Halal-conscious recipe
Lamb brochettes with apricot and pine nut couscous
Mary Cadogan's lamb brochettes: Halal lamb and apricot skewers coated in harissa, grilled and served with an apricot, pine nut and mint couscous and minted Greek yogurt.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Photo: Leeturtle · CC BY-SA 4.0
Why Halal checks matter here
The skewers are 750 g of lamb leg or shoulder, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and the minted yogurt needs a gelatin check.
Cubes of lamb are coated in harissa and olive oil, threaded onto skewers with quartered fresh apricots and grilled until browned. They come with a couscous of chopped apricot, spring onion, toasted pine nuts, mint and lemon soaked in vegetable stock, and a bowl of minted Greek yogurt. The lamb needs to be Halal, and the yogurt should have no gelatin on its label.
It follows Mary Cadogan's lamb brochettes for BBC Good Food, which serves four. The source uses boneless lamb leg or lean shoulder.
The skewers take only 6 to 8 minutes under the grill or on the barbecue, so have the couscous and yogurt ready first.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Lamb Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and lamb without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the lamb from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.
- Greek yogurt Plain yogurt is milk fermented with cultures, but gelatin turns up in set, low-fat and dessert yogurts. Choose a yogurt with no gelatin on the label. See Yogurt.
Safe substitutes
- Lamb of unknown slaughter → Halal boneless lamb leg or shoulder
Allergens
gluten (couscous), milk (yogurt), pine nuts
Ingredients
Skewers
- 750 g Halal boneless lamb leg or lean shoulder, cubed
- 1 tbsp harissa
- 6 tbsp olive oil (1 tbsp for the lamb, the rest for the couscous)
- 8 apricots (4 for the skewers, 4 for the couscous)
Couscous
- 200 g couscous
- 4 spring onions, finely chopped
- 25 g toasted pine nuts
- 300 ml boiling vegetable stock
- 4 tbsp chopped mint (half for the couscous, half for the yogurt)
- 2 lemons, juiced
Yogurt
- 150 ml pot Greek yogurt (no gelatine)
Method
- Make the skewers. Put the lamb in a bowl. Mix the harissa with 1 tbsp oil, pour it over the lamb and mix well. Quarter 4 apricots, add them to the bowl, mix lightly and season. Thread the lamb and apricots alternately onto 8 skewers.
- Soak the couscous. Chop the remaining apricots and put them in a bowl with the couscous, spring onions and pine nuts. Pour over the boiling stock, cover and leave for 10 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Fluff up with a fork and mix in half the mint, the lemon juice, the rest of the oil and some seasoning.
- Mint the yogurt. Stir the rest of the mint and some seasoning into the yogurt, with extra mint on top if you like.
- Grill and serve. Grill or barbecue the skewers for 6 to 8 minutes, turning, until the meat is nicely browned. Serve with the couscous and yogurt.
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Lamb brochettes with apricot & pine nut couscous' by Mary Cadogan, which uses Moroccan spices (serves 4: 750 g boneless lamb leg or lean shoulder in cubes coated in 1 tbsp harissa mixed with 1 tbsp of 6 tbsp olive oil; 4 of 8 apricots quartered and mixed in, seasoned, and threaded alternately with the lamb onto 8 skewers; the other 4 apricots chopped with 200 g couscous, 4 finely chopped spring onions and 25 g toasted pine nuts, covered with 300 ml boiling vegetable stock and left 10 minutes, fluffed and mixed with half of 4 tbsp chopped mint, the juice of 2 lemons, the rest of the oil and seasoning; the rest of the mint and seasoning stirred into a 150 ml pot of Greek yogurt; the skewers grilled or barbecued 6 to 8 minutes, turning, until browned; served with the couscous and yogurt). We specified Halal lamb and a vegetable stock and flagged the yogurt's label; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Technique and ingredient sources
-
Lamb brochettes with apricot & pine nut couscous — BBC Good Food
Retrieved:
By Mary Cadogan, with Moroccan spices. Serves 4, prep 35 minutes, cook 8 minutes: harissa lamb and apricot skewers grilled 6 to 8 minutes; couscous soaked 10 minutes in vegetable stock with apricot, spring onion and pine nuts, finished with mint, lemon and oil; minted Greek yogurt. We specified Halal lamb.
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Lamb analysis — isithalal.food
Retrieved:
What makes lamb Halal: the slaughter.