Ingredients
Lamb chops; 3 per person depending on the size
2 pomegranates
½ cup white sugar
½ cup of lemon juice
100g dates, de-seeded
4 cloves of garlic
1” chunk of ginger; grated
2 red chillies de-seeded
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp sea salt
10g fresh mint, plus extra for decoration
1tbsp soft brown sugar
Method
Pomegranate molasses; remove the seeds from the fruit, reserve some for decoration and blitz the rest up to be a juice. Push through a sieve so you are left with juice only. Heat this juice in a pan with the juice of half a lemon and the white sugar. Let the sugar dissolve and reduce a little then set aside.
Date molasses; place the dates in a pan with enough water to just cover them. Boil for ten minutes then empty into a blender and blitz to be a thick paste. Set aside.
Blitz the garlic, ginger, chilli and mint up with be a paste then mix this with the date molasses and then a 2/3 tbsp. of the pomegranate molasses. Add the rest of the spices, the salt and the brown sugar. Taste this mixture it should be sweet and toffee tasting.
Add this marinade with the lamb in an oven dish and marinade for a couple of hours in the fridge.
Heat the oven to the highest setting, place the lamb in the hot oven covered with foil. Cook for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 170 degrees for an hour. Then remove the foil turn the heat back up and cook until the lamb is crispy on the edges.
Serve on its own or with sliced butternut squash and salad. Sprinkle over the extra mint and pomegranates for decoration.
