan, with nothing wet added. Lamb.

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