There are so many terrific preparations using unripe fruit, which adds a different and exciting shade of sourness—stews studded with sour grapes, crunchy melon pickles, green tomato salads. These are really hard to come by unless you grow your own, as all the fruit in the supermarkets tends to be either super-sweet or bland. That said, we do manage to find sour plums at Tesco, at least at the one in Brixton, where the supermarket management saw fit to plant a few plum trees in the vast parking lot. You can pick as many as you want, no one will say anything, and you don’t need to pay for them—that’s Tesco value for you. This is our version of tkemali, a sauce made with sour plums (made with sweet ones and vinegar here) that is the Georgian equivalent of ketchup. It works with most meats and grilled oily fish, but is particularly good with lamb.
A light dinner for 2
generous 1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp freshly ground fennel seeds
½ tsp ground cumin
¾ lb/400g lamb leg steak or rump
generous sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2–3 large red plums, pitted and roughly sliced
½ tsp whole fennel seeds
1 clove of garlic, peeled and cut in half lengthways
3 tbsp Demerara sugar
¼ cup white wine vinegar
a little water (if needed)
½ tsp sea salt (if needed)
1 large bag of lamb’s lettuce or baby spinach (about 3½ oz/100g)
2 large red plums, cut into thin wedges
1 small bunch of tarragon, picked
Set a heavy-bottomed frying pan on the stove on a medium-to-low heat. Mix the oil with the spices in a small bowl and rub over the lamb. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, then place the meat in the pan and sear all over—you will need to give it about 2 minutes after every turn; the whole process should take about 10–12 minutes. Keep the heat on a steady medium-to-low so that the meat has a chance to start cooking but you also get a deep brown crust. Remove the lamb from the pan, leaving the pan on the stove to use for the sauce (it is important to use the same pan as it has all the lovely lamby flavors in it). Cover the meat with some aluminum foil and allow to rest while you prepare the sauce.
Increase the heat under the pan to high and add the sliced plums, fennel seeds and garlic. Stir for 1 minute, then add the sugar and mix well. Pour in the vinegar, reduce the heat to medium and allow the plums to soften. They should take about 10 minutes to cook, depending on how soft they are to start with. You may need to add a little water while cooking to loosen the sauce—the end result should be like a very runny jam. Taste and see whether it needs the salt.
Place the salad leaves on a serving plate and scatter on the plum wedges and tarragon. Cut the lamb into thin slices and arrange on top. Spoon the warm sauce all over and serve.