| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 2 hr |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 2 hr |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil, divided
- 8 lamb shanks
- 2 onions
- 4 cloves garlic
- Sprinkling salt
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 dried red chile pepper, crumbled, or 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons Marsala wine
- 6 tablespoons red lentils
- 3 tablespoons chopped pistachios, chopped blanched almonds or a mixture of both
- Couscous, recipe follows
- About 2 3/4 cups (18 ounces) couscous
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 cardamom pods
- Approximately 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in 2 slices
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
- Scant 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons pistachios
Instructions
- Put 3 tablespoons of the oil into a very large, wide, heavy-bottomed pan and warm over medium heat. Brown the lamb shanks, in batches, in the pan and then remove to a roasting pan or whatever else you’ve got at hand to sit them in.
- Peel the onions and garlic and process in a food processor or chop them finely by hand. Add the remaining oil to the pan, and fry the onion-garlic mush until soft, sprinkling salt over to stop it sticking.
- Stir in the turmeric, ground ginger, chile, cinnamon and nutmeg and season with some freshly ground pepper. Stir again, adding the honey, soy sauce and Marsala. Put the shanks back in the pan, add cold water almost to cover, bring to the boil then put a lid on the pan, lower the heat and simmer very gently for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.
- Add the red lentils and cook for about 20 minutes longer with the lid, until the lentils have softened into the sauce and the juices have reduced and thickened slightly. Check for seasoning.
- Toast the nuts by heating them for a few minutes in a dry frying pan, and sprinkle onto the lamb as you serve it.
- Fill the bottom of a steamer, or base of a couscoussier should you possess one, with water and bring to a boil. When it looks like it’s almost ready to boil, fill the kettle and put it on, then empty the couscous into a glass bowl, add the salt, crush in the cardamom and mix with your fingers, then pour over a quart of boiling water from the kettle and place a plate on top of the bowl. Leave to stand for 5 minutes, then drain and empty into the steamer or couscoussier top and sit this on top of the boiling water beneath. Add the slices of butter on top of the couscous then clamp on the lid and let steam for about 7 to 10 minutes, by which time the couscous should be tenderly cooked and the butter melting. (You can do this a simpler way if you prefer, by just steeping the couscous in the boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes, but the grains will be more dense and more likely to clump. It’s not disastrous, however, and you must decide what you’re prepared to do.)
- Meanwhile, toast the almonds by frying them in a dry pan until fragrant and golden, remove them to a plate, then do the same to the pine nuts. Chop the pistachios. Once the couscous is cooked, tip the bowl, fork through (and always use a fork for mixing or fluffing up couscous; a spoon will crush it and turn it stodgy), sprinkling in the almonds and pine nuts as you do so (and taste for seasoning at the same time, too). Now fork in most of the pistachios, and sprinkle those that remain lightly on top.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 1899 |
| Total Fat | 108 g |
| Saturated Fat | 43 g |
| Carbohydrates | 94 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Sugar | 12 g |
| Protein | 130 g |
| Cholesterol | 409 mg |
| Sodium | 1871 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 1899 |
| Total Fat | 108 g |
| Saturated Fat | 43 g |
| Carbohydrates | 94 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Sugar | 12 g |
| Protein | 130 g |
| Cholesterol | 409 mg |
| Sodium | 1871 mg |
Reviews
This recipe was disappointing. It was too sweet and lacked depth of flavor. You need to bump up the spice, reduce the honey, add more soy sauce. I added some chopped preserved lemons and toasted up some cumin, coriander and mustard seeds. If it needs that much help, I will not make it again.
This was absolutely delicious! Wonderful spice combination, and the fragrant cous cous with the toasted nuts was the perfect accompaniment for the melt-in-you-mouth lamb and yummy yummy sauce. My husband and adult kids said it was restaurant quality! What a great dinner.
If you like lamb, you would love this recipe! It’s comforting and exotic at the same time! Goes amazingly with couscous as well – highly recommend!
Outstanding! Try this and it will be your new favorite comfort food. Warm, full mouth flavor with succulent, beautiful bites of lamb that melt in your mouth.
Don’t miss this recipe!
Don’t miss this recipe!
Aromatic indeed! I’ve made this dish with lamb shanks and stew meat, both turned out so fantastic. Will try it with neck meat instead tonight. It was one of the first dishes I’ve ever made for my boyfriend and three years later, he STILL raves about how much I impressed him then to his friends!
A definite family favorite, we love lamb. I agree with the person who can’t get lamb shanks this small, the ones I buy usually feed two and I cook two lamb shanks in this amount of sauce and it feeds 4. The sauce is wonderful. In the morning I take the recipe to the point where it needs to simmer then transfer to my crockpot and leave on for 4-5 hours on my high setting. Coming back at dinner time to add the lentils and make the couscous, steam a green vegetable (french beans, maybe) – sophisticated eating with minimal effort at the last minute. Go Nigella!!
I have made this several times, but substitute with lamb stew meat and it turns out wonderful every time. Easy. My husband loves it and he’s a particular eater.
I love Nigella and her way of cooking but have never liked lamb…at all! I did the unthinkable and made this for the first time for company. Not only did they rave about it but so did I! So much flavor and the lamb was so tender. I could only find 3 lamb shanks at my market so also added 6 lamb chops. I browned them and then added them about 10 minutes before serving. My Englishman (who knows and loves lamb!) swears that this is now one of his favorite meals! Enough said! Way to go, Nigella!
This recipe so easy to follow and you are not tied to the stove for hours!!! My dinner guests are always impressed!!!
This recipe was fabulous! My butcher did not have lamb shanks so I ordered boneless lamb top round and cubed it. Otherwise, followed the recipe exactly. The stew smelled absolutely gorgeous, and the dish was a huge success at my dinner party!