996. Lamb Mandi

Since my excellent experience with chicken mendi not long ago, I decided to give lamb shank mendi a go. Cooked in very much the same concept, it differs mostly in the spices used, and takes a bit longer to cook.
My grocery store must have had a veto against bone-in shanks so all I could get were boneless shanks, but you could also use chunks of ribs, leg, or shoulder.

Ingredients:

2kg lamb shanks
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp seven spice
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt

For the rice:
3 cups rice
10 pc. whole black peppercorns
10 pc. whole cloves
10 pc. whole cardamom
1 head garlic, pierced
4 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp salt
3 fresh whole chili
2 tomato, quartered
3 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup saffron water, optional

Method:

Mix the marinade ingredients into a loose paste (olive oil, turmeric, cardamom powder, seven spice, cumin powder, ginger powder, paprika, and salt). Pour over the lamb shanks in a ziplock bag, smoosh around to coat, and let marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Next day, take out from the fridge to allow time to get to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 450F. Put the rinsed and drained rice in a large and deep oven dish. Scatter the whole black peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, garlic head, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, salt, chili, tomato wedges, and water over the rice. Place a wire rack over the rice and place in a single layer the marinated lamb shanks. Pour any extra marinade over the lot. Cover tightly with a double layer of heavy-duty foil and bake for 2 hours.
If you like a smokey flavor, drop a glowing coal into a small foil packet of oil set between the meat and rice and cover to let the smoke flavor the food. To serve, spoon the rice into a large serving dish and lay the meat on top.

صحة و عافية