Tandoori Raan Masala

Entire leg of lamb in gravy

• CuisineIndian
• CategoryLamb
• CourseMains

Ingredients

• Brining
• ½ cupSalt
• ¼ cupJaggery
• 1 tspGaram masala
• ½ tspTurmeric powder
• 1 tspChilli powder
• 2 LWater
•  
• Dry rub
• 1 tbspCumin seeds
• 1 tbspCoriander seeds
• 2 cmsCinnamon
• 6Green cardamom
• 10Cloves
• 2Brown cardamom
• 12Peppercorns
• 1 tbspChilli powder
• 1 tbspMeat tenderizer
•  
• Marinade
• 2 tbspGinger, minced
• 2 tbspGarlic, minced
• 2 tbspOil
• 1 tbspMalt vinegar
• 2 tbspRaw cashews
• ½ tspRed colour
• 2 cupsYoghurt
•  
• Gravy
• 500 gmsOnions
• 800 gmsTomatoes

Preparation

Brining

1. Dissolve salt, jaggery in 2 litres of cold water
2. Add garam masala, turmeric powder, chilli powder and stir
3. Clean lamb leg, removing the membrane and wash
4. Make deep gashes in the leg of lamb
5. Put leg in a large snaplock bag and pour in the brine solution
6. Keep in the fridge overnight or for 24 hours

Dry rub

7. Remove leg from the brining solution and discard the brining solution
8. Pat the lamb leg dry
9. Roast the cumin, coriander, cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, black cardamom, peppercorns and grind
10. Mix with chilli powder, meat tenderizer and add salt if needed (most meat tenderizers contain salt)
11. Rub the spice mix on the leg of lamb, working it into all the gashes
12. Cover and rest for an hour

Marinade

13. Soak cashews in hot water and grind fine
14. Add minced ginger and garlic, oil, vinegar, ground cashews, red colour to the yoghurt and mix thoroughly
15. Apply over lamb leg and marinate for 4 hours

Gravy

16. Grind onions fine
17. Heat oil in a pan and fry onion paste till fried
18. Add lamb leg along with the spice mixture and fry on both sides
19. Grind tomatoes into a fine paste
20. Add to lamb leg and simmer for 10 minutes
21. Carefully turn the lamb leg around and stir the gravy as it simmers
22. Push a meat thermometer probe into the lamb leg, avoiding the bone
23. Cover pan with Al foil
24. Heat in an oven at 110°C till the internal temperature reached 75°C. This should take about 3 hours.
25. During this time, turn the lamb leg over every hour, basting it with the gravy and replacing the thermometer probe and the foil cover

To make this, I used a goat leg. It is hard to find good goat meat (getting easier now) in Sydney. Getting a whole goat leg is even harder. My usual place is in Auburn but I was recommended this place in Blacktown. So a few days before the guests were supposed to be there, I went over and bought a whole goat leg. At a mere 1.6 kgs, it wasn't that huge but obviously I am getting used to meat in copious amounts and am not easily overwhelmed. The last few times I made this, I ended up with lots of spice and no gravy. I tried to flip it around this time and may have gone too far.

To make the Tandoori raan masala, I broke several rules. Firstly, though I owned a tandoor, there was no way I was sticking a whole goat leg in. By the time it cooks thoroughly, assuming it ever does, it would be charred on the outside and dry. Goat is not easy to cook at the best of times. I decided to slow cook it in the oven. I covered it well and used a meat thermometer and left it in to check if it was done. I went for a core temperature of 75°C. Secondly, I decided to soak the leg in brine for a whole day to make it more moist.

To start with, the membrane on the leg should be removed. As goat is usually diced, the membrane was already removed by the butcher. I had to trim it in a few places.

With a sharp knife, make several deep gashes up to the bone on both sides without letting it fall apart.

The next step is to make the brining solution and soak the leg in it for a day. I did this by putting it in a snaplock bag and sealing it the best way I could before placing it in an oven tray and loading the whole thing into the fridge.

Soaking the leg in the brine makes it very moist and it will not dry out when placed in the oven. Pull the leg out and pat it dry with some towel tissue. The next step is to make a dry rub spice mix and rub it all over the leg, working it into the gashes. If you are very observant, you would notice that the lamb leg looks a different at one end. Well, it did not fit into the pan and I had to fetch a hacksaw from the garage and cut about 10 cms off to make it fit. Moral of the story - tell your butcher how you want it cut. The piece went back along with the leg into the pan.

After resting it for an hour or so, apply the marinade, again working it into the gashes.

One of the best way of cooking diced goat is to slow cook it for hours. I did the same with the leg of lamb. It is a lot easier if you have a thermometer that can stay in while it is in the oven but as a guide, it takes 3 to 4 hours. When it came out, the gravy was a little thicker but not dry as it was well covered. The steam and the occasional turning kept the meat moist and cooked it well.

Many many years ago, as usual, after work, I went out with some colleagues to a restaurant for a meal. In this case, it was somewhere in Bombay. We went in and a friend ordered this dish called Tandoori Raan Masala. What appeared was a spectacular full leg of lamb in a gravy. We all liked it so much, in spite of the small size of the group, we polished it off. The only person who got a bit green around the gills was this sole vegetarian in the group who hadn't ever seen such a mountain of meat. We went out several times but nothing quite came close to the introduction to this dish.

Many years later, sitting in a restaurant with another set of friends, I reminisced about this place. The restaurant we were in was expensive and underwhelming. So at my urging, we piled into a car and headed out to look for that restaurant. Memories were dim - all I could recall was that it was on Mohamed Ali Road and it was called Shalimar. When we reached that area, it was quite a sight. We were in the middle of the month of Ramzaan (Ramadan) and it was past sundown. There were people everywhere. The usual food stalls had encroached half way down the edge of the road and were plying a brisk trade. Mosques with loudspeakers were broadcasting the sermons. The atmosphere was electric. The crowd was so thick that we seemed to flow through it in the car one foot at a time. Every few 100 metres, we would roll the window down and ask for directions to the restaurant. And every time, people knew it straight off and pointed in the same direction. It was a long time but we finally reached the place. It was well past Mohamed Ali Road - it was in Bhendi Bazaar - but it was the right place! It took a while to find a seat but we eventually did. The menu still had the Tandoori Raan masala and it was still the same! There was just three of us so we have some off it packed to take away. Back on the streets, we soon were engulfed in the Ramzaan crowd. We stopped for dessert at one of the roadside stalls. We opted for mango phirni, a dish made only during Ramzaan.

And so it was just a year ago, when I met yet another group of friends and let them pick a restaurant with only condition being that I was expecting a mountain of meat. It was in Saki Naka and we met for a few drinks first. I was late, a victim of bad traffic and bad planning. With a head start of a few hours, my friends were, as one of them put it, three sheets to the wind. Once we were done, one of friends said the restaurant he had never been to but recommended to him was, yes, Shalimar. They now had a branch in Saki Naka. So, yet again, I urged them to take the dish I knew so well. It appeared and rekindled old memories, yet again.

Interspersed among these visits, there were many more visits to Shalimar. I would always ask for and bring back the calendar that they used to print. They stopped printing it after a few years and I had to be satisfied by getting one of their place mats instead. So every visit to Shalimar now ends with me asking the staff if they have started printing the calendars again.