Recipe: Pomegranate Lamb Kebabs

Recipe Source: Cramer, Marc. Imperial Mongolian Cooking. Hippocrene Books, New York, 2003 p. 115

Anyone who knows me knows that pomegranate is probably my favorite fruit. I love pomegranate and everything flavored with it. I was trying to think of a recipe for one Sunday open house and came across this one. It included pomegranate flavor, which was key. It also involved lamb, my favorite meat. It could be started ahead of time (in fact, it had to be started ahead of time) and finished quickly just at serving time. Finally, I was able to re-use a plum sauce I made last year that was really, really tasty.

This recipe made a lot more meat than I had skewers. This was not a major problem. A friend of ours was having a barbeque a couple of nights later – more of an "eat-the-leftovers" kind of deal than anything formal. The lamb was still good, so we brought it. Nothing was harmed by spending an extra couple of nights in the marinade.

I did make a few changes to the recipe. The most significant change I made was adding a half cup of pomegranate molasses to the marinade. I did this because I felt that the pomegranate juice I could get my hands on was too sweet and didn't give enough sourness to the dish. I also increased the amount of garlic and doubled the recipe.

Pomegranate Lamb Kebabs with Tkmeli (serves 8 with some leftovers; approx. $3.42/serving)

4 cups pomegranate juice

½ cup pomegranate molasses

½ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 bay leaf, crumpled

4 garlic cloves, crushed

4 pounds leg of lamb, cut into cubes

2 large eggplant, cubed

1 recipe Georgian Plum Sauce

Equipment:

• Skewers
• Big Green Egg or other grill. You could probably cook these under the broiler in your kitchen if you had to, or in a grill pan.
• Colander
• Zip-top plastic bags
• Bowl

1. Combine the pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses, olive oil, kosher salt, bay leaf and garlic cloves in the bowl and mix well.
2. Put the lamb cubes in a zip-top plastic bag and pour the marinade over them. Refrigerate overnight, turning when you think about it.
3. About half an hour before you cook, salt the eggplant and put it in a colander. After half an hour, rinse off the brown juices.
4. Thread the meat and eggplant alternating on skewers.
5. Grill over medium-high direct heat.
6. Serve with the plum sauce.