A dish filled with lamb shanks in a deep brown curry broth with lime wedges on the side

Lamb shank nihari

Name: Lamb shank nihari
Total time: 4 h 30 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 2 tbsp ghee or sunflower oil; 2 onions thinly sliced; 1 tbsp garlic paste; 1 tbsp ginger paste; 4 small lamb shanks; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tbsp cornflour; 1 tbsp cumin seeds; 1 tbsp coriander seeds; 2 tsp fennel seeds; 10 pods cardamom; 2 star anise; 1 cinnamon stick; 10 cloves; 2 tsp whole black peppercorns; grated to make ½ tsp nutmeg; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder; a thumb-sized piece ginger shredded; a handful of leaves coriander; 1 green chilli thinly sliced; 1 lime wedged; naans to serve

Adam Bush

Save recipe

Serves 4

Easy

Total time: 4 hrs and 30 mins

A star rating of 5 out of 5.7 ratingsRate

loading...

Get 5 months for £5 when you subscribe today

In Pakistan, this dish is traditionally cooked all night and eaten for breakfast with hot, freshly made naans. It’s often made with extra bones so the marrow enriches the curry further, whilst a homemade nihari masala spice mix takes this dish to the next level of flavour

Gluten free

Skip to ingredients

Alternatives

Complete the dish

Make this lamb shank Bihari, then check out our lamb shank rogan josh, lamb bhuna, lamb dhansak and more lamb curry recipes.

This recipe uses ghee - for advice on purchasing this ingredient, read our guide on what is ghee and where to buy it.

Ingredients

Nutrition

2 tbsp ghee or sunflower oil
2 onions

thinly sliced
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
4 small lamb shanks
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp cornflour

SPICE MIX (NIHARI MASALA)

1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
10 pods cardamom
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
10 cloves
2 tsp whole black peppercorns
grated to make ½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

GARNISH

a thumb-sized piece ginger

shredded
a handful of leaves coriander
1 green chilli

thinly sliced
1 lime

wedged
naans

to serve

Nutrition: per serving

kcal491
fat28.7g
saturates11.6g
carbs9.8g
sugars4.3g
fibre3.8g
protein46.7g
salt0.5g

Method

step 1

To make the nihari masala, tip all of the whole spices into a dry frying pan and toast for 1-2 minutes or until smelling fragrant. Tip into a spice grinder with the nutmeg, ground ginger and chilli powder, and whizz to a powder.
step 2

Heat the ghee in a large casserole and fry the onions with a pinch of salt over a medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes or until softened and beginning to caramelise. Tip in the garlic and ginger pastes, shanks, nihari masala, ground turmeric and a big pinch of salt. Fry for a few minutes, tossing everything to coat, then pour in 1.5 litres of water.
step 3

Bring to a simmer, reduce to a gentle bubble, then put on the lid and simmer gently for 2 hours, then remove the lid and cook for another 2 hours until the lamb is meltingly tender.
step 4

Combine the cornflour with a little cold water then tip into the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes until thickened slightly.
step 5

Spoon the shanks into four shallow bowls and ladle over plenty of the gravy. Sprinkle over some of the shredded ginger, coriander and green chilli. Serve with lime wedges and naans.

Find more lamb curry recipes

Authors

Adam Bush Chef Portrait

Adam BushDeputy food editor

Comments, questions and tips

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?1 star out of 52 stars out of 53 stars out of 54 stars out of 55 stars out of 5

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

CommentQuestionTip

Overall rating

A star rating of 5 out of 5.7 ratings

Want to see this content?

This page contains olivemagazine content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.

Accept and continue