Learn How to Make Achari Lamb/Lamb with Indian Pickling Spices
Tender Lamb cooked with Fragrant Indian Pickling Spices
Before we jump into this week’s recipe, here’s what’s happening and what I’m enjoying.
There are two newsletters this week that I want to give a shoutout to.
- wrote this excellent piece on making flaky pastry that combines chunks of butter with lamination.
For my photography enthusiasts, I loved reading this newsletter by
that takes an in-depth analysis of different photography themes and contains several useful composition tips. I highly recommend reading this if you love photography. A lot of this can be applied creatively to food photography; good composition is one of the key elements in making a photo.
There’s a ban on all non-basmati rice exported from India due to the heavy floods that engulfed the region, and NPR goes into all the details. If you visit your local Indian store, you might notice a sign for “1 Bag of Rice Per Customer”.
Have a surplus of cherries? Make this cherry-infused salt. I use it over barbecued food, on chocolate, and with charcuterie boards. It also makes a great gift.
This delicious recipe is made in partnership with The American Lamb Board. All opinions expressed are solely my own.
This lamb dish is one of my top choices for guests when preparing an Indian-themed meal. I find the aromas from this dish give a real sense of appreciation of how Indian spices come together to create an explosion of flavor. If some of the spices here some unfamiliar, don’t let that intimidate you. You can find them online or at Indian grocery stores. Lamb is a meat that deserves and takes extremely well to bold spices, and in this combination, it is absolutely spectacular!
The Lamb Shoulder
For this recipe, you’ll want to use a meaty cut of lamb, and the shoulder cut is my top choice. Another good option though it’s not as easy to find, is stew pieces of lamb. The lamb cooks slowly with the spices and liquids in the oven for a couple of hours, and this helps the meat turn extremely tender until it falls apart. I prefer using a bone-in shoulder of lamb, but you can also use boneless. The advantage of using the bone is not only the extra flavor it adds to the stew, but I find it also helps the meat become juicier and extra tender.
What is Achar?
Achar refers to the family of Indian pickles. Unlike the Western style pickles brined with spices, these pickles are different. Vegetables or fruit (raw or cooked), or cooked meat is seasoned with a copious quantity of spices, oils like sesame or mustard, red chillies, salt and or sugar, some acid like lime (vinegar in the case of Goan pickles), and then left to cure for a few weeks to months. Some recipes call for curing the pickles in direct sunlight to help the flavors develop.
The Achari Spices
Often the combination of pickling spices used to make achars are highly fragrant and typically involves spices like fenugreek, nigella, mustard, cumin, fennel, and turmeric. I’ve used these spices to season the lamb shoulder as it cooks. Now this bit I’ll share with you isn’t essential, and I don’t always do it. If I’ve got a jar of achar at home, especially the sweet lime achar from Mother’s Recipe (look for this brand online or in Indian grocery stores), I’ll stir in some, but I’ve also found that a spoonful of chopped preserved lemons works nicely too.
Accompaniments
If you want to keep things simple and make this Achari Lamb the start at your dinner table, serve this with a simple salad like the kachumber salad, a bowl of plain steamed rice, or flatbread like rotis, parathas, or naan. If you want to serve a more elaborate menu, pair this with a vegetable dish like the roasted carrots, fennel and potatoes, and the cumin pulao.
Why Cook With American Lamb?
American lamb is simply the best. It’s got a smooth and buttery flavor, and it’s raised locally. Having visited several ranches and farms, I’ve seen the care and effort that American farmers and ranchers put towards raising their animals. When you buy American lamb, you’re supporting the families of the farmers and workers.
Thank you for the shout-out!