Vietnamese lamb shanks with sweet potatoes

Vietnamese lamb shanks with sweet potatoes

Meltingly tender and full of classic Asian flavours, these lamb shanks are perfect for freezing

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 3 hrs

Freezable

Method

  1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy-bottomed casserole, season the shanks, then brown them 2 at a time on all sides, adding the remaining oil for the second batch. Remove the lamb and add the onions. Fry them quite briskly, about 30 secs, add the ginger, garlic and chopped chilli, then turn the heat down and cook for 1 min. Add 1 tbsp sugar, stir, then add the star anise, lemongrass, stock, purée and seasoning. Bring to the boil.
  2. Cover and cook in the oven for 1½ hrs, then add the sweet potatoes and cook for 1 hr more. The lamb should be completely tender and almost falling off the bones. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and 1 tsp sugar to just lift the flavour, then scatter with the mint, basil and the sliced chilli to serve.
Try

Diana says...

'The warming aroma of star anise wafting through the house is an antidote to the more traditional Christmas scents. Stir-fried bok choi or Savoy cabbage and plain boiled rice are great on the side. This freezes well. Defrost completely before heating on the stove top and add the lime juice and herbs just before serving.'

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • 25 November 2009

    jayprime commented on this recipe

    What is the purpose of the fish sauce? Since many people are allergic to fish, what could be used instead?

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  • 26 November 2009

    bungo commented on this recipe

    jayprime - the fish sauce adds a certain subtle complexity to southeast asian cookery but doesn't doesn't taste 'fishy' in the finished dish. sort of like blachan in malaysian food. however, when I make aubergine and broccoli laksa for my vegetarian son I substitute soy sauce. haven't tried this one yet but will - sounds delish.

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  • 04 February 2010

    Miranda rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 24 March 2010

    tigerfeet rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Jo

    02 April 2010

    Jo rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    this is lovely and really easy, I made it and then let it cool so i could skim of the fat, then reheated it. it was surprisingly light and made a great change to my usual braised lamb shanks.

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  • 20 June 2010

    Adsta rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Some really nice flavours. I cooked on 150 degrees for 90mins then another 60 as the recipe said, but I think on this low heat it needs to be a fair bit longer, probably another 90mins as the meat did not fall off the bone easily and the fat did not melt away. This would be a gorgeous meal if cooked for longer

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  • 19 July 2010

    karolek1 commented on this recipe

    Where do I get a lamb stock? Do I have to make it or buy it? Can I use something else? I want to try it because it sounds great but I'm not a very experienced cook so I hesitate to waste so much of lovely lamb.

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  • 18 September 2010

    Jennyf rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    karolek...chicken or vegetable stock are good substitutes. This was gorgeous, a really nice variation for lamb shanks, and well worth the little effort to make it. The smells from the kitchen were wonderful!

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  • 05 October 2010

    Cheffling rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Beautiful dish, simple and very flavorful. I added an extra 30min to the cooking time at the original temperature. I also added a few cloves and a half cinnamon stick to pack in a little more flavor, also the lovely numbing of the cloves. Cannot wait to cook this again, what a great take on traditional shanks!

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  • 09 October 2010

    MrsKiedis commented on this recipe

    Absolutely delicious. Have made this in our slow cooker as well, but add the sweet potatoes about an hour before the end or they turn to mush.

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  • 10 November 2010

    verana rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Wow, this is truly gorgeous - if I could give it 6 stars I would. With the price of lamb as it is at the moment I felt I needed to treat my 2 small shanks with the respect one would normally pay to Dover sole, truffles or caviar - so rather than throwing them into the oven with some root veg and wine like I usually do, I searched for a really special recipe and found it here. The flavours are sublime, salty, sweet, tangy and fresh. My husband loved it and I can't wait to cook it on a special occasion for my friends and family. I tend to adapt any recipe according to taste or what I have in the kitchen at the time but the only changes I made were to cook at 150C for 5 hours in total [ Iprefer the meat to be meltingly tender ] I also substituted the sweet potato with butternut squash and added parnips and carrots after 2 hours and cooked for a further 3 hours so that the veg soaks up more of the lovely flavours.

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  • 11 December 2010

    proudmama rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    WOW!!! :-)

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  • 20 December 2010

    Four Candles rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    This did make a nice change from the usual lamb shanks recipe... smells lovely... kids happy to eat it... but it wasn't anywhere near as delicious as my usual one which uses white wine, garlic and carrots. As other people have said, I would cook for longer than stated, and only add the sweet potato at the point where it will cook rather than disintegrate.

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  • 29 December 2010

    Teddi B commented on this recipe

    My sister in law cooked this for us yesterday - absolutly delicious, I have printed the recipe out and can't wait to cook it myself!

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  • 11 February 2011

    Mo B commented on this recipe

    Got this in the oven for the second time - friends coming over to eat this evening. If it turns out half as delicious as last time I will be delighted, not quite sure where my root ginger has gone? Must have fallen out of the supermarket trolley! Hey-ho. Going to use coriander this time, it just seems more apprpriate.

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  • 13 February 2011

    kingtwig commented on this recipe

    This looks and sounds delicious! I'm thinking of doing it in my new slow cooker, but am a bit new to slow cooking. Can anyone give me an idea of how long to cook it for using the slow cooker, and also, would I need to add the stated 1.2L of stock....because my slow cooker seems to make things quite liquidy. Thanks for any help- dying to try this out! :o)

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  • 14 February 2011

    Jules commented on this recipe

    Could you make this by stewing on the top of the cooker? I have a small oven and my casserole dish is too large for it!

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  • 10 March 2011

    joanneeland rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is a beautiful dish. Made it in my slow cooker over about 8 hours and served it to friends for a casual dinner with rice. Very easy to do in advance and the flavours were so good, even better the next day. I've got one stashed away in the freezer for a rainy day as well. I'll do this one again and again!

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  • 13 March 2011

    Damage rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 07 May 2011

    supershaz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is a fantastic dish. I've cooked it many times and do agree with cooking it slowly. I left out the fish sauce due to allergies. A wonderful meal that's well worth the effort.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 3 hrs

Freezable

(or 2 normal shallots)

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp groundnut oil
  • 4 lamb shanks , about 350g each
  • 2 onions , halved and cut into half moons
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh root ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves , finely sliced
  • 2 red chillies , both deseeded, one chopped and one thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp soft brown sugar , plus 1 tsp
  • 3 star anise
  • 2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer leaves removed, then bruised
  • 1.2l lamb stock
  • 1½ tbsp tomato purée
  • 4 sweet potatoes , peeled and cut into big chunks
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • juice 2 limes
  • big handful mint leaves, torn
  • handful basil leaves
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