Middle Eastern & North African Slow Cooked Lamb Shank

Ingredients:

Lamb

• 2 lamb shanks
• 5 small red onions diced finely
• 1 whole head of garlic
• Parsley
• 2 tbsp ground coriander spice
• 2 tsp. leaf masala
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp. smoked paprika 
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp. crushed black pepper 
• 1 tbsp. crushed cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp. salt 
• 2 cans crushed tomatoes 
• 2 mutton stock
• 7 whole dates
• 1 tbsp. honey 

Rice

• 1 cup long grain rice
• 1 tbsp. Rose water
• 1 cup saffron water
• 1 cup water
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp oil
• Half a lemon
• 2 tbsp. Chopped Parsley and mint

Hummus

• 1 can of chickpeas
• 40ml plain yoghurt 
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp smoked paprika 
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 50ml oil

Yoghurt Sauce

• 250ml doubt cream yoghurt 
• 1/2 cup grated cucumber 
• 1 clove garlic 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Fresh mint and parsley

Garnish

Chopped Parsley and pomegranate seeds

Steps:

Lamb

Dice the onions and garlic finely and fry until cooked through, then add half of all the spices and the honey and fry just until toasty brown, add the mixture to a clay oven dish. Sear the lamb shanks until brown and add to the clay pot add the other half of the spices to the shanks along with the cans of tomatoes, mutton stock, salt, and chopped dates. Cover with foil and the clay lid and place in the oven on 250 degrees for 2.5 hours. Then remove the foil and the lid, shred the meat off the bone put it back in the sauce and let it cook in the oven for a further 30 to 40 minutes on 200 degrees. 

Rice

Rinse rice thoroughly, add the salt, oil, rose and saffron water and the fresh water. Bring to a boil then add the half a lemon and add half a cup of water more. Remove the lemon after 5 mins squeezing out some of the juice. When the water is almost disappearing, put the lid on and remove from the heat. Leave it to steam with the lid on until there is no water left and the rice is soft. Add in chopped mint and parsley and mix through before serving

Hummus

Drain the chickpeas, add to a blender along with the yoghurt, salt, lemon juice. Toast the sesame and cumin seeds and add to the blender with the smoked paprika and oil. Blend everything until smooth. At this stage you can gauge if it needs some more oil, and taste for seasoning.

Yoghurt sauce

Grate the cucumber, squeeze the liquid out of it and add it to the yoghurt. Add the grated garlic, salt, lemon juice, fresh herbs and mix well.

Serving suggestion

Place the rice on a serving dish, add the lamb stew on top of the rice. Add some of the yoghurt sauce, garnish with chopped parsley and pomegranate seeds.