The peculiarity of cooking in pots is that during the cooking process it is difficult to adjust the taste of the dish. But if you know some simple rules, then by cooking in pots you can significantly save time and effort, while becoming known as an excellent cook. In this recipe I will tell you some of the tricks of this cooking method.
Cooking in pots is an old Russian method of cooking, largely determined by the climatic conditions of our homeland. To survive the long, cold winter, our ancestors needed not only a heat source, but also a heat accumulator. The Russian stove became such a device. On long winter nights, this ingenious invention not only warmed the sides of its owners, but also prepared food for them. Porridge, vegetables, and meat simmered in pots and cast iron on a hearth, acquiring an amazing aroma and delicious tenderness. Alas, now we can only imitate the heating of a Russian stove, but no one is stopping us from repeating the process of cooking in pots.
For 2 pots with a capacity of 600 ml we will need:
2 medium potatoes (200-300 g)
200-300 g lamb (or other meat)
50-75 g carrots
50-75 g parsley root
75-100 g onion
0.5 teaspoons dried parsley
0.5 tsp dried celery
0.5 tsp dried green onions
1 teaspoon vegetable oil for frying root vegetables
1 tbsp. spoon of tomato paste or mayonnaise
Salt, pepper to taste
Dried herbs can be replaced with fresh ones, and root vegetables with their dried counterparts. All proportions are approximate. Adjust the thickness of the dish with the amount of meat and potatoes. If there are more or fewer pots, change the amount of ingredients used accordingly.
Preparation:
Cut the lamb into bite-sized pieces (2-3 cm) and place equally in two pots. It is not necessary to defrost the meat; the juices will not run out of it in the pot.
Place potatoes cut into the same cubes on top.
Cut the carrots and parsley root into circles, the onion, depending on the size, into half or quarter rings and fry (sauté) it all in a frying pan in vegetable oil.
If you use dried root vegetables, you can exclude them from sautéing. Arrange fried (and dried) vegetables in pots
Add dried herbs, salt, and, if desired, pepper and other seasonings. You need about a third of a teaspoon of salt per pot, but remember that it is always better to under-salt than over-salt.
Pour hot boiled water approximately up to the shoulders. When cooking in pots, always leave about 2cm of space at the top. In liquid dishes, this free space is needed for boiling, and in mushy dishes, for swollen contents. The main thing is not to fill the pot to capacity, the excess will still run away, and then you will have to intensively wash the oven and dishes from burnt food.
Add tomato paste or mayonnaise. You can, as I did, put one thing in one pot and another in another. Another advantage of cooking in portioned pots is that you can prepare an individual dish for each eater. If a person doesn’t like tomato paste, we put mayonnaise in his pot. He can’t stand onions and parsley, but he loves chili peppers and cilantro, so we replace some seasonings in his pot with others. And so with any products, change anything for everyone’s taste, even lamb for chicken, even potatoes for turnips.
Be sure to stir the upper liquid part well. While in a saucepan you can stir the contents at any time during cooking, in pots this is both difficult and not advisable.
Well, almost everything, the short preliminary preparations are completed. We close the lids (if there are no lids, cover them with saucers) and put the pots in a cold (required) oven. In a heated oven, dishes may burst due to temperature changes, but even if this does not happen, there is no point in preheating the oven. This is not baking.
We set the temperature to approximately 180 degrees Celsius and cook for at least an hour, or better yet, after half an hour, reducing the temperature to 120-130 degrees, one and a half to two. These are approximate recommendations, a lot depends on specific conditions - pots, oven, voltage in the electrical network. We don’t rush to take out the finished lamb and potatoes and keep it in the cooling oven until serving. Serve in the same pots.
We eat with caution - dishes in pots remain very hot for a long time.
In fact, cooking in pots is the same as cooking in the now fashionable multicooker. It takes no more than 15-20 minutes to pre-prepare the products, and the rest of the time you can do other things. Having adapted to cooking in a pot, you can easily and simply make always delicious dishes from available products.
Georgians, like no one else, know a lot about cooking lamb. It is from Georgian cuisine that the tradition of making lamb in pots came to us - in Georgia the dish is called chanakhi.
To ensure that the dish does not disappoint, you should pay attention to the choice of meat. Fresh young lamb meat has a small white fat layer. It is elastic and soft scarlet.
To neutralize the unpleasant smell of meat, lamb is cooked with a whole bunch of seasonings. This gives the desired effect and the meat becomes very tender and piquant. It is important not to overdry the dish - the lamb meat can become tough. To do this, you need to maintain the cooking time and add juicy vegetables.
For those who avoid lamb because of its high fat content, we can recommend using dill, parsley, pepper and garlic - these seasonings make the meat less fatty.
The method of cooking in a pot also eliminates a fair amount of cholesterol - after all, stewed meat is much healthier than fried meat.
Lamb in a pot is perfect as a second course; it can fully replace a roast. A beautiful presentation will make the dish a decoration for the holiday table.
Total cooking time is 2.5 hours.
Lamb in a pot in the oven
This traditional recipe can be adjusted to your taste by changing the spices, marinating the meat and adding various vegetables.
Ingredients:
- 0.5 kg lamb;
- 2 tomatoes;
- 4 garlic cloves;
- bay leaf, black pepper, salt - to taste;
- parsley and dill.
Preparation:
- Prepare meat broth - boil a piece of meat with onions and carrots. Or make an express alternative - brew a Maggi bouillon cube. You will need to fill the free space in the pots with broth, so calculate the amount based on the volume of the clay containers.
- Rinse the meat, remove all veins. Cut into small pieces. Make a cut in each piece.
- Peel the garlic cloves and cut them into thin slices. Place these plates into the cuts in the meat.
- Cut the tomatoes into thick slices.
- Place the lamb in the pots. Place 2 bay leaves in each, add pepper and salt.
- Pour in broth. Place tomatoes on top.
- Cover with a lid and place in the oven for 2 hours. Baking temperature: 180°C.
- After cooking, sprinkle the dish with finely chopped herbs.
Lamb in a pot with potatoes
Lamb goes well with potatoes. Ideally selected spices are suitable for both meat and root vegetables. To make the lamb juicy and tender, it is recommended to marinate it first.
Ingredients:
- 0.5 kg lamb;
- 0.5 kg of potatoes;
- 1 onion;
- lemon;
- salt pepper;
- oregano, saffron, mustard seed;
- garlic.
Preparation:
- Wash the lamb, cut into small pieces.
- Marinate the meat: place it in a saucepan, add mustard seeds, oregano and saffron. Sprinkle generously with lemon juice. Leave for 40 minutes.
- Peel the potatoes and cut into large cubes.
- Cut the onion into thin rings.
- Place the meat in the pots, cover it with onions, and place the potatoes on top.
- Add garlic cloves to each pot, salt and pepper and add water.
- Place in an oven preheated to 180° for 1.5 hours.
Lamb in a pot with vegetables
Vegetables make the meat juicy, remove fat and add a slightly sweet taste to the usual dish. Lamb is good with any vegetables, but it is better to take those that will not lose their shape during prolonged cooking.
Ingredients:
- 0.5 kg lamb;
- 2 tomatoes;
- 1 bell pepper;
- 2 eggplants;
- 1 onion;
- 1 carrot;
- vegetable oil;
- half a glass of red wine;
- thyme, rosemary, oregano;
- salt.
Preparation:
- Wash the meat and marinate in wine and spices - thyme, rosemary, oregano. Add onion, chopped into rings. Mix thoroughly and leave for 40 minutes.
- Fry the lamb pieces in vegetable oil. Place the pieces on a hot frying pan. Fry for 10-12 minutes until a crust appears.
- In another frying pan, fry the carrots, grated on a coarse grater.
- Cut the tomatoes into circles, bell peppers into slices, and eggplant into cubes.
- Place the ingredients in pots: first the meat (you can cook it together with pickled onions), then carrots, bell peppers, eggplant and tomatoes on top.
- Salt the contents of each pot, top it up with water and place in the oven for 1.5 hours.
Chanakhi
A traditional Georgian dish is prepared with vegetables and herbs. In this case, it is not customary to marinate lamb, but you can add this step to avoid an unpleasant odor.
Ingredients:
- 0.5 kg lamb;
- 0.5 kg potatoes;
- 2 large tomatoes;
- 2 eggplants;
- 200 g green beans;
- 1 onion;
- parsley, cilantro and basil;
- salt.
Preparation:
- Rinse the meat, cut into pieces. Place into pots.
- Finely chop the onion – it’s even better to chop it in a blender.
- Place a thin layer on the meat.
- Peel the potatoes and cut into slices.
- Chop the eggplants into cubes.
- Arrange the vegetables in pots.
- Place finely chopped herbs on top of each bowl. Add some salt.
- Add water and place in the oven for 2 hours.
Combinations of spices help reduce the fat content of lamb, and cooking in pots makes the meat especially juicy. It goes well with vegetables, and the marinade can remove excess odor.
Today we will prepare a wonderful homemade dish - lamb with potatoes in pots. A tasty and aromatic stew prepared in this way will, of course, take you a certain amount of time, but will definitely delight you and your loved ones.
For stewing in pots, it is best to choose lamb shoulder - a rather tender and juicy part of the carcass, which makes an excellent stew or pilaf. I recommend using light beer as the liquid base for our dish; in my opinion, beer perfectly complements the taste and aroma of lamb. And if you don't like beer, use red wine, rich meat broth, or just water.
To prepare lamb with potatoes in pots, prepare the ingredients according to the list. If you want to prepare a thick dish, limit yourself to only the specified amount of beer; for lovers of semi-liquid dishes, I have additionally indicated a certain amount of water. You will also need 6 standard clay pots. My pots have a volume of 480 ml.
Cut the lamb into pieces, roll in flour and fry them in portions in well-heated oil until a thin golden crust. Using the remaining oil and rendered lamb fat, fry the onion pieces.
Place onion and meat in the bottom of each pot. Add a little salt and pepper.
Next add the potato cubes and bay leaf.
Pour the beer equally into the pots.
Add spices and chopped garlic. If, as I wrote above, you like a thinner stew, add water to the volume you need. Add a little more salt. Cover the pots with lids and place in an oven preheated to 190 degrees for about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Lamb with potatoes in pots is ready! Serve the dish hot with fresh cilantro or parsley.
How to bake lamb so that the meat is soft and juicy? It's actually not that difficult. Lamb in a pot in the oven with vegetables turns out especially tasty. There are a lot of recipes for this dish, and they all have their roots in Georgian cuisine.
A little theory
Experts say that dishes baked in clay pots are very healthy because they are well absorbed and digested by our body. However, I want the meal to be not only “healthy”, but also tasty. And the advice of experienced chefs will help us with this:
- Before using, the pots should be kept in cold water for 10 minutes. Then the dish will turn out juicy.
- It is better to add cheese about ten minutes before the end of the cooking process.
- Lamb will be more aromatic and tastier if you season it with different herbs and spices.
- If the recipe calls for adding water, give preference to distilled water. Then the dish will have a richer taste.
- In winter, you can use paste instead of fresh tomatoes.
- Be sure to place the pots only in a cold oven, otherwise they may crack due to temperature changes.
- To ensure that the lamb absorbs the flavors of other ingredients during the baking process, place all the ingredients in the pots raw.
- It is better to lay out vegetables that produce juice, such as tomatoes or onions, as the last layers, so that the dish on top does not dry out.
- Be sure to cover the pots with food foil or lids.
- Hot clay pots should not be placed on a cold surface as the bottom may crack. Use a wooden cutting board for this purpose.
- Remove the pots from the oven a few minutes before they are ready. The dish, as they say, will cook under the influence of the hot walls and at the same time cool slightly.
Let's learn the intricacies of Georgian cuisine
Lamb with vegetables in a pot in the oven in Georgian style will become a complete second course, which is not a shame to serve at the holiday table. The perfect combination of vegetables and meat gives a delicious taste. Perhaps this is the most successful option for cooking lamb in the oven.
Compound:
- 0.5 kg lamb;
- 3-4 potatoes;
- 2-3 tomatoes;
- eggplant;
- bulb;
- carrot;
- garlic cloves to taste;
- 400 ml broth;
- 5-6 tbsp. l. tomato paste;
- laurel leaves;
- sprigs of parsley and dill;
- ground fresh pepper;
- salt.
Preparation:
- Let's start by preparing all the products. We clean and rinse the vegetables thoroughly.
- Wash and dry the meat.
- Cut the lamb, potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant into small cubes of approximately equal size. Be sure to sprinkle the eggplant with salt and leave for 30 minutes to get rid of the bitterness. Then you will need to rinse it thoroughly, preferably under running water.
- Chop the onion into cubes and grate the carrots coarsely.
- Chop the garlic cloves, dill and parsley sprigs.
- In a separate bowl, combine the broth with tomato paste and stir well.
- We have done the most labor-intensive part of the work; now we need to put all the ingredients into pots. By the way, the latter must be clean and dry. Let's start with lamb.
- Place root vegetables on top of the meat.
- The next layer is onions and garlic cloves.
- Now put the tomatoes in the pots.
- Next, eggplants come into play.
- Cover the eggplants with a carrot layer.
- It's time to salt our dish and season it with pepper.
- Add a laurel leaf to each pot.
- Place chopped greens in pots.
- Pour tomato broth over all ingredients.
- Cover the pots with lids and place in a cold oven. Cook lamb with vegetables at a temperature of 180 degrees for about an hour and a half.
Delicious and healthy dinner for the whole family
Lamb in a pot in the oven with potatoes and canned green peas turns out to be very tasty and aromatic. Try it and you will definitely be satisfied with the result.
Compound:
- 0.6 kg lamb;
- 8-10 potatoes;
- 2 carrots;
- 3 onions;
- garlic cloves to taste;
- 1 b. canned peas;
- 5-6 tbsp. l. mayonnaise;
- 50-60 ml olive oil;
- salt;
- blend of spices.
Preparation:
- Let's prepare the vegetables and lamb. Wash the meat and cut into cubes.
- Peel and chop the vegetables: onions, potatoes - into cubes, carrots - into strips.
- Pour ½ tsp into each pot. olive oils. It can be replaced with any other vegetable oil.
- Now put chopped onion and one garlic clove on the bottom of the pots.
- The next layer is lamb. Season the meat with salt and spices.
- Then distribute the potatoes in an even layer and lightly salt them too.
- Place the peas in a colander to drain excess liquid, and then distribute them among the pots.
- Lastly, add mayonnaise and close the pots.
- Cook the dish in the oven at a temperature of 200 degrees until it boils. Then we reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and simmer the lamb with vegetables for about an hour and a half.
- Remove the finished dish from the oven, mix and serve. You can season it with soy sauce.
A simple savory recipe
Even a novice cook can handle this recipe. To add some piquancy to the dish, we will add dried herbs, and the cheese will infuse the lamb and vegetables with a wonderful aroma. This recipe is different in that we first fry the meat and vegetables.
Compound:
- 0.8 kg lamb;
- 1 kg of potatoes;
- 2 onions;
- 2 carrots;
- 100 g cheese;
- garlic cloves to taste;
- 2-3 laurel leaves;
- refined vegetable oil;
- fresh herbs;
- ground black pepper;
- salt;
- dried herbs.
Preparation:
- Prepare the lamb and vegetables as in previous recipes.
- Fry the lamb in vegetable oil until golden over high heat.
- Add onions and carrots to the meat and fry everything together for a few minutes.
- Transfer the meat and vegetables into pots and season with pepper and salt and stir.
- Cut the cheese into small cubes.
- Now put root vegetables and cheese on top of the lamb and vegetables.
- Add dried herbs and mix everything. If necessary, add a little salt.
- Pour water into each pot. The liquid should occupy ½ of the container.
- We send the pots to the oven and simmer the dish at a temperature of 190 degrees for 1.5-2 hours.
- Wash and chop the greens.
- Peel the garlic cloves and chop finely.
- Half an hour before the end of the cooking process, add herbs, garlic and laurel leaves to the pots. Let's mix everything.
- Simmer the dish until done and remove.
