Active Ingredients
- 175 g dried chickpeas
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 lamb shanks (medium)
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 2 tsp finely chooped fresh root ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 fresh green chillies, seeded and carefully chopped
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp newly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
- pinch of saffron strands
- 2cm/0.25 in piece of cinnamon stick
- 450 g carrots, cut into thick pieces
- 140 g ready-to-eat dried apricots
- 1 tsp clear honey
To serve
- 50 g blanched almonds, fried in butter till browned
- chopped fresh coriander
Technique
- STEP 1
Soak the chickpeas overnight. Drain pipes, tip into a pan and cover generously with fresh cold water. Give the boil, simmer for 45 minutes and drain.
- ACTION 2
Heat the oil in a big casserole and brown the lamb all over. Get rid of and set aside. Pour off the majority of the fat, leaving 1 tablespoon in the meal, add the onions and fry for 8-10 minutes up until soft.
- STEP 3
Preheat the oven to 160 C/Gas 3/fan oven 140 C. Mix together the ginger, garlic, chillies, cumin, coriander, pepper and paprika. Include half of this to the onions, tip in the tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Put in the lamb and chickpeas, cover generously with water (about 850 ml/11 ⁄ 2 pints), give the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Cover and prepare in the oven for 11 ⁄ 2-2 hours up until the chickpeas are really tender. (You can prepare approximately this phase the day in the past. Cool, cover and cool. Remind simmering point before beginning step 4.)
- STEP 4
Eliminate from the oven and stir in the staying spice mixture, the saffron and cinnamon, carrots, apricots, honey and salt. Cover and go back to the oven for 45 minutes-1 hour until the lamb hurts and the veggies prepared. Scatter the almonds and coriander on top.
DISH IDEAS
MAKE IT DIFFERENT
Canned chickpeas are cooked, so adjust the cooking time. Start at action 2 and omit the chickpeas in step 3, including just 425 ml/0.25 pint water. Add a drained and rinsed 410 g can of chickpeas at the beginning of action 4.
Goes well with
Recipe from Good Food magazine, March 2002