Name: Royal leg of lamb
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 8-10 green cardamom pods; 3 black cardamom pods; 3 star anise; 3-4 blades of mace; 2-3 cassia barks or cinnamon sticks; 11/2 tsp black peppercorns; 2-3 bay leaves; 1 tsp fennel seeds; 1 tbsp flaked almonds, toasted; 2 tbsp chopped mint leaves; 5 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil, plus more for the tray; 1.5 kg leg of lamb; 6 green chillies; 6 cm piece of root ginger, chopped; 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 2 onions, cut into chunks; 2 tbsp cashew nuts; 1-2 tbsp raisins; 2 tbsp flaked almonds, plus more to serve; 11/2 tbsp white poppy seeds; 3-4 tsp saffron threads, steeped in 3 tbsp hot milk for 10 minutes; 300 g Greek yogurt; 3 onions, thinly sliced; salt; juice of 1 lemon; 6 tbsp chopped coriander leaves and stalks, plus more to serve

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

Reza's Indian Spice

By Reza Mahammad

Published 2012

About

A simplified version of a palace dish - shahi raan - and beautifully rich and impressive. Shahi means royal and this has certainly been given the royal treatment. Check the sauce when you baste the lamb: if it looks dry, add water. For pink lamb, only cook for two hours in total.

Ingredients

For the Lamb

1.5 kg leg of lamb
5 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil, plus more for the tray

Method

Trim off the parchment-like skin and surface fat from the lamb, or get your butcher to do it. Slash it all over and place in an oiled roasting tray. For the first marinade, in a frying pan, toast the poppy seeds until they exude a nutty aroma and become a few shades darker. Put into a bowl with the almonds, raisins and cashews. Pour over 80-100