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Merguez lamb kebabs with Halal lamb

Barney Desmazery's merguez lamb kebabs: Halal lamb mince spiced with toasted cumin, coriander and fennel, paprika, harissa, garlic and cinnamon, barbecued on skewers and served with a carrot, cumin and herb yogurt.

North African · Main · Easy · 8 kebabs · 40 min

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.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The kebabs are 800 g of lean minced lamb, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and the cumin yogurt is made with Greek yogurt, which needs a gelatin check.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Minced lamb: Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and mince without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the mince 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.

Ingredients

Kebabs

• 2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp harissa, plus extra to serve
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 800 g Halal lean minced lamb
• 8 wooden skewers

Carrot and cumin yogurt

• 3 carrots, coarsely grated
• 2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
• 200 g pot Greek yogurt (no gelatine)
• small handful chopped coriander, plus extra to serve
• small handful chopped mint
• to serve warm flatbreads

Method

1. Grind the spices. Soak 8 wooden skewers in water. Toast the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a small pan, then grind them with a pestle and mortar. Mix in the paprika, harissa, garlic and cinnamon.
2. Shape the kebabs. Scrape the spice paste into a bowl with the lamb, season and squish together with your fingers. Mould into 8 long kebabs straight onto the skewers. You can do this up to a day ahead.
3. Barbecue. When the coals are ashen, barbecue the kebabs for 10 to 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through. Watch out for flare-ups from the fat.
4. Make the yogurt and serve. While the kebabs cook, mix the carrots, toasted cumin, yogurt, coriander and mint. Scatter the kebabs and yogurt with coriander and serve with extra harissa and warm flatbreads.

Allergens

milk (yogurt), gluten (flatbreads, if served)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Merguez lamb kebabs' by Barney Desmazery, which describes them as a take on the highly spiced North African lamb sausages (makes 8: 8 wooden skewers soaked; 2 tbsp each cumin, coriander and fennel seeds toasted and ground, mixed with 1 tbsp paprika, 2 tbsp harissa, 4 finely minced garlic cloves and ½ tsp ground cinnamon; worked into 800 g lean minced lamb with seasoning and moulded into 8 long kebabs on the skewers, which can be done a day ahead; barbecued over ashen coals 10 to 15 minutes, turning, until cooked through, watching for flare-ups from the fat; yogurt of 3 coarsely grated carrots, 2 tsp toasted cumin seeds, a 200 g pot of Greek yogurt and a small handful each of chopped coriander and mint; served scattered with coriander, with extra harissa and warm flatbreads). We specified Halal lamb and flagged the yogurt's label; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph of seekh kebabs from Wikimedia Commons, not the finished dish from this recipe.