A nutritious meal and a tasty one too, lamb meat has made its way into a common Australian household! While it may not be as commonly eaten as beef or chicken, lamb too can spell luxury when cooked as per the given recipes.

So, if you want to be more creative and exotic with your menu, take a look at these four appetizing 30-minute lamb appetizers.

(1) Lamb and Haloumi Kebabs

Ingredients

• Lemon- juice.
• 2 pounded cloves garlic.
• 2 teaspoonful dry oregano
• Steaks of lamb ½ kg, cut into cubes after trimming
• Haloumi cheese cut into cubes 1/4g
• A few lemon halves roasted on an open flame
• Flatbread, and a salad consisting of vegetables and seasoning of your choice

Method

Mix together the garlic, oregano, and lemon juice. Coat the lamb with it. Let it marinate for 2 hours. Now preheat a barbecue plate on medium flame. Skewer the marinated lamb and Haloumi pieces. 10 minutes cooking on the barbecue continuously basting until it is fully cooked with cheese turning golden. Serve with flatbread, salad and the lemon pieces. The best thing about this recipe is that the cooking time is barely 12-14 minutes! This can turn out to be one of the great lamb recipes for the beginners as well.

(2) Lamb and Apricot Kofte Kebabs –

5 mins to prepare and 20 mins to cook

Ingredients

• oil
• 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ tsp hot chilli powder
• 400g lean lamb mince
• harissa paste
• few apricots, finely chopped
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp flaked salt
• freshly ground black pepper

For the plating and serving

• plain pitta bread, split
• shredded baby gem lettuce,
• thinly sliced red onion
• sliced tomatoes,
• 1 cup fresh curd
• 4 chopped mint sprigs
• 4 sprigs fresh coriander,
• flaked sea salt

Method

Saute onion till soft, include chilli and garlic powder. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. Add all the ingredients from lamb to black pepper. Make balls of the mixture and skewer them. Grill for about 12 minutes. Prepare the sauce and heat the bread. Make an incision in the bread and fill the bread balls with the salad ingredients. Put the salad stuffed pitta bread alongside the kofte, and pour sauce on them while serving.

(3) Barbecued Greek Lamb Burger

 Ingredients

• 1/2kg lamb minces
• One small chopped red onion
• Fresh or dry oregano.
• Chopped black olives 50g
• Coarsely mashed feta 150 gms
• Olive oil for brushing
• Crusty rolls sliced open
• Roughly chopped into roundels ready-roasted peppers.
• A few wild rocket leaves

Method

Mix the mince with all the other ingredients from onions, oregano, olives, feta to black pepper. Make burgers and cook them. Brush the burgers with olive oil and cook slowly on a red hot flameless barbecue for 8 minutes, and flip them after every 2 minutes. Alternatively, these burgers can be fried on low heat for 4 minutes on each side, or until fully cooked. Lightly toast the rolls on the cut sides. Fill in with pepper roundels, burgers, and feta. Your cool lamb burgers are ready to be served hot!

(4) Griddled Lamb Sandwich

Ingredients

For the mint sauce

• 15 gms or a few sprigs of finely chopped mint leaves
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the  sandwich

• lamb leg steaks 300g
• Paprika(smoked) 2 tablespoonful
• Thick slices of 2 red onions
• Rolls 2 Nos

Sauce preparation,

• Dissolve sugar in a mixture of mint, vinegar, and oil.
• Rub paprika and oil on the lamb. Cook it on a griddle pan or in a preheated oven at 6,200 degrees C. In a separate pan, cook onions till slightly charred.

Lightly heat the rolls, before you cut them into half and pour meat juices. Cut lamb into slices, spread onions over them. As the last step, pour the hot sauces and serve.

Lamb dishes are not only nutritious, and some elaborate recipes can be prepared quickly to impress your guests on short notice!Try them and let your culinary talent be appreciated.