Lamb dish emulates flavors of tandoor

I love the intriguing aroma and flavors of foods cooked in an Indian tandoor oven.

To capture some of these flavors at home, I used a spice seasoned yogurt sauce, using spices easily at hand — ginger, coriander and cayenne pepper. Although not made in a special oven, the meal fills my requirement for some great Indian food, midweek.

Helpful Hints:

• You can use two crushed garlic cloves instead of minced garlic.
• You can use two teaspoons ground ginger instead of fresh ginger.

Tandoori Lamb

Yield 2 servings. Recipe by Linda Gassenheimer

3/4 pound leg of lamb cubes

1 cup nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt, drained

¼ cup fresh mint, divided use

1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (2 tablespoons)

2 teaspoons ground coriander

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Remove visible fat from lamb. Mix yogurt, 2 tablespoons chopped mint, ginger, coriander, cayenne pepper and sugar together to make a marinade. Divide the marinade in half. Add one half to a separate bowl and set aside. Add the lamb cubes to the remaining half. Stir the lamb to make sure all sides are coated with the marinade. Let marinate for 10 minutes while you make the rice.

After lamb marinates, heat oil over medium-high heat in a nonstick skillet just large enough to hold lamb in one layer. Remove lamb from marinade. Add garlic to the skillet and then the lamb. Brown the lamb for 3 minutes. Turn and brown for 2 minutes.

Lower heat to medium. Spoon reserved half of marinade over lamb. Remove from heat and stir to combine sauce with lamb. Divide lamb in half and spoon into two small bowls. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup chopped mint on top.

Per serving: 373 calories (38% from fat), 15.9 g fat (5.2 g saturated, 6.5 g monounsaturated), 118 mg cholesterol, 45.4 g protein, 11.1 g carbohydrates, 1.9 g fiber, 149 mg sodium.