Grilled lamb chops

By: Dan Toombs
From: The Curry Guy
Serves: 4 or more as part of a multi-course meal

Sometimes simplicity is best, and that is certainly the case with the famous lamb chops served at Lahore Kebab House in Shoreditch.

I first visited Lahore Kebab House with my friend Raj Singh, who runs a company called Secret Food Tours. One of his tours is a walk through Shoreditch and Brick Lane, where he takes people to three of the best restaurants in the area as well as a few other interesting stops. He offered to take me on his tour one evening and our last stop was Lahore Kebab House.

Lahore Kebab house is a massive restaurant on two levels, with seating for 350. On Friday and Saturday nights, those seats are all filled many times over. After trying their amazing chilli paneer, grilled lamb chops and chicken tikka, I made arrangements to return and meet one of the owners, Emran Siddique.

The restaurant is a family-run business that has been serving high-quality Pakistani food for over 40 years. Sure, they do feature a few of the British classic curries on their menu, but they are most famous for their traditional Pakistani dishes.

When there, you can watch the chefs prepare huge karahis of mouthwatering curry. These delicious marinated lamb chops are cooked over a flame grill, which produces a tasty char. They are out-of-this-world gorgeous!

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1 tablespoon	rapeseed oil
1 tablespoon	Green chilli paste
2 tablespoons	Garlic and ginger paste
1 tablespoon	Garam masala
1/2 teaspoon	ground turmeric
1 teaspoon	chilli powder
1	lemon, juiced
8-10	lamb chops on the bone, with most surface fat removed
100g	greek yoghurt
	fresh coriander, to serve
	salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

In a large glass or ceramic bowl, mix the oil, chilli paste, garlic and ginger paste, garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder and lemon juice together. Add the lamb chops and massage the marinade into the meat. Let this stand for about 20 minutes.
Whisk the yoghurt until nice and creamy then pour it over the meat, ensuring every piece is coated. Marinate the meat for 24–72 hours. (You could marinate for a shorter time, but the longer the better.)
When ready to cook, set up your barbecue for direct heat cooking, until the coals are extremely hot. Grill each lamb chop until nicely charred underneath then flip over and do the same on the other side. When nicely blackened, remove from the heat to rest for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve garnished with fresh coriander.