Mitmita Lamb Chops With Spicy Fasolia

Fiery chops with a spicy mix of al dente green beans, potatoes, and carrots

Keyword African Bird's Eye Pepper, Serrano Pepper, Thai Pepper

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 1 50

Servings servings

Calories 1071kcal

Equipment

12 wooden toothpicks to pin the chops into 4 ‘mini racks’

Ingredients

For the lamb rib chops

3 ¼ pounds lamb rib chops That weight gave me 12 evenly sized chops
1 tablespoon olive oil

For the mitmita marinade

16 dried African bird’s eye chilies finely ground. The ones I used were each about 1 inch long, and a ¼-inch thick at their widest point.
8 cloves garlic peeled and finely grated
2 lemons the juice and flesh
1 heaped teaspoon ground green cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ heaped teaspoons ground sea salt

For the fasolia

3 fresh green serrano peppers sliced into ¼-inch disks, seeds and all
8 ounces green beans topped, tailed and cut into slices about 2 inches long
6 ounces carrots peeled and cut into oblong chunks, about 1 inch long, 1/3-inch wide
6 waxy potatoes medium size, peeled and cut into quarters. I chose ones that were bite-sized when quartered.
1 red onion medium size. Peeled, halved, and cut into ¼-inch slices.
16 cherry tomatoes halved. The ones I used were each about 1 ¼ inch long.
6 cloves garlic peeled and finely sliced
1 heaped tablespoon ginger root grated, skin and all
1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
1 heaped teaspoon ground black pepper
2 heaped teaspoons ground sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup water

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preparing the fasolia

We’ll start with the fasolia because the beans and carrots get partially cooked before they join the sauce along with the fully cooked potatoes.
So, add the potatoes to a saucepan large enough to hold that trio of veg, together with a level teaspoon salt, and enough water to just cover the potatoes. Set the pan on a high heat and bring it to a boil. Now drop the heat to low and let the potatoes simmer for about 7 minutes until they’re almost cooked through.
Now add the carrots and beans and let the pan simmer on that low heat for another 3 minutes. You’re aiming to soften the beans and carrots, so they become al dente, and for the potatoes to finish cooking right through.
Drain the pan and let the vegetables sit in a covered bowl while you make the fasolia’s sauce.
To do that, add 3 tablespoons olive oil to the saucepan over a medium-high heat. Let the pan heat for a minute, then stir in the onions and salt, and drop the heat to medium.
You want to fry the onions for about 5 minutes with a few stirs so that they soften and just begin to pick up a little color. Now add the tomatoes and continue gently stir frying on that medium heat for another 5 minutes, until the tomatoes start softening and begin to lose their body. Once that happens, stir in the garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, and black pepper, and continue frying on that medium heat for another 5 minutes.
Now stir in the water and let the pan come up to a gently bubbling simmer. Drop the heat to low and let the occasionally stirred sauce simmer away for about 5 minutes, so that the tomatoes become almost pureed. Good. Turn off the heat and let the sauce sit while you turn your attention to the chops and the mitmita marinade.

Making the mitmita marinade

Ideally, you want to use an electric spice / coffee grinder to grind the dried African bird’s eye chilis to quite a fine powder, but a little patient work with a pestle and mortar will do the trick.
Once the chilies are ground, combine them with all the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl that’s easily large enough to hold all the chops.
Use your fingers to give the chops a thorough coating of the marinade and set them aside for 30 minutes..

Pinning the chops into mini-racks, ready for cooking

This is surprisingly easy. To start, lay three chops one on top of the other, so that the fatted sides form a flat, even edge. Now push three evenly spaced toothpicks through the chops so that they’re pinned together into a mini rack. That’s it. They’re all set for some searing heat.

Cooking the chops – hot and fast

Set a large serving platter in a low oven so that it will heat through and be ready for keeping the chops warm for a few minutes once they’ve been cooked.
To cook the chops, I used a heavy, 12-inch skillet that was comfortably big enough to sear the fat sides on all four racks of pinned chops simultaneously.
Set your skillet on a high heat and add a tablespoon olive oil. As soon as the oil starts shimmering, add the mini racks fat side down. Let them sear fiercely on that high heat for about 2 minutes so that you get a dark golden, crisping char all over the flat, fatted sides.
Once that’s happened, drop the heat to medium-high, and remove the four pinned racks. Pull the chops apart, and quick as you can, return 6 of them to the skillet in a single, evenly spaced layer.
Let them fry for 3 minutes or so on each side over that medium-high heat, until they pick up a rich gold color. Great. They’re done. Set the chops on your warmed plate and then finish frying the rest. They chops will be fine in your low oven while you give the fasolia its last few minutes’ cooking.

Finishing the fasolia

Heat the sauce over a medium high heat until it starts to simmer, and then carefully stir in the beans, carrots and potatoes. I say carefully because it looks so much better if the potatoes’ keep their nicely angular shapes. Drop the heat to medium and give the pan a couple more stirs so that the trio of vegetables gets thoroughly warmed through at a slow simmer. Finished, and ready to serve.

Notes

For serving in the Ethiopian style
I turned the fasolia into the warmed serving platter and set the chops on top of it in a circle so that folks could help themselves.

Nutrition