Recipes for stewing lamb in Russia are not particularly common, as its residents prefer pork and beef. However, in fact, if you manage to buy a good piece of meat, then you need to try to cook one of the classic recipes for Central Asian cuisine. It is best to give preference to Uzbek cuisine, creating a real masterpiece - stewed lamb with vegetables in a cauldron. This is not only truly great in taste, but also a very satisfying dish that is easy to prepare, especially if a number of nuances are known. This article talks about how to properly cook stewed lamb with vegetables in a cauldron with minimal effort and time.
Meat selection
If you want to learn how to cook flavourless mutton and tasty according to the recipes that came to us from the Uzbek cuisine, then everything should be learned directly from the first step, namely, the right choice of meat. Preference should be given to the meat of young lamb. It is not only very soft and easy to stew, but also has no unpleasant odor. So if you see a piece of lamb of light color with white fat, then choose it.
However, it will be quite difficult to find it, so often older meat is chosen for stewing. It has a bright red color. Alas, even after a long preparation, it remains a little tough.
So, now we go directly to choosing the most suitable piece of meat. First of all, for stewed lamb with onions, carrots and other vegetables, in no case should you buy frozen meat. Checking this is quite simple - you need to press hard on the piece with your finger so that the recess remains. If it fills with blood, then the meat is frozen, if not, then fresh.
Also, when buying lamb, you should pay attention to the fat layer. If it is uniform and quite thick, then this suggests that the animal was cared for and well fed, so the meat will be of high quality. But if the fat will have a yellow tint, then this means that the lamb was already old.
Meat preparation
Before steeping, mutton must be carefully prepared. If it was frozen, then defrosting should occur exclusively at room temperature. Once the ice has melted, you need to thoroughly wipe the piece with a paper towel. Lamb is recognized as the only kind of meat, which in no case can be washed under cold running water - it can significantly spoil it.
Once the meat is clean, he needs to remove all the films and tendons that are not considered edible. After that, you can begin to get rid of the unpleasant odor.
Soaking
How to soak mutton correctly so that all the unpleasant odor disappears? At the moment, there are several ways that you can use if you wish. However, before you start soaking, it is best to cut off all the fat, since it is it that is the source of the aroma.
- Soaking in salt water - pouring from 1 liter of water and a tablespoon of salt is preparing. Depending on the age of the meat, you need to withstand the meat from hour to day.
- Soaking in dairy products - kefir, boiled or sour homemade milk is taken. A piece of meat is poured with it, and then cleaned in a cold place. If desired, chopped garlic can be added to the mixture.
- If the smell of meat is very unpleasant, you will have to use water with vinegar (consists of a liter of water and a tablespoon of vinegar). The meat should be in it for no more than an hour, otherwise it will become very stiff. Then soaking is carried out in salt water or in milk.
Braised lamb with vegetables in a cauldron
When cooked properly, lamb stew will be an incredibly tasty dish that will delight the whole family. The recipe given here is classic, so in the end you can get a satisfying and tender dish that is perfect even for a festive table.
To cook lamb stew in a cauldron on the stove you need to take:
- 1 kg of mutton (it is best to take a shank or scapula for stewing);
- 200 grams of cauliflower;
- 3 potatoes;
- 3 pieces of bell pepper;
- carrot;
- 3 tomatoes;
- 3 onions;
- chili pepper pod;
- 5 cloves of garlic;
- spices for lamb and salt.
Step cooking
To cook lamb stew with vegetables in a cauldron - a dish that can act as an independent dish or as an addition to a side dish - you will need to adhere to the following procedure:
- The first step is to prepare and soak the meat. Once it is ready for use, it will need to be cut into small pieces and put them in a cauldron.
- Following the meat, in a whole, 2 peeled onions and all the garlic are sent to the container in a whole form. You do not need to cut them.
- These ingredients should be poured with a small amount of water, and then seasoned. The cauldron must be installed on the stove and set a low fire. The meat will be stewed for one hour - this time is enough for it to become soft.
- While preparing lamb, you should prepare all the other components of the dish. Carrots are peeled and then cut into thin semicircles. Potatoes and tomatoes are chopped into cubes, and pepper will need to be turned into straws. Cauliflower is sorted into inflorescences, and the remaining bulb is cut into half rings.
- Once the meat is soft, remove the onion and garlic from the cauldron. Instead, potatoes and carrots, as well as chilli, are added to the container. Everything should be cooked for 10 minutes, after which you need to lay out all the other vegetables and mix well.
- Cover the cauldron and leave to cook the dish until fully cooked. After that, it can be served to the table.
Recipe from Stalik Khankishiyev
For many years, Stalik Khankishiyev has been considered a true connoisseur of oriental cuisine. He came up with a huge number of original recipes based on Uzbek cuisine, one of which is given below.
To prepare a delicious braised lamb in a cauldron, you will need to take:
- kilogram of lamb;
- mutton fat;
- 2 onions;
- 2 carrots;
- 4 potato tubers;
- half a can of canned tomatoes;
- quince;
- a head of garlic;
- salt and spices.
To get an original and tasty traditional Uzbek dish, you will need to adhere to the following instructions:
- Put the mutton fat in the cauldron and melt it. It is necessary to fry chopped lamb, which will be pre-seasoned. As soon as the meat gets a golden crust, add finely chopped onions to it.
- Onions continue to cook with the meat until it turns golden. Then, carrots cut into thin circles are added to the mixture. Everything should take about 5 minutes to cook.
- As time goes on, you need to grind the tomatoes in a blender to a puree state. It also goes to the cauldron with a small amount of water and cubes of potatoes.
- Last but not least quince slices are added to this dish, as well as seasonings and salt. The cauldron is covered with a lid and sent to the stove. Lamb will be cooked for about an hour and a half over low heat.
Time frame
It is simply impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of how much time to cook mutton in time, since too many factors influence this indicator. First of all, you need to take into account the size of the pieces that will be stewed in a cauldron. On average, it takes about 1 hour to cook. It is important to carefully monitor the time in order to prevent too long a heat treatment. If you overdo the lamb, it will become quite dry, and therefore the dish will immediately deteriorate.
The best side dishes
Now that we have talked about how to stew lamb, you need to mention the best way to serve it to the table. This dish, as mentioned earlier, can act not only as an independent meal, but also in addition to other products.
Lamb itself is considered quite substantial and heavy meat, so the side dish should be as light as possible. Most commonly used are fresh herbs and vegetables, usually in the form of salads. A variety of greens will be considered the most beneficial with lamb meat, which will give the dish new shades of taste. But if you want something more satisfying, then you can serve boiled potatoes or crumbly rice to it. Baked eggplant and tomatoes, fresh radishes and tomatoes can boast a good combination with stewed lamb.
Tips & Tricks
Lamb dishes are traditional for oriental cuisine, in which there is a huge variety of tricks that turn components into healthy and tasty food. Let's talk about some of them:
- For stewing, it is most optimal to choose the meat of young individuals. If you could not get it, then in order to get a tender dish, you will need to increase the heat treatment time by about 2 times.
- When cooking stewed lamb, be sure to use onions - it easily interrupts the specific smell of meat.
- You should carefully consider the choice of seasoning so that it does not interrupt the natural taste of lamb. It is best to give rosemary, curry, marjoram and thyme.
- To extinguish, it is always worth using dishes with thick walls and a bottom. That is why the cauldron is perfect for this. But it’s best to refuse an ordinary pan - in it the meat will quickly burn out.
Conclusion
In oriental cuisine, there are many recipes for cooking lamb stew with vegetables, which, if desired, can be used for the perfect dinner. If there is a cauldron available, then the final result will definitely turn out great. It doesn’t matter at all whether the dish will be cooked at the stake or stove. The most important thing here is the dishes, since the real classic recipe involves the use of a thick-walled cauldron. Fragrant and hearty dish will decorate any table and will allow you to deliciously feed even the largest and finest family.