As the days get hotter, I am preparing to send BBQ season into full swing! While I love hamburgers, veggies, and chicken on the grill, I sometimes like to treat myself with something special, like these delicious Cumin Lamb Skewers.
These Cumin Lamb Skewers were inspired by the delicious variety of skewers at one of my favourite barbecue restaurants in Vancouver: Happy Tree House BBQ. While the name of the restaurant may be a little crazy, the food is totally on point! They have a variety of skewers available (that come pre-BBQd) including beef, chicken, seafood, chicken skin, and lamb.
Spice Up Your BBQ this Summer!
Since it’s a northern Chinese restaurant, that means the food is seasoned with lots of spices to give it amazing flavour. All their skewers come with this amazing cumin and chili spice on them. It’s spicy and smoky and just makes you want to keep eating them!
Since I haven’t been to Vancouver in a while, I’ve been missing them and decided to recreate them at home! I bought a local de-boned lamb leg, sliced it, and marinated it with garlic and spices. Since lamb is quite a flavourful meat, it can handle pungent spices like cumin and chili flakes very well. Once it was marinated, I threaded it onto some skewers and grilled it for a few minutes per side. For a finishing touch, I sprinkled it with some extra spice blend that was left over.
These skewers were so good that we had a hard time controlling ourselves from eating them all up! The salty, smoky and spicy flavour really does make you want to keep eating them– especially fresh off the grill. So if you like lamb and spices, you must try these Cumin Lamb Skewers at your next BBQ this summer!
What are some of your favourite BBQ recipes? Let me know in the comments below!
For the full recipe for my Cumin Lamb Skewers, scroll down below!
Get the Recipe!
Cumin Lamb Skewers
Ingredients
For the Lamb Skewers:
- 1 1/2 pounds lamb leg de-boned and cut into 1 cm strips
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried chili flakes
For the Seasoning Blend:
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried chili flakes
- 1 ½ tablespoons sea salt
Instructions
- Place the sliced lamb meat into a large bowl. Cover with olive oil, chopped garlic, ground cumin, whole cumin, black pepper and chili flakes. Mix well to combine and let marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 4-6 hours, but preferably overnight.
- Mix the seasoning blend ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Thread the lamb onto long grilling skewers and lay flat on a plate. Sprinkle with the seasoning blend on both sides and set aside.
- Heat the grill/BBQ to 400 degrees F, or just until it begins to smoke. Place the skewers on the grill and cook for 4-5 minutes per side. Once the skewers are cooked set aside on a plate, cover with foil, and let them rest for 10 minutes. Once rested, serve with the remaining spice blend and enjoy!
