LAMB RACK WITH TAMARIND CHUTNEY

A French connection

A lamb rack is really just a few chops that are still stuck together – it looks very impressive when serving it with the sweet and sour chutney.

Ingredients

(serves 4)

1 lamb rack (about 850 g) – make sure there are 8 bones

FOR THE CHUTNEY

2 onions, finely chopped 2 tablespoons oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 chilli, chopped

1 piece (2 cm) fresh ginger, peeled and grated a generous pinch of fine cloves 2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon masala curry powder 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons tamarind purée (or use chutney)

1 cup stock, boiling hot

Here’s how

1 Make the chutney. Fry the onion in the oil until it is soft and shiny. Stir in the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry for another minute or two until fragrant. Now stir in the spices, sugar and tamarind purée until everything is well mixed. Finally, stir in the stock and simmer until the mixture is thick and glossy.

2 Trim any excess fat from the lamb rack so that the fatty layer is even. Use a sharp knife and score the fat layer without slicing into the the meat. Rub the meat with salt and freshly ground black pepper plus a pinch of dry herbs if you have them on hand. 3 Braai the lamb rack until golden brown – start with the fatty side. You can use a cast-iron pan over the coals, but beware of grease that lands in the flames – it can catch fire. You need to pay your braai careful attention. Once the fat is nicely browned, stand the rack upright on the bone and braai it for 10 minutes – it would be good if you covered the rack with a lid or braai dish so that it almost forms an oven.

4 Now turn the meat so the ribs are facing down and the fat is facing upward, and braai for another 15 -20 minutes in your pretend kettle braai. The goal is a lovely pink meat with a crisp layer of fat. Serve with the homemade chutney.

Drive & Camp says In classic French cuisine, the bones of such a lamb rack are ‘Frenched’, which means that the tastiest of the fatty meat is trimmed so that only the bones show. It’s your call.