Lamb shanks with chickpeas & Moroccan spices
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep: -
- Cook:
- Ready in 4 hrs, plus soaking time for chickpeas
- More effort
- Serves 4
Skip to ingredients
Ingredients
- 175g dried chickpeas
- 2 tbsp 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 finely chopped
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
- pinch of saffron strands
- 2cm/0.25in piece of cinnamon stick
- 450g carrots, cut into thick slices
- 140g ready-to-eat dried apricots
- 1 tsp clear honey
To serve
- 50g blanched almonds, fried in butter until browned
- chopped fresh coriander
Method
- STEP 1
Soak the chickpeas overnight. Drain, tip into a saucepan and cover generously with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil, simmer for 45 minutes and drain.
- STEP 2
Heat the oil in a large casserole and brown the lamb all over. Remove and set aside. Pour off most of the fat, leaving 1 tablespoon in the dish, add the onions and fry for 8-10 minutes until soft.
- STEP 3
Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas 3/fan oven 140C. Mix together the ginger, garlic, chillies, cumin, coriander, pepper and paprika. Add 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 850ml/11⁄2 pints), bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Cover and cook in the oven for 11⁄2-2 hours until the chickpeas are really tender. (You can prepare up to this stage the day before. Cool, cover and refrigerate. Bring back to simmering point before starting step 4.)
- STEP 4
Remove from the oven and stir in the remaining spice mixture, the saffron and cinnamon, carrots, apricots, honey and salt. Cover and return to the oven for 45 minutes-1 hour until the lamb is tender and the vegetables cooked. Scatter the almonds and coriander on top.
