To celebrate National Curry week, here’s a sublime recipe that brings together a blend of Indian spices that uses the French-style of braising tougher cuts of meat in a warm bath of Cornish Mena Dhu stout. Chef Prosenjit Sanjay Kumar’s interpretation of his mother’s Rogan Josh recipe.
Cook it slowly and gently in an oven or if you’re in a hurry, use a pressure cooker.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes in the pressure cooker or 6 hours in the oven at 100°C.
Ingredients
2 large lamb shanks trimmed and tied with a butcher’s twine to keep its shape
300 gm natural Greek yoghurt
5 gm cumin powder
1 sprig of mint, chopped
3 gm turmeric powder
1 gm chilli powder
2gm coriander powder
1 gm ground ginger
25 ml vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
6 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
4 whole cardamom pods
1 pinch of saffron strand
1 pinch of ground nutmeg
1 litre water
500 ml Mena Dhu Cornish stout
1 bunch fresh coriander leaves
To serve (optional):
Mashed potatoes or mashed Bombay potatoes
Pea shoots
Mint yogurt
500ml Mena Dhu Cornish stout
Preparation method
- Whisk a third of the yoghurt in a bowl, add a pinch of ground cumin and mix in the chopped mint. Keep refrigerated.
- Coat the lamb shanks in the ground ginger and some of the chilli, coriander and balance cumin powder. Keep the balance spice powders for later.
- Pour the vegetable oil into the base of the pressure cooker or an oven proof casserole dish. Place the lamb shanks and gently fry until brown. Transfer the shanks to a plate and keep aside. In the same dish, fry the chopped onions until brown.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and cook on a medium heat for approximately 5 – 6 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.
- Add the cardamom, saffron strands, nutmeg and yoghurt to the sauce and top it up with Mena Dhu stout and water.
- Return the lamb shanks to the spicy mix in the cooker or oven proof casserole dish.
- If using a pressure, cover with the lid and cook for 20 minutes, so that the lamb falls off the bone.
- For the oven-cooked version, cover with a lid and place in a pre-heated oven at 100°C and allow to cook for 6 hours. Check it half way through the cooking and a couple to times after to make sure that there’s enough liquid. Add some Mena Dhu or water if needed.
- The lamb shank is best served hot on a bed of mashed potatoes or mashed, spicy Bombay Potatoes. Spoon over a generous ladle-full of the gravy and top with pea shoots.
- Serve with a fresh, mint-yogurt and a pint of your favourite St Austell Brewery beer.