Chargrilled Lamb with Asian Mint & Chilli Sauce

Who doesn’t love chargrilled lamb, and what is char-grilled or roasted lamb without mint sauce ?

Here’s a new take on a Aussie classic mint sauce, combining fresh Asian flavours with mint, chilli, and lime. If time permits, marinate the lamb for an hour or so, but if not, just brush with Fish Sauce and a good grind of black pepper before cooking. Cook in the oven or BBQ.

I’ve used a butterflied lamb leg here, but rack of lamb or lamb cutlets would work just as well.

[caption id=“attachment_5149” align=“alignleft” width=“1024”] Marinating lamb in Zip Lock bag[/caption]

Ingredients

Lamb

• Butterflied leg of lamb, or rack of lamb, or lamb cutlets

For the marinade

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbs tamarind paste
• 2 limes, zested & juiced
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tbs Worchestershire sauce
• sea salt

For the Asian Mint Dressing

• 2 tbs grated palm sugar or brown sugar
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup lime juice, and the zest of the limes
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• dash sesame oil
• 2 cups mint leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup Vietnamese mint leaves, chopped, if available

To serve

• 2 shallots, sliced on the diagonal
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded, julienned
• extra mint leaves

Method

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl, and mix well together, making sure the sugar has dissolved. Place the lamb in a zip-lock bag, and pour over the marinade. Massage well to distribute the marinade on both sides of the lamb. Leave for an hour at room temperature.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 180C, or the BBQ to medium high.
5. Remove the lamb from the marinade, and scrape off any excess. Smear some vegetable oil over both sides, hands are best for this, and season well with salt and pepper.
7. For the BBQ turn the heat down to moderate. I usually run two long metal skewers through the meat to keep it flat and make it easier to handle. Lay the meat skin-side-down on the grill and cook for 20 minutes. Turn over and cook for a further 20 minutes. This will have the lamb nicely pink. Leave longer if you prefer.
9. For the oven, lay the meat on a greased rack on the oven tray. The timing and turnings are the same as the BBQ, however you may need to check that the lamb doesn’t brown too much, cover loosely with foil if it does.
11. For both methods, remove from the BBQ/Oven, cover loosely with foil, and leave to rest for 15 minutes before serving.
13. Combine the mint sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well together.

To serve

16. Carve the lamb across the grain, transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle over a little of the Mint Sauce, and scatter with shallots, extra mint and red chilli. Serve the extra sauce on the side.