Lamb Raan Roast

The Great Lamb Raan Roast

Adapted from a recipe by Bimal Kumar

This recipe needs to be started 3 days ahead of time

Preparation time: 30 minutes (for the lamb, chutney and lunu miris) plus 30 hours marinating time

Cooking time: 4 hours

• 1 leg of lamb (trimmed of thick layer of fat but with a thinnish layer on, around 1.5 kilos/3.3lbs)
• 3 onions, peeled and sliced
• 3 tomatoes, sliced
• 4 green chillies, sliced
• 2-3 litres/8-12 cups stock
• Roti or naan to serve

Marinade 1

• 15g/0.5oz. ginger, grated
• 15g/0.5oz. garlic, peeled and diced
• 15g/0.5oz. green papaya powder (I didn't use this, you can also use malt vinegar to tenderise it)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Marinade 2

• 2-3 tablespoons oil
• 3 teaspoons red chillies (I used 1.5 teaspoons dried Thai chillies as they are very hot)
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam masala

Mint Chutney

• 1/4 cup oil
• 30g/2ozs. mint leaves
• 20g/.7oz. raw mango, shredded
• 20g/.7oz. green apple
• 15ml/0.5oz. lemon juice
• 10g/0.3oz. coriander
• 8g/0.28oz. green chilli
• 8g/0.28oz. fresh ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Lunu Miris

• 50g/1.7ozs red onion
• 30g/1 fl oz. lemon
• 8g/0.28oz. chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon Maldive fish flakes*
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch black pepper

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*Maldive Fish Flakes can be found at Indian grocery stores. They're a dried salted fish so if you have a similar item already at home (even fish sauce could work) try that if you can't get it. I only say this because you only need 5 grams and the packet I got was relatively large at 200g and now I don't really have anything to do with the rest of it.

Step 1 - Cut slits all over the lamb so that the marinade can permeate the meat. Mix the first marinade ingredients together and rub all over the lamb. Marinate for 24 hours in the fridge. Mix the ingredients for marinade 2 and marinade for 6 hours.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F. Layer onions, tomatoes and green chillies on the base of a cast iron pot that fits the lamb snugly. Place leg of lamb on top and pour over the stock full submerging the lamb adding more every hour or so so that the roast keeps moist. Cover with foil and roast for a total of 4.5 hours knocking off 10°C in the temperature every hour.

Step 3 - To make ahead of time, you can cook this and store it in the fridge in the cooking liquid. To reheat, place the lamb on a tray with 2 cups of the liquid and roast at 100°C/212°F for 30 minutes or until cooked through and then baste with pan sauce and then place under the grill for a minute.

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Step 4 - To make mint chutney, blend all of the ingredients together. To make the lunu miris, mix the ingredients together in a bowl and serve both along with the lamb raan.