Who says Sunday lunch has to be traditional? I recreated one of my favourite dishes from Mother India in Glasgow, Raan Mussalam. A centrepiece to wow your guests, this can be prepared 24hrs in advance and is perfect served simply with rice and a tomato, cucumber and red onion salad.
When the weekend comes around in my house, its finally time that I spend time trying new recipes, developing and re-creating. Frankly, I’ve been bored lately with the “standard” Sunday lunch offerings and when my boyfriend, Ross, bought a reduced whole leg of lamb from the supermarket, I was adamant I wasn’t going to eat just any old roast lamb.
When I decided that I wanted to make Raan Mussalam, I wanted to do it justice and contacted Mother India for some tips. Be patient, cook nice and slow. Simple, right? Time is your friend. If you want more sauce, double the ingredients. Don’t want rice? Chapati would be a great substitution.
And now I’m drooling all over again!
So if you’re looking for something different to cook this weekend, why don’t you try this? The beauty of it is that you can prep the day before and leave it to cook in the oven when you’re having a well deserved Sunday snooze before dinner. Weekend perfection.
- 2.6kg whole leg of lamb
- 250ml natural yoghurt
- 100g almonds, grounded
- 500g shallots
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 6 cardamom pod seeds
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 inches ginger, grated
- Salt and pepper
- Toast the peppercorns, cardamom seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds in a small frying pan for just under a minute, ensuring they do not stick to the pan. Once toasted, grind the spices finely, either in a mortar and pestle or a food processor. Transfer to a bowl.
- Roughly chop ginger and garlic and then add ground almonds, chilli powder, yoghurt and into the bowl with the spices, mixing throughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Transfer to a roasting tray, slice slots into the leg of lamb, before covering the entire leg in the marinade and bay leaves. Cover with cling film and pop into the fridge overnight.
- On the day of cooking, pre-heat your oven to 160c, remove cling film and leave lamb to rest in room temperature for 20 minutes before cooking. Cover the roasting tray in foil, transferring to the middle of the oven and roast for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours, remove foil and baste lamb with juices in the bottom of the pan. Increase the oven temperature to 200c and roast the oven for an extra 20-30 minutes until brown.
- Once ready, leave to rest for 20 minutes, covering with foil, while you fry shallots in oil until crispy brown.
- Pour curry sauce from the roasting tray on top of the lamb, along with crispy onion and almond flakes. Serve alongside some Basmati rice and a simple tomato, cucumber and red onion salad.
- You are guaranteed to have leftovers which help make superb shawarma, but I’ll save that recipe for another day!
