Lamb Sach

Et Sac

 

I first fell in love with this dish in a canyon somewhere in the Aksaray province of Turkey. An enterprising pair of brothers from the local village had built a number of quaint little huts in the middle of the river, which customers could reach via a series of rickety footbridges. There in your private hut, you could simply relax on the cushions, listen to the river, and enjoy their lamb sach with yogurt served on the low table. Charming.

 

But what happens if it rains?  “Doesn’t the canyon flood? “ we asked ?“Oh yes," one of the brothers assured us, "And the huts get wrecked and we have to rebuild them.” #thingsyoushouldnottellyourcustomers.

 

It turned out this flooding/rebuilding process was a regular thing for them. So they were not perhaps the very best engineers, these brothers. But they could cook a great lamb sach.

                                      

 

250g    lamb leg meat, diced finely into 1cm cubes (kuzu kuşbaşı)

3 tbsp  olive oil

1 tbsp  sweet pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası), or tomato paste

½ cup   water

¼ tsp    salt

¼ tsp    thyme (kekik)

1/8 tsp black pepper (karabiber)

3            garlic cloves, crushed

1            onion, diced

4            dark green bull-horn peppers (sıvı biber)

1            small tomato, dıced

 

 

 

1. Place the meat in a small bowl with the olive oil, and mix well. Leave to soak while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

 

2. Dissolve the sweet pepper paste in the water in a second small bowl. Add the salt, thyme, black pepper, and crushed garlic, and stir to combine.

 

3. Chop the onion, bull-horn peppers and tomato.

 

4. Heat up a Turkish saç pan or wok over medium heat, and tip in the bowl of lamb and oil. Stir until the lamb is nicely browned.

 

5. Add the paste and spices mix, stir-fry for a couple minutes, then add the onion, pepper and tomato. It will smell fantastic. But hold on, not much longer now.

 

6.  Cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are soft. Add a little extra water if you think it looks too dry at any point.

 

7. Serve in the saç pan with yogurt and plenty of bread on the side.

 

SERVES 2