Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
Lamb Shanks
Vegetable oil, for sealing
12 lamb shanks, French trimmed
Sea salt
2 stems celery, leaves removed and roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
2 brown onions, diced
Water, to cover
Curry Paste
6 dried red chillies, halved, deseeded and soaked until soft, squeeze dry
3 slices galangal, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, sliced
3 shallots or ½ red onion, sliced
2 tablespoons lemongrass, sliced
6 coriander roots, sliced
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
To Serve
¼ cup vegetable oil, for frying
6 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon turmeric
¼ cup palm sugar
½ cup fish sauce
6 kaffir lime leaves
Coriander and mint leaves, to serve
METHOD
1 For the lamb shanks, heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Seal shanks in a little oil and season with sea salt. Remove from the pot.
2 Add vegetables to pot. Return shanks to the pot on top of the vegetables. Add enough water to just cover the shanks. Bring to the boil then reduce heat until just simmering. Cover and simmer for approximately 2 hours or until tender.
3 To make the curry paste, pound all ingredients together in a mortar and pestle until a smooth paste forms.
4 Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and gently fry curry paste in vegetable oil, until aromatic. Gradually add coconut milk. Add turmeric and stir through. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce reduces by half.
5 Check the shanks, making sure they are tender and meat is coming away from the bone. Add palm sugar, fish sauce and kaffir lime leaves to the curry sauce and cook gently. Transfer hot shanks to the sauce. Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs with toasted bread or steamed jasmine rice.
Chef’s Tip
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20°C.
The Carousel thanks Chow House for this recipe from Smudge Publishing’s Flavours of Queensland.
