Perfumed Garden: Lavender-Pepper Lamb Seekh Kebab
Make it the LXV way
Spice blend
Perfumed Garden
Wine pairing
2023 Reserve Syrah
100% Bien Nacido Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley. 166 cases. Awarded 99 points by Jeb Dunnuck. Cool-climate Syrah of rare depth — classic pepper, black fruit, and an umami richness that only the world's greatest…
Wine pairing
2023 Meso Cabernet Franc
100% Cabernet Franc from G2N Vineyard, Willow Creek District. 200 cases. Awarded Decanter Red Wine of the Vintage 2023 in Paso Robles. A precise, opulent, and impeccably structured Cabernet Franc unlike any other.
Seekh kebab lives or dies on two things: fat content and a mince that has been worked until it is sticky enough to cling to the skewer. Perfumed Garden — hibiscus, lavender, coriander, cumin, black pepper, Persian lime, black garlic — turns the standard mint-and-pepper kebab floral without making it soapy. Firm tannin and peppery fruit are the ask, so the Reserve Syrah and the Meso Cab Franc are both direct hits.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground lamb, 20-25% fat (ask the butcher for shoulder)
- 2 tbsp LXV Perfumed Garden blend
- 1 small yellow onion, grated and squeezed bone dry in a towel
- 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 2 green chilies, minced fine
- 1/2 cup cilantro and 1/4 cup mint, chopped very fine
- 1/4 cup roasted chickpea flour (besan)
- 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp melted ghee, for basting
- Sliced onion, lime and mint-yogurt, to serve
Method
- Squeeze the grated onion until it is genuinely dry — any water in the mix and the kebabs will slide off the skewer. This is the step everyone skips and everyone regrets.
- Combine the lamb, LXV Perfumed Garden blend, dried onion, ginger-garlic paste, chilies, herbs, chickpea flour, salt and pepper in a bowl.
- Knead hard with your hand for 4-5 full minutes, until the mixture turns tacky and pulls away from the bowl in one mass. You are developing the protein — this is what binds it.
- Cover and chill at least 1 hour so the fat firms up.
- With wet hands, take a fistful and press it around a flat metal skewer in a long cylinder about 1 inch thick, squeezing gently to seal. Repeat, keeping your hands wet.
- Grill over hot direct charcoal, or under a very hot broiler, 4 minutes. Turn a quarter-turn and baste with ghee. Continue turning and basting every 2 minutes for 10-12 minutes total, until deeply charred outside and just cooked within.
- Slide the kebabs off the skewers, rest 3 minutes, and serve with sharp raw onion, lime and mint-yogurt.
More like this
https://www.lxvwine.com/recipes/perfumed-garden-lavender-pepper-lamb-seekh-kebab/ · LXV Wine, Paso Robles