Chef Naved is delighted to share the secrets of his Lamb Raan. A wonderful dish of tender, slow-cooked raan (leg), pulled into silky shreds and combined with a deliciously savoury masala.
Lamb Raan makes a most satisfying centrepiece (especially for Eid). Some preparation is required (including a 24-hour marination, if time allows), but your efforts will be very well rewarded. We heartily recommend serving alongside gunpowder potatoes, a bowl of greens and naan.
If you are fortunate to have any leftovers, pile into soft pillowy bread buns and garnish with slaw, gherkins, baby spinach and fried green chillies to make our popular lamb raan buns.
½ leg of lamb on the bone, 1.2–1.4kg
2 tsp fine sea salt
1 ¾ tsp deggi mirch chilli powder
35g garlic
30g fresh root ginger
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
16 black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
6 green cardamom pods
3 black cardamom pods
75ml malt vinegar
40g unsalted butter
2 tsp kabab masala, plus extra to serve
25ml lime juice, or more to taste
As a thirteen year old boy in Delhi with endless energy and appetite, I treasured Sunday mornings. I’d wake up early, jump on my rickety Hero Cycle bicycle and hurriedly pedal five miles to a park close to Shantivan and Raj Ghat. There, me and my friends would set-up makeshift stick stumps and play cricket for hours… or until our minds and bellies turned (inevitably) to food.
The festival of Eid al-Fitr (literally “the Celebration of the Breaking of the Fast”) marks the conclusion of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month where restraint and discipline must be practised.
In India, mealtimes are very much a family affair and everything is shared which makes these cheese-and-pastry twirls perfect for making together this half-term. They’re incredibly easy to make, which make them just right for keeping little hands happily occupied during the holidays.
The culmination of Ramadan will bring with it Chand Raat (the night of the moon), an evening of great excitement and unity. It’s the eventide or moment the first crescent moon of the month is observed, which marks the end of the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, a period of fasting, prayer and reflection, and the start of Eid, the beginning of great festivities.