Valeria Ray - Delicious Indian Cooking: Easy and Authentic Recipes to Satisfy Your Indian Food Cravings

Slow-cooked meat in a delicious spiced stew is what makes Nihari one of the most popular dishes all over Pakistan. Enjoy with warm Tandoori Roti!

Makes: 4 servings

Cooking + Prep Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lamb shank, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp. Nihari Masala (homemade or store bought)
• 2 tbsp. pure ghee
• 2 medium onions, sliced and deep-fried till golden brown
• inch ginger, cut into thin strips
• 2 tbsp. whole-wheat flour
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Water
• Nihari Masala (optional, you can use store bought as well) -
• 2 tbsp. cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp. fennel seeds
• 6-8 whole dried red chilies
• 1 tbsp. cloves
• 3 green cardamoms
• 1 black cardamoms
• 12-15 black peppercorns
• 2-3 tbsp. poppy seeds
• 1 bay leaves
• 1 blade of mace
• 1 tbsp. dried ginger powder
• 1 tbsp. nutmeg powder
• 2-3 cinnamon sticks
• 2-3 tbsp. split chickpea powder

Instructions:

Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker. Add the lamb and masala (see recipe below). Saut for a couple mins.

Add a quarter gallon of water and cook in a pressure cooker till the pressure is released eight times (eight whistles). This may take about half an hour.

Remove the lid when the pressure has completely reduced and transfer the contents to a wok. Bring to a boil, stir in the fried onions and half the ginger and simmer for two minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the whole-wheat flour with six tbsp. of water and mix well till smooth.

Add to the lamb mixture and continue to simmer till the gravy thickens.

Add salt and stir in the lemon juice.

To serve, garnish with the ginger and chopped cilantro leaves!

Nihari Masala:

To make the nihari masala, roast all the ingredients in a frying pan till fragrant. Remove from heat and cool.

Once cooled, blitz to a fine powder and store in an airtight container for use.