Spiced lamb’s liver

Delicious dish, so tender and tasty. Don’t be tempted to add extra flour, as the dish will be gluey and the flavours won’t be so obvious. The combination of cardamom and liver is wonderful. We served this with plain rice, but a pilau with apricots and almonds would be good. The recipe is very quick, so you’ll need to start with cooking the rice. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 lamb’s liver
  • 2 small onions, thinly sliced. 
  • 3 tbsp mustard seed or rape seed oil
  • 4 tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 300ml lamb stock, or water

METHOD:

  • Prepare the liver. Cut into cubes, removing any obviously chewy pipes and connective tissue. Don’t worry about small veins. 
  • Heat the oil in a large frying pan that has a lid (you’ll need this later).
  • Mix the flour, salt, pepper and spices. Toss the liver in the flour to lightly coat it. 
  • Add the liver to the frying pan, and fry it quickly, stirring and turning.
  • When the liver is browned, add the stock, bring to the boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes.  

Serve with pilau and some vegetable dishes. 

Fried liver with cumin

This is another favourite recipe from the Moro cookbook. We are often shocked by how few people will eat offal, but the waste of not eating the whole animal is anathema. This recipe is very quick and easy.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Sliced liver (we had lambs liver) around 400g
  • 5 tbsp plain flour
  • 2 tsp ground cumin seeds
  • 25g butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Cut the liver into strips around 5cm long and 2cm wide.
  • Season the flour with cumin, salt and pepper,
  • Just before frying, dust the liver strips with the flour
  • Heat the butter and oil in a pan until the butter starts to foam.
  • Quickly, place strips of liver into the hot fat, and cook on each side until it is sealed: the outer layer should be browned, but the centre should still be pink and juicy.

Serve with mayonaise, or with chopped salad, or with a yoghurt and cumin dressing.