Vietnamese lamb shanks with sweet potatoes — lamb slow-braised with star anise, lemongrass, ginger and chilli until falling off the bone, with sweet potatoes, finished with lime and herbs.
- 2 tablespoons Ground Nut Oil
- 4 Lamb Shanks
- 2 Onion
- 2 tbs chopped Ginger
- 3 sliced thinly Garlic Clove
- 1 sliced Red Chilli
- 1 tsp Brown Sugar
- 3 Star Anise
- 2 Lemongrass Stalks
- 1L Lamb Stock
- 1 ½ tbsp Tomato Puree
- 4 Sweet Potatoes
- 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
- Juice of 2 Lime
- Handful Mint
- Handful Basil Leaves
Video
Preparation
- Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy-bottomed casserole, season the shanks, then brown them 2 at a time on all sides, adding the remaining oil for the second batch. Remove the lamb and add the onions. Fry them quite briskly, about 30 seconds, add the ginger, garlic and chopped chilli, then turn the heat down and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 tbsp sugar, stir, then add the star anise, lemongrass, stock, purée and seasoning, and bring to the boil.
- Cover and cook in the oven for 1½ hours, then add the sweet potatoes and cook for 1 hour more — the lamb should be completely tender and almost falling off the bones. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and 1 tsp sugar to lift the flavour, then scatter with the mint, basil and sliced chilli to serve.
