Savory Lamb Shanks Curry

In Fiji, I grew up eating lamb nearly every week! I have probably eaten lamb meat in most ways that lamb meat can be prepared! Today I would like to share my savory lamb shanks curry recipe…this dish makes a hearty, warm & comfy meal. To add more richness and creamy texture to the curry, you can add half and half in the end…but even without the half and half addition, this dish is quite the rockstar! Again, as most of my other recipes, you get to decide in which tempo you would like to play your tune today!

Ingredients

• 4 legs of lamb shanks cut into curry pieces (have your butcher do the cutting…Unless you have one of those butcher machines that cuts thru bones, do not try at home.  I mean cutting down a tree might be an easier task)!
• 2 tablespoon olive oil or any vegetable oil eg. canola oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 1/2 cup tomato puree
• 1 potato (optional)
• 7 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon of minced ginger
• 1 green chilly.  You can add more or leave this out depending on your taste
• 11/2 tablespoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 3/4 tablespoon tumeric
• 5 cups water
• 1 ½ tablespoon salt or add salt to your taste.  Note that you can always add more salt to your taste later…so add less salt in the beginning if you are unsure of how much salt you prefer
• 1 cup half and half.  For rich & uncompromising flavor use regular half and half or still yet satisfying you can use lowfat half and half
• 2 tablespoons full of chopped cilantros

Dry Spice Ingredients

• 2 twists of ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of Fenugreek seeds
• 1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
• 5 cardamom pods
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 whole star anise
• 2 sticks of cinnamon

Method

• Heat oil on medium high setting
• Add onions
• Add ground pepper
• When onions are brown, add all the remaining dry spice ingredients. Reduce heat at this point to medium setting if the onions got too “done” or overly-brown!
• Cover and cook for another minute to allow the spices to release their oils and give off aromatic scents
• Add garlic, ginger, chilly paste
• Stir and cook covered for a minute
• Add garam masala, tumeric and cayenne pepper. Stir continuously for ½ a minute
• Add chopped lamb shanks
• Add salt to taste and stir thoroughly allowing each lamb shank piece to be coated by the spice mixture.
• Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  This will allow the meat to absorb the aromas and flavors of the spices.  If the curry starts burning then add 1 cup of water
• After 5 minutes, add potatoes (if you opted to) and tomato puree.  Stir thoroughly and cook for another 5 minutes covered.
• After 5 minutes, add the remaining water and switch the stove heat to High setting.  Stir, cover and cook for 1 hour
• Keep checking in between to ensure that the liquid is not drying up too fast or burning
• After an hour of cooking, check the meat for doneness.  The curry should have a nice thick gravy like consistency and meat should be tender.  If incase for some reason, the meat is not done, then add more water, cover and cook for as long as it takes for the meat to be fully cooked
• When the meat is cooked, add half and half (if you opted to). Taste the gravy for salt and add more if you need to
• If you did not opt for half and half then taste the gravy for salt.  You can add more salt at this point if you need to
• Garnish with cilantros and enjoy with rice, roti, naan, pita bread, or couscous!