Patara Lamb Shanks

I've been craving this patara lamb shanks for a couple of weeks and so pleased to finally made it today. This lamb shanks stew/curry takes a little over two hours to cook which is not that long, come one, but whilst it's cooking in the oven, there's nothing much you need to do than to enjoy the delicious smell filling your home.

The lamb is exquisitely tender but still holding to the bone... The runny broth is pretty spicy, at least for me. I can only handle certain amount of heat. I like warm heat, not burning. So, make sure you keep tasting and adjust the flavour to your liking.

Unless you know how to make panang/penang curry paste, you may need to make a trip to your local oriental grocery store to find the ready made paste, and Nigella's recommended brand is Mae Ploy. Have a look for Thai basil as well, but you can certainly substitute with fresh coriander/cilantro as I did. I am a freak for coriander though, so do as you please.

I'm gonna be away again from tomorrow to London for work, and I've managed to make a couple of reservations for the evening which I will tell you all about it later when I returned.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week ahead.

Patara Lamb Shanks
Recipe by Nigella Lawson
Serves 6

1 x 15ml tablespoon vegetable oil
6 lamb shanks
salt and pepper
3 x 400ml cans coconut milk
1 litre water
4 x 15ml tablespoons panang curry paste
3 x 15ml tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 x 15ml tablespoons light brown sugar
spritz of lime juice, plus whole limes cut into wedges
small bunch Thai basil or fresh coriander
rice, to serve

Preheat the oven to 170 C. Heat the oil in a large wide casserole, oven proof pan, and season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper before browning them in the pan. You might need to do this in batches.

Get rid of the oil in the pan carefully, then put the shanks back in with the coconut milk and 1 litre of water, which should cover the lamb. Cover and cook in the preheated oven for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, until exquisitely tender.

Once out of the oven, remove the shanks to a roasting dish, along with 1 litre of the coconutty stock they have been cooking in. Cover with foil and put back in the oven, turning it down to 150 C. Leave the rest of the stock in the casserole.

Add the panang paste, fish sauce, sugar and spritz of lime to a bowl and whisk with a ladleful or so of the coconutty stock from the pan, then whisk the mixture back to the casserole pan. Take the roasting dish of shanks out of the oven and add them back to the casserole, throwing away the litre of the coconut liquid.

Chop the Thai basil or coriander and add most of that, keeping some back for a final sprinkling at the end. Put the casserole over medium heat and simmer the lamb for 5 minutes or so, making sure everything is heated through.

Serve the lamb shanks in wide, shallow bowls with Thai scented rice or jasmine rice, giving each person a shank and a ladleful of sauce. Sprinkle some more Thai basil or corainder over each bowl, and serve with lime wedges.