Braised & Spiced Lamb Shank Recipe
A very happy New Year you all! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a non-memorable (for being too drunk) New Years! 🙂
When I was a kid, my family and I would occasionally go to Secret Recipe (Malaysian café-restaurant) for family dinner nights. Secret Recipe have these delicious and considerably affordable cakes – so good that for any birthday celebrations, we would buy our cakes from them 99% of the time. However, second to their cakes, the lamb shank was my favourite dish for the night. As a kid, the lamb shank was a luxury to me: it was the most expensive dish on the main menu, known to be slow cooked for hours, frigging succulent, delicious and very filling. Because of this dish, lamb has always been my absolute favourite red meat.
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Once my mother made homemade lamb shank with her casserole pan. Till this day it was one of my most memorable dinners at home and I knew I had to master this recipe when I grew up.
The shank is basically the shin portion of the animal leg. Take a look at your shin now – does it look juicy and succulent to you? Cause my shin looks quite bulky and tough to me, lacking of fats for sure comparing to other parts of my body… *cough* waist *cough* thighs *cough cough … In fact, the shank is extremely tough and not suitable to sauté or grill. Therefore, the key is to BRAISE BABY BRAISE . Hours of cooking over lower heat in a pot not only enhances the flavour, but also results in diabolically tender and succulent meat. The braised the lamb shank also allows the meat to slide down from the bone easily.
After a few trials, I have restructured the perfect lamb shank recipe. I started off with Mr Ram Ram’s recipe (on YouTube) as I find the spicy lamb shank very intriguing. I did find that using beef stock is much more flavourful than chicken or vegetable stock. I also prefer to keep the lid on most of the time while braising, to minimise evaporation and reduction of the liquid.
When it comes to preparing the sides, mashed (sweet or ordinary) potatoes are definitely the best way to go! The gravy from the braised lamb shank marries perfectly with a more bland side dish. Sweet potato mash has always been my side dish of choice. I have a very quick & super-duper easy recipe of the sweet potato mash, which I will be sharing very soon in my next series. 😉 😉 😉
The overall conclusion, this dish may be slightly time-consuming but if ever something was worth waiting for, this is surely it!
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Braised & Spiced Lamb Shank
Ingredients
- 4 Lamb shanks
- 3 Red or green chilies , sliced
- 6 Garlic cloves , sliced
- 1 tbsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Dried oregano
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 Tomatoes , sliced into wedges
- 1 Onion , sliced into wedges
- 3 Carrots , peeled & cut
- 2 Celery , cut
- 2 Beef stock pots * , eg. Knorr Stock Pot Rich Beef
- 200 ml Warm water
- 3/4 bottle Red wine
- 6 Fresh bay leaves
Instructions
- Put the lamb shanks, chilies, garlic, paprika, oregano, cumin and olive oil in a large pan. Add salt and pepper. Massage the lamb shanks, ensuring they are well covered with the marinade. Cover and leave in fridge, for as long as half an hour until overnight.
- Heat a large casserole pot over medium-high heat. Drizzle a bit of olive oil after the pot is heated. Add the shanks (only) into the pot to brown them.
- After the shanks are properly browned, add the tomatoes and remaining marinade and sauté for a short while.
- Add the carrots, celery, onions and bay leaves into the pot. Sit the shanks on all other ingredients and pour in the red wine. Switch the heat to medium, bringing the liquid to boil.
- Dissolve the rich stock in water and pour them into the pot. Cover with a lid and transfer pot into oven. Cook for 2.5 hours under 170 degrees Celsius.
- Serve immediately with sides.
Notes
2 Comments
VC
So good I licked my plate clean and promptly proceeded to drain the sauce from the main pot. If you’re a meat lover, a lamb lover, heck just a food lover, you’ll love this!
SforB
my boyfriend did the same thing! 🙂