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Burnt Garlic & Preserved Lemon Lamb Yoghurt

Name: Burnt Garlic & Preserved Lemon Lamb Yoghurt
Yield: About 700 to 800 ml, roughly 20 tasting portions or 10 generous plates
Ingredients: 500 g Full-fat Greek yoghurt; 150 g Double cream or crème fraîche; 2 tbsp Labneh, optional, but it lifts the texture; 5 each Garlic, cloves; 1 each Shallot, small, finely minced; 1 tbsp Olive oil; 1 tsp Ground cumin; 0.5 tsp Coriander powder; 0.5 tsp Kashmiri mixed masala; 0.25 tsp Smoked paprika; a pinch Cinnamon; a tiny pinch Nutmeg; 1 tbsp Preserved lemon, flesh, or very finely diced peel; 1 tsp White grape vinegar; 1 tsp Lemon juice; 1 tsp Honey or palm sugar; 0.5 tsp Sea salt; a few cracks Black pepper; 1 tbsp Mint, finely sliced; 1 tbsp Coriander; optional, a tiny touch Dill; Good olive oil; optional Charred garlic oil; Sumac or toasted cumin dust

Greek yoghurt with charred garlic, bloomed spice and preserved lemon.

Silky, smoky and citrus-lifted, built to sit under lamb rather than beside it. The garlic is charred until it blackens in spots and the spices are bloomed and cooled before anything touches the yoghurt.

About 700 to 800 ml, roughly 20 tasting portions or 10 generous plates

Cook this

Blooming the spice is the step that cannot be skipped. Raw spice in yoghurt tastes flat and dusty, and twenty or thirty seconds in oil is the whole difference.
Chef Paul Dukai

Ingredients

Base

Full-fat Greek yoghurt500 g
Double cream or crème fraîche150 g
Labneh, optional, but it lifts the texture2 tbsp

Aromatics

Garlic, cloves5 each
Shallot, small, finely minced1 each
Olive oil1 tbsp

The Moroccan profile

Ground cumin1 tsp
Coriander powder0.5 tsp
Kashmiri mixed masala0.5 tsp
Smoked paprika0.25 tsp
Cinnamona pinch
Nutmega tiny pinch

Acid and brightness

Preserved lemon, flesh, or very finely diced peel1 tbsp
White grape vinegar1 tsp
Lemon juice1 tsp

Depth

Honey or palm sugar1 tsp
Sea salt0.5 tsp
Black peppera few cracks

Herbs and finish

Mint, finely sliced1 tbsp
Coriander1 tbsp
Dilloptional, a tiny touch
Good olive oil
Charred garlic oiloptional
Sumac or toasted cumin dust

Method

Roast or char the garlic cloves in a dry pan until deeply golden and slightly blackened in spots, then crush them into a paste. That is where the smoke comes from.
Sweat the shallot gently in the olive oil, add the cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon and nutmeg, and cook for 20 to 30 seconds only. Cool completely.
Whisk the Greek yoghurt, cream and labneh together until glossy and smooth.
Fold in the burnt garlic paste, the cooled spice oil, the preserved lemon, the vinegar, the lemon juice, the honey, the salt and the pepper.
Fold the herbs through right before service.
Rest it for at least 2 hours in the fridge, and overnight if you can.

Chef’s notes

The saffron variation, from the same source: infuse a pinch of saffron in 2 tablespoons of warm cream, cool it, and fold it through the finished yoghurt. That is the saffron yoghurt the kofta names, and it is a variation of this recipe rather than a preparation of its own.
For fine dining plating, strain the yoghurt through muslin for an hour. It comes out silkier and takes a quenelle.
For lamb cooked over live fire, a few drops of lamb fat or smoked olive oil build flavour continuity between the sauce and the meat.
It sits well with slow braised lamb shoulder, grilled lamb rib, kofta, lamb neck and smoked aubergine.

Keeping

DUKAI storage guidance

The 2 hour rest, and preferably overnight, is part of making it rather than storage. After that, keep it covered at 5°C or below and use within 3 to 4 days, which is the usual range for a cultured dairy preparation. Fold the herbs in at service, not before storing: they darken.

Allergens and diet

Milk. Sulphites, from the vinegar.

Also in the Recipe Book

Signature Kofta

Last refined · September 2026