Lamb ribs are such a wonderful and cost efficient lamb cut to use and kasundi (like a spiced chutney) is the perfect condiment to bake them in. It's as easy as smothering the ribs in kasundi and then baking them in the oven along with wedges of lemon to give these rich, delicious ribs a deliciously aromatic and piquant flavour. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader (and you can use beef or pork ribs too!).
I can't recommend this recipe enough. I usually have to force Mr NQN to eat lamb because he doesn't like the smell or richness of lamb. But these? He wolfed them down.
What is kasundi? So there's the Bengali mustard sauce that is primarily mustard based that is a bright yellow colour. Yellow kasundi is used sparingly as a condiment and used to bake fish in.
But this kasundi is a different sauce made with tomatoes. It is essentially like a tomato chutney with lots of mustard seeds, vinegar and spices. Some call it a Bengali tomato sauce or ketchup. There is also eggplant kasundi too.
I have seen tomato kasundi at farmer's markets and it was tasty but I never quite known what to do with it. But this is the perfect application for it because ribs tend to be rich and hearty and the balance of spices and vinegar in kasundi is a perfect foil for meaty ribs.
This recipe works with all types of ribs. The only thing you will need to change is the cooking time:
Beef Short Ribs With Kasundi: I recommend this done with beef short ribs but with an English style of cut (rather than flanken) where the meat is a rectangular slab on top of the bone (rather than cutting through the bone). Smother ribs in kasundi, marinate for an hour, and wrap the ribs in oiled foil and bake at 160C/320F for 3 hours. Then open up the foil and bake at 200C/400F for 25-30 minutes.
Pork Ribs With Kasundi: Smother ribs in kasundi and marinate for an hour. Wrap the ribs in oiled foil and bake at 160C/320F for 2 hours. Then open up the foil and bake at 200C/400F for 15-20 minutes.
Roasted Lemon Wedges: One of the best ways to balance the innate richness of lamb is with the humble lemon. And roasting lemon wedges helps them release the juice. You can put the lemon wedges in each foil packet of lamb and I'd count on using 1.5-2 lemons per kilo of lamb ribs.
You can also buy kasundi at the supermarket although I used a delicious home made kasundi from my friend Valentina's son Will. I saw her showing him making a batch on her Instagram stories and it looked so good I commented about it and she offered to give me a jar of his home-made kasundi.
Although he would probably hate for this to be mentioned, Will is like actor Timothee Chalamat's twin. Although he is 21 years old, Valentina affectionally calls him an "Amish grandpa". That is, he grows a lot of vegetables in their garden and lives a simple life unfettered by the distractions of technology.
Will has no social media accounts and probably lives a life full of bliss although he is passionate about left wing politics which I am always happy to chat to him about because I am too. In fact he's a bit like Mr NQN...except he can cook!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever wish you lived life without social media? Do you think people are happier on social media or off it? Have you ever tried kasundi?
Lamb Ribs With Kasundi
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Print Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 1 hour marinating
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- 1kg/2.2lbs. lamb ribs (mine were cut into portions of four)
- 200g/7ozs. kasundi (see recipe below)
- 2 lemons, cut into wedges
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives
Kasundi
Recipe by Will Jones and Lauren Feidler
Note: this will make more kasundi than you will need in the recipe but trust me my lovelies, you're going to want to make these ribs more than once!
Paste:
- 125g/4ozs. ginger
- 60g/2ozs. garlic
- 30g/1oz. chillies
- 50ml/1.7ozs. malt vinegar
Spice Mix:
- 45g/1.6oz. black mustard seeds
- 40g/1.4oz. cumin
- 15g/0.5oz. ground turmeric
- 5g/0.2oz. hot paprika
- 125ml/4flozs. oil
Rest of Ingredients:
- 1kg/2.2lbs tinned tomatoes
- 125g/4ozs. brown sugar
- 20g/0.7ozs. salt
- 200ml/6flozs. vinegar
Step 1 - Make the kasundi: blend the ginger, garlic, chillies and malt vinegar into a paste. In a large pot fry the spices in the oil for 5 minutes. Then add the ginger paste and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, brown sugar, salt and vinegar and simmer for an hour.
Step 2 - Take the ribs out of the fridge and coat the lamb ribs in the kasundi and leave to marinate and come to room temperature for 1 hour.
Step 3 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a large tray with parchment or foil. Spray oil on a large sheet of foil (I ended up making 6 pouches as I had six portions of 3-4 ribs) and wrap up and roast with the lemon wedges for 1 hour.
Step 4 - Open up the foil packets and reduce heat to 190C/374F and roast for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Slice into individual ribs. Serve with the roasted lemon (which will be very juicy) and a tablespoons of fresh chives or herbs.
Published on 2020-06-22 by Lorraine Elliott.
