Grilled “Tandoori” Lamb – Hold the Tandoor

Since I didn’t cook this marvelous meat in a tandoor oven, it’s not actually tandoori lamb, which will save some of you the time letting me know all the other ways it isn’t the real deal. Accepting that, these days “tandoori” simply refers to the yogurt based, aromatically spiced marinade, whether you grill, broil, or bake the meat.

As usual, please adjust the spice amounts to your tastes, since you know you much better than I do. These should get you close to your friendly neighborhood Indian joint, but still, play around. If you want to add some veggies between the pieces of meat, go ahead, but I have more success cooking them separately.

I really like lamb sirloin, and see it in the stores more often these days, but like I said in the video, leg of lamb, or a shoulder roast, are also very nice for this. If you feel like splurging, you can do lamb chops, but for those, 4 to 6 hours is plenty of time in the marinade. But, no matter which cut you use, or animal for that matter, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Marinade Ingredients for 2 to 3 pounds of lamb

2 to 3 pounds lamb sirloin, cut into about 1 1/2 to 2-inch chunks

1 cup plain yogurt

2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more pre-grilling

1 big juicy lemon, juiced

1/4 cup grated or very finely minced onion

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 tablespoon grated ginger

2 generous teaspoons garam masala (click here to make your own)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

chopped cilantro

fresh lemon

grilled onions

flatbread or rice

spicy cilantro chutney (I don’t have a recipe, but here’s one)

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