Lamb and Ratatouille

           There is a similar dish in a French, Italian, Georgian and, probably, come other cuisines which consists of stewed tomatoes, aubergines and, sometimes, courgettes. It is called ratatouille in France, caponata in Italy and adjapsandal in Georgia.

            My mum cooks this ragout quite often, especially in summer when one tends to opt for lighter vegetable meals. This dish, however, has a non-vegetarian version (at least in Georgia where both versions have the same name). My mum used to cook something very similar to it as well but she used beef (a more likely choice for a Russian) instead of mutton  (which would be more traditionally Georgian) and she called the dish “Meat à l’arabe” (yes, I know, lamb is more typical for Middle Eastern cuisine as well!). Anyway, I really loved the combination of flavours and since whenever we have ratatouille at home, my husband feels disappointed by the fact that there’s no meat in it, I started to cook non-vegetarian version of it for him – with lamb. Of course, it is far from what my mum used to cook and more similar to a Georgian adjapsandal or French ratatouille with meat, but I’m really grateful to her for having me inspired to make a dish that always makes my carnivorous husband happy!

Stir-fried Lamb and Fried Rice

If I eventually make it to Mumbai, even for a day, and will have to choose only one restaurant for dining out, I would, no doubt, pick Busaba. Nikhil Chib, its chef and owner, has been a big inspiration for me since I came to India. Due to his TV show I became fascinated by a versatile Asian cuisine – with its variety of rather simple, yet flavourful and pungent dishes; I have learnt about such condiments as oyster and fish sauce, yellow and black bean paste, rice paper and cellophane noodles – which, in the long run, earned a place in my home pantry; I discovered that there are actually two types of soy sauces – light and dark – but it’s not such a big deal to figure out the difference between them; I seized to believe that there should be a misprint in a recipe that calls for using sugar in a savory dish – now I can easily put a generous spoonful of it into my soups and curries and enjoy the hint of sweetness in them.

            One of my favourite recipes that I learnt (and slightly adapted) from Nikhil is stir-fried lamb with fried rice. I guess I cooked this dish a dozen of times since then (which is, believe me, a good characteristic for a dish produced in my kitchen considering the fact that I try new recipes more often than stick to the old ones).