Royal leg of lamb

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

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

Asia
India
Main course
Gluten-free

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