4.4/5 rating (10 votes)

Kashmiri Tabak

Kashmiri Lamb Ribs

Heat Medium
Serves 4
Prep 20 mins
Cook 2 hrs

A great way to infuse lots of flavour into tricky cuts of meat using lots of spices. The lamb is cooked three times - boiled, stewed and fried.

Hari says
I think this is a really interesting one because it uses lamb breast which is cut into strips to produce bone free ribs. This cut isn't used a great deal these days because it is very fatty but it's perfect for this dish. If however you don't want to use this then you can use lamb shoulder chops instead.
It's very traditional Kashmiri recipe which is apparent with the spices being used, from ginger powder, fennel powder and asafoetida, all of which are commonly used in this cuisine.
The dish might feel complicated because you cook the meat three times but actually it's really simple. All you are doing is putting the spices and the meat into a pan and boiling it, adding some saffron and milk, (which makes the sauce creamy and smooth) and stewing it. Then finally, the strips and fried to make them crispy and delicious.
So, if pork scratchings are your thing then this probably will be too. The meat comes out really fragrant and tender but also crisp from being fried. The real highlight for me however, is the sauce. It is sensational, packed full of aromatics from the spices, smooth from the milk and golden in colour from the saffron - if Carlsberg made dipping sauces then this would be it!

Ingredients
Method

800g lamb ribs or lamb shoulder chops
1 tsp salt
1⁄4 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp fennel powder
1 tbsp ginger powder
1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp turmeric
2 bay leaves
6 green cardamoms, crushed
4 black cardamoms
7cm cassia bark
2 tsp asafoetida
200ml milk
2 tsp saffron, ground
2 tbsp ghee or 2 tbsp vegetable oil
handfull fresh coriander, chopped

Method

Fill a large deep pan with water enough to immerse the ribs and heat. Add salt, chilli, fennel, ginger powder, asafoetida water, ginger, garlic, turmeric, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, black cardamom and cassia.
Add the meat ribs and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer; cook with the lid on until tender for about 1 hour.
Strain the liquid into another pan to remove all the whole spices. This is your stock.
Add the milk and saffron to the stock and add the ribs back in. Cook for another 30 mins.
When the ribs are tender, remove them and cut into smaller pieces.
In a frying pan add your ghee or oil and heat. Place the cooked ribs in the pan so that they become lovely and brown and crisp.
If any liquid remains in the pan, cook over medium-high heat, stirring to loosen any bits that have stuck to the bottom and reduce to half. Pour into a bowl as a dipping sauce.
Garnish the ribs with coriander and serve.