Lamb – Pakistani

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 4 shanks of lamb
• 1 tomato(s)
• 2 spring onions
• 4 cloves garlic
• cumin
• coriander
• Cayenne pepper
• Curry, Madras, hot
• Salt
• Oil (sunflower oil)
• 200 g sour cream
• Spinach, blanched

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 20 minutes

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit). Rub the shanks all over with cumin, coriander, and cayenne pepper. Heat the oil in a shallow roasting pan—a pan with a lid is best. Sear the lamb shanks very briefly all over, then season with salt. Halve the tomato and add it along with the garlic cloves and spring onions. Cover and let the roasting pan simmer in the oven at 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for three and a half hours. Then remove the lamb shanks and keep warm. Strain the sauce through a sieve and thoroughly remove any excess fat. Return the sauce to the pan and bring to a boil. After removing any excess fat, the bottom of the pan should only be barely covered with cooking juices. Add a pinch of curry to the juices and pour in a large cup of water. Bring to a simmer, then stir in a cup of sour cream and reduce the heat to low. Season with cumin to taste. Blanch enough spinach to make about two cups of spinach, then stir the spinach into the sauce just before serving. You can also use frozen leaf spinach; thaw it a few hours beforehand and then add it to the sauce while it’s still thawed. Serve with rice and—ideally—thin Indian flatbreads. I’ve eaten this lamb several times in a Pakistani restaurant and cooked it to my liking. I can’t say if the recipe is accurate, but it certainly tastes good. The spiciness of the dish (using cayenne pepper and Madras curry) can and should be adjusted to suit your personal taste. The restaurant offers the dish in three different spicinesses. It’s easy to prepare ahead of time, but you should only stir in the sour cream and spinach just before serving. The spinach can also be replaced with cooked chickpeas. Four lamb shanks are enough for up to four people, depending on your appetite—although there’s not much meat in a small shank. If you are very hungry, you should allow two per person.