Serves: 4Baharat is a pungent spice blend that's used in Arab cuisine. It usually contains cloves and black pepper - the addition of dried mint makes the mix more Turkish than other Middle Eastern blends.

Plum sauce
1&1⁄2 cups brown sugar
200ml malt vinegar
2 onions
500g dark ripe plums, washed, dried, stoned, diced 1cm
1 red chilli, split lengthways
1 cinnamon stick
1⁄2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns, crushed
2 teaspoons salt

Dissolve the brown sugar in the vinegar then place the mixture in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Place the onions and half the diced plums in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the mixture to the saucepan along with the split chilli and stir to combine.

Add the remaining diced plums, cinnamon stick, crushed peppercorns and salt to the saucepan. Cook over a low heat, stirring often, for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until the sauce is thick and shiny. Allow to cool completely then transfer to a sterilised jar or bottle and store in the fridge.

Plum & tomato salad
The flavours of the ripe tomatoes and sweet plums make a nice contrast that works well with the lamb.

6 ripe plums
4 ripe Roma tomatoes
8 yellow vine tomatoes
1 red onion, thinly sliced, soaked in iced water for 15 minutes
handful mint leaves
handful coriander leaves
1⁄4 cup olive oil
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon sugar

Halve and stone the plums then slice into crescents. Cut the tomatoes into wedges then toss together with the drained onion and the plums.

Tear the herbs coarsely and sprinkle over the salad. Whisk the oil, vinegar, salt and sugar together then drizzle over the salad. Serve at room temperature.

For the spiced lamb
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 tablespoons dried mint
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
2 x 400g-500g Frenched 6-bone lamb racks, cut into individual cutlets

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the cumin, peppercorns and coriander in a dry frying pan and fry for 1 minute or until aromatic. Mix together with the mint, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom then grind in a spice mill or mortar and pestle.

Coat each cutlet in the spice mix. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over high heat then brown the cutlets on both sides. Transfer to the oven and cook for 5 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Serve with the plum salad and plum sauce.

Wine - An inexpensive Italian red, such as Montepulciano.