I keep trying for new lamb recipes.  Lamb and mutton is iconic to the region and a very important part of traditional foods.  I’m not a huge lamb fan (and no I don’t like mutton), but I keep trying.  This dish is tasty but looks brown…plain boring brown.  Give it a try.  I think it would go well with flat bread and a nice yogurt sauce as well.  More color as the taste is already fantastic.

Sukhtur/Kiba Lamb Neck with Garbanzo Beans and Rice

Translation:

It is that you have recourse to fat gut, and you wash it and clean it. Cut (meat) small, and (take) as much rice as necessary, a third as much as the meat, and a handful of chickpeas,…and dyed with saffron. Mix them with the meat and put in that gut. Season it with salt and put Chinese Cinnamon stick son it, and mastic and as much of spices as it will bear. Sew the gut shut and put it in the pot and cover it with water, and cover the top of the pot all night in a tannur on a good fire until morning. It comes out excellently. (Rodinson, pp. 368, 369)

Ingredients:

2 lbs lamb neck (or beef or chicken)

Saffron

Cinnamon sticks or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbs. spices (Tan Tan Moroccan Seasoning: includes paprika, sugar, cumin, salt cinnamon, cardamom, parsley, coriander, and turmeric)

1 can Garbanzo beans

1 1/2 C Jasmine Rice

1/4 C Butter

Salt to taste

Redaction:

I had to change things a little bit. The first being I didn’t have a sheep stomach or stomach of any sort to sew the meat and spices into. Stomach is one of those odd organ meats that is really hard to come buy unless you own a farm or know someone who lives on a farm and can get the stomach fresh for you. So with that in mind, we’re going straight to the meat and spices.

The second modification is that I had to use a slow cooker instead of the oven because my oven is still out!! The slow cooker will take 5 hours instead of the 2.5 hours in the oven. Dinner will still be served just not the way I had planned.

I put olive oil on the bottom of the pan as this is supposed to be a rich fatty dish. Next I add the garbanzo beans and rice with enough water to cover the rice.

The crock pot looks five gallons deep.  It’s not.  This is a normal crock pot with a long shot from the top.  This will make enough to feed 4 easily.

Then comes the meat. Sprinkle the spice mixture over meat. Place the lid over this bad boy and let it simmer away while you play.

Let this slow cook for the next 5 hours (or until the meat is falling off the bone).  At the end before serving I added 1/4 C (or a stick of butter) to the dish.  This give a rich fatty taste that I believe the stomach/gut would have added and it really boosted the flavor to the next level.

I really do love the flavor of this, I just don’t like the brown on brown and more brown.   I added some salt, a bit of butter and the parsley is to help break up the brown.  Dinner was tasty!