Tikka Kebabs

This was a fantastic recent find of mine.  I have a couple of amazing cookbooks by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.  They are a couple who travels in different parts of the world (mostly Asia) and learn to cook in villages by the locals.  They have the most wonderful recipes in beautiful books.  This recipe came from Mangoes and Curry Leaves:Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent.  It just so happened that this book was the end book on my cookbook shelf.  The back cover picture kept staring at me calling my name until I became determined to find out just what that dish was.  This is it.  As my husband said, this was the best marinade he's ever had.  And this is a man who is serious about eating good meat!
The recipe is supposed to be for lamb kebabs (not much in the way of beef recipes in India) but seeing as we do eat beef here and good lamb is harder to come by, I used beef instead of lamb when we did these up.  We've had them twice in the past 2 weeks, once without the yogurt in the marinade as I didn't have any on hand and once with.  Both versions were good.  I even managed to convince my husband to BBQ them for me in the snow - isn't he great?



Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder (I used stewing beef in substitution)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp minced garlic (or garlic mashed to a paste)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4-1/2 tsp ground black pepper (optional)
lime or lemon wedges

Trim the meat of any excess fat and cut into 3/4 inch cubes.  Set aside in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, coriander. oil, 1 tsp of the salt, the cayenne, and black pepper.  Pour over the meat.  Stir with a spoon or your hands to get all the meat surfaces coated with marinade.  Cover  and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or for as long as 12 hours. 
Thread the meat onto metal skewers, without pressing them tightly together, grill over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until browned on the outside and pale pink in the centre (or all the way through if you prefer).
Just before serving, sprinkle about 1 tsp of salt over the meat.  Put out lime or lemon wedges so guests can squeeze on fresh juice.
Serve with flatbread.