{Turkish Lamb & Okra Stew}

This recipe is inspired by an old boss and friend Jenet who introduced me to okra many years ago, she brought this delicious lamb and okra stew into work and shared it with me, she was always so generous to me especially when it came to food and although she couldn't give me a proper recipe for the dish (her brother Ender made it) over the years I've kept making versions of it and this has become my favourite one. 

This is not exactly the dish I shared with her that wintery day all those years ago but the lamb and okra are there and every time I eat it I think of her. Make a big pot of this and share it with someone you care about.

...the stew

500g lamb shoulder in 3cm dice

1 onion, large dice

1 red capsicum, large dice

1 zucchini, sliced thickly

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 lemon

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

400g tin diced tomatoes

1 litre chicken stock

800g tin of okra

s+p

Preheat oven to 160. Heat a splash of olive in an oven proof casserole dish with a lid, season the lamb and brown all sides, set aside. Add the onion, capsicum, and zucchini to the pan and cook them till softened then add the garlic, cumin and coriander and cook for a further few minutes. Add back in the lamb the stock the tin of tomatoes and juice of half the lemon, season with s +p and pop it into the oven for 2 hours.

Remove from the oven, the lamb should be falling apart by now so stir in the okra along with the juice from the other half of your lemon, put it back in the oven for half an hour to heat thru, check seasoning and serve with either turkish bread or some pilaf or even just on its own.