This week, it’s all about trying to capture flavours from Kenya. I know, I know, I just can’t cover them all! There is so much of our culinary landscape that cannot possibly be covered in one post. I’m sharing some of my favorite Kenyan -Arabic-Swahili recipes this week – but the one dish I wanted to get perfectly right in my own back yard was a good ol’ fashioned Nyama Choma. Now this is MY Taste Safari Version, so please give it ago – the family loved it and it was such a nice outdoor experience – just keep loads of chilled beer or wine to hand !!!! ( and juice, ahem, for the kids!)
I am always ready to adapt to any situation and to make it authentic as possible, I slightly rearranged my backyard barbeque station as shown in the photos, much to the amusement of my family! This just made me feel that little closer to actually cooking out in the wild!!!!
For those of you from more distant shores, Nyama Choma is a classical Kenyan dish prepared in almost every homestead, roadside restaurant or shack and also adapted, hugely successfully, by one of Kenya’s oldest and best known legendary restaurants, the Carnivore.
The actual dish is typically described as Nyama choma, is grilled meat – usually goat or sheep. It is grilled over an open fire and is somewhat comparable to Brazil’s Churassco or even the Greek version of butterflied whole lamb that is slow cooked over an open fire. It is simply spit roasted meat over an open fire…but there are tricks and techniques to getting it right!
Now, this is where the Taste Safari version uses leg of lamb. I can already hear the experts clucking and puffing away – but this is my Taste Safari version of a very very popular dish and this is worth the wait on a lovely long, Sunday afternoon. I like to use lamb as it’s a personal favourite, but with the marinade and the slow roasting over an over fire – this is just absolutely carnivorously heavenly!!!
Serves 4 – just about
1 4kg leg of lamb
2 bulbs of garlic Plus 1 heaped tbs minced garlic
1 cup oil
1 tbs freshly cracked black pepper
1 tbs salt
½ cup lemon juice
1 tbs mixed herbs
3 large leeks, sliced down in half vertically
Now, there are really two essential things that I discovered a successful choma really cannot do without. Non-compromising marination time and also the actual cooking technique.
Lay your leg of lamb on a large sheet of foil paper. Your will need lots of foil paper, so keep it ready. Trim away some of the excess fat. NOT ALL, as you want this to melt down and baste your meat.
Cut deep slits at intervals in the meat through to the bone. Mix all the ingredients of the marinate, that is the oil, the lemon juice, the salt and black pepper, the mixed herbs and the minced garlic.
Baste this mixture all over the lamb and especially deep inside the slits.
Now cut your two garlic bulbs horizontally. Insert these halves with all the skin on into the slits.
Wrap this up and place in the fridge overnight or at least for 5 hours minimum. On the day that you want to make the choma, prepare an open fire and you are ready for cooking when your coals are white.
Remove your meat from the foil. Now insert two skewers through the meat at a CROSS angle so that the meat is evenly supported. Now this is where I learnt a big fat lesson. Invest in a motorized rotisserie spit!! I spent a good part of a few hours turning this giant beast for easier cooking – but hey – I’m just that kind of bush cook, so it was no serious problem!!!
Place the meat about ten inches above the hot coals and keep turning until it has browned and slightly started to crisp all over. This will happen quickly so keep an eye that your meat does not burn.
Once this is done, remove the meat and place back in the foil. Now, I like to add the large leeks, that have been sliced down the middle as a bottom cushion layer. These soften with the melting fat and become lovely and tender, to be eaten with just a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of salt with your finished dish.
Wrap the entire parcel in several layers of foil and place back over the fire.
Remember to keep adding charcoal to keep the heat up. Keep turning at 10 minute intervals for at least 2 hours ( hence the advice of a motorised rotisserie spit !!)
15 minutes before serving, remove the foil and place the tender leeks in a dish.
Replace the meat back onto the spit and now let it all crisp up again. This should take 5-6 minutes.
If you can wait a little bit before diving in, let the leg of lamb rest for at least 7 minutes, recovered with the foil wrap, that helps the meat to reabsorb all the lovely flavoured juices.
TIP ***** If you have a chilli mad husband like mine, I slice off thin slices of the lamb and stir fry the meat with some hot sliced green chillies and a squeeze of lemon juice, finished with a sprinkling of salt.
This, my people is my perfect Sunday afternoon Taste Safari Style Choma – Cheers!
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