Slow roasting lamb shanks turns the most unassuming piece of meat into a mouth-watering delicacy! The good news is that this dish takes hardly any effort to produce and once it’s in the oven you can sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that, while you’re chilling out, you will be left with delicious meat that practically falls of the bone. This recipe is from my book Kitchen Hero: Bringing Cooking Back Home.
Serves 4 
30 mins prep + slow cooking 2 tbsp olive oil
4 lamb shanks
3 onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 celery stick, finely sliced
3 fresh rosemary sprigs
350ml red wine
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
650ml vegetable or beef stock
350g brown lentils, rinsed
A good pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Crusty bread, to serve
Large casserole
This is my version of an Indian classic; ‘ka kesar’ means ‘with saffron’. From the glorious Nizam Hyderabadi palaces to the Moghul territories of Lucknow, Delhi and Agra across to Kashmir, Lahore and Karachi and back to Persia, biryani has many regional variations. Lamb, hogget, mutton – even goat – are all traditional. The key is undoubtedly the beauty of the basmati rice and a slow, ‘dum’ cooking method. ‘Dum’ refers to cooking in a sealed pot; traditionally the pot is sealed with dough but here we use a tight-fitting lid.
This recipe is taken from Fresh Spice by Arun Kapil, published by Pavilion Books. Recipe photography by Yuki Sugiura.
