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Nihari Lamb Recipe

Popular breakfast dish from Delhi made with bone-in lamb shank cooked overnight on low heat with curry spices

In India, Nihari is made of thigh portion of the leg including the round bone of Mutton, Goat or buffalo. The bones are cut to about 2" long. It is a hot (cayenne pepper hot) spicy dish.

What is Nihari | How to cook lamb?

The dish is cooked for about 8 to ten hours consisting of over-night pre-cooking, broth thickening, and Bhagar phases. Heat is finally shut off at the end of Bhagar phase.

The finished dish has stew-like consistency.

Ingredients

Pre-cook

1. Ghee: ½ Cup
2. Lamb leg shank half (Thigh with round bone): 2 Pounds cut about 1 to 2" long pieces
3. Onions: 2 cups, Chopped and then ground in a processor or blender
4 Sea Salt: ¾ teaspoon or to taste
5 Ground Cayenne pepper: 1 to 2 teaspoons adjust to your taste
6 Garlic: 8 to 10 Large Cloves Peeled chopped or minced
7. Ginger: 1"x1" Peeled chopped or minced
8. Turmeric powder: ½ teaspoon
9. Bay leaves: 3
10. Yogurt: ¼ Cup
11. Maida: ½ teaspoon
12. Water: 5 Cups See cooking method

Dry spice Nihari Mix

1. Fennel Seeds: 2 Tablespoons Cracked
2. Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon Cracked
3. Black Cumin seeds (Shahi Jeera): ½ teaspoon cracked
4. Nigella (Kalonji): ½ teaspoon cracked
5. Dry ginger powder: ½ teaspoon
6. Black Cardamom seeds: 2 teaspoon cracked
7 Black peppercorn: 1 teaspoon cracked
8 Cinnamon stick 3"x¼" size: 1 broken cracked
9 Cloves: 1 teaspoon cracked
10. Nutmeg: ¼ of a small size grated
11. Mace (Javitri): 3 leaves
12. Degi Mirch: 2 teaspoons

Broth Thickener

All purpose flour (Maida): 3 Tablespoons
Water: ½ cup

Bhagar

1. Ghee: 2 Tablespoons
2. Onion: 4 slices thin
3. Whole Cayenne pepper 4

Garnish

1. Fresh Cilantro: ¼ cup Chopped
2. Scallions: 2 Chopped
3. Serrano: 3 Cut in half vertically. Remove seeds and white membrane to reduce heat to taste. Chop
4. Ginger: 1"x2" Peeled cut into thin matchsticks
5. Radish: 1 Cup cut in half. In India Mooli is cut as sticks
6. Lime: 2 Cut into wedges

Method

Prepare Dry Spice Mix

The spices are NOT dry roasted. Spices are NOT ground to a powder. The spices are cracked using a mortar and pestle. You can use a food processor to crack spices in the 'Pulse' mode for 2 or 3 short cycles. Long cooking time requires the spices to be cracked or ground coarse to slowly infuse the aromas. Crack the spices and set aside.

Pre-cook (6 to 8 hours)

1. Heat ghee in heavy bottom pan. Brown meat. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside
2. Add onions, salt and cayenne pepper. Sauté about 5 minutes till moisture is gone and onions start to turn brown.
3. Add garlic, ginger, Turmeric, bay leaves. Sauté about 90 seconds
4. Turn off heat. Stir Maida in to yogurt and mix well. Add yogurt Maida mixture to sauté. Stir well till yogurt is blended. Turn the heat back on. This process is required to prevent yogurt from curdling.
5. Add spice mix and stir well
6. Add Lamb. Add water, the meat must be submerged in water, water must top meat by about ¾". Bring it to a boil. Cover with a tightly fitting lid. Turn down heat to lowest simmer.
7. Simmer meat at low temperature (185º F to 194º F) overnight for about 8 hours. At the end of overnight cooking, the meat must be extra tender. The marrow must have fallen out of the bones and dissolved in the broth, leaving a white hollow space in the bones.

Thicken Broth (20 minutes)

1. Mix water and flour to make slurry. Make sure there are no lumps
2. Add slurry to the dish being cooked. Stir well. Cook for 20 minutes

Bhagar (15 minutes)

1. Heat ghee in a separate frying pan.
2. Add onions till they are browned (caramelized)
3. Add whole cayenne peppers. Fry about 30 second
4. Transfer contents to the main cooking pot.
5. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn off heat

Garnish

1. Stir in Cilantro
2. Serve the rest of the garnish on-side

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