Stew is a northern comfort food because of the thickness of the meal. It is more than a soup as it is rich in carbohydrates and fat from the gravy.
How is this distinctly Russian? Kabobs and lamb dishes are more of a Uzbekistan or meal from the central Asian republics and enjoyed by the Tartars and Kazahs in the form of Mani.
But of course Slavic Russian farmers raised lamb, not only for wool in cold Russia but for the meat. It was more for special occasions.
- You can even use lamb in borscht instead of beef.
Lamb is one of the highest food in the amino acid l-carnitine, which is good for weight loss as it acts a shuttle for fat. It is also good for the heart as well as neurological function. So there is a lot of reasons to eat lamb stew.
Note on the following recipe I do not specify proportions as the amount that goes in depends on your taste and number of portions. For example, I like to go light on the meat and heavy on the vegetables.
An example of the proportions could be: 4 carrots, 3 potatoes, 1 onion.
- Cut lamb into small pieces and roll it in salt and a few pinches of ginger, and a couple of pinches of pepper, but not enough so the ginger would overwhelm the taste. Although lamb has a strong taste you do not want to over spice this.
- You can first fry the lamb in bacon fat or lard, or olive oil, I use coconut oil.
- Dice up the carrots, parsnip and potatoes into one inch size pieces.
- Dice up an onion.
- Put both the above ingredients into a pot.
- Add 2 bay leaves, thyme ( a teaspoon).
- 3 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped.
- Next in a baking pot add four cups of soup stock, you can use an instant stock as long as it does not have MSG for example.
- Add flour to thicken it.
- Put in the oven on 375.
Let me know if you any variations for this Russian lamb stew.
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