I am not a big fan of lamb. Though I’ve tried it so many ways and have felt a lit­tle uncul­tured in not lik­ing it, I don’t seem to have a taste for it. Now, I love gyros — but I guess since it’s mixed with beef and is supremely salty that doesn’t count. Or if it’s cooked in curry so spicy that it could just as well be goat, I like it; this may be because goat is one of my favourite meats.

On a recent visit to San Diego we ate in a fusion Japanese/Mediterranean restau­rant in La Jolla, a sea­side, ritzy sub­urb just north of town. San Diego is well known for stick­ing to its fusion style of cook­ing and pos­si­bly com­ing up with some com­bi­na­tion you would have not expected. On the menu that night was minted spicy lamb. It was deli­cious, if not a lit­tle bit too oily. I liked the idea so I set about try­ing to deter­mine the ingre­di­ents in the dish. The pre­dom­i­nant flavours were mint, turmeric, and corian­der. I love to cook quick dishes that pack a flavour punch like this one, so after arriv­ing back in Hous­ton I decided to recre­ate the dish. What I came up with was strik­ingly sim­i­lar. So here’s my inter­pre­ta­tion of the minty spicy lamb.

1 lb ground lamb
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 medium diced onions
2 cloves gar­lic minced
1 tsp turmeric pow­der
1 tsp ground corian­der
1 tsp red chili
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pep­per
1 bunch fresh mint leaves

Heat the olive oil in a large skil­let for 30 sec­onds, then add then sweat the onions until translu­cent. Next add the gar­lic and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the turmeric, corian­der, and chili pow­der. Cook for 1 minute. The corian­der smell and taste will only develop if it’s heated before the meat is added.

Add the ground lamb and cook until almost com­pletely browned. Sprin­kle the salt and black pep­per, stir, then turn the heat off. Add the mint leaves and stir in.

Serve this quick dish with rice or pita bread.