Vietnamese Lamb Shanks with Sweet Potato
Meltingly tender and full of classic Asian flavours, these lamb shanks are perfect served over fluffy rice. Spoon the jammy onions over the top and finish with fresh herbs. Delicious!
Adapted from Dianna Henry Food
Serves 2-4
Effort: Easy/ Moderate
Prep: 15mins
Cook: 2.5 hours
Gluten free
Ingredients
1 tbsp peanut or canola oil
2 lamb shanks, about 350g each
2 onions, halved and cut into half moons
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp + 1 tsp Vietnamese BBQ Sauce - Trang Hue
1/2 tsp chilli flakes - optional
1 tbsp brown sugar
500ml chicken stock
1 ½ tbsp tomato purée
2 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into big chunks
1 tbsp fish sauce
juice 1/2 lime
handful mint
handful coriander
Instructions
Heat oven to 160c/140c fan. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet (with a lid), season the shanks, then brown them on all sides.
Remove the lamb and add the onions. Fry them quite briskly, about 30 secs, add the ginger, garlic and chilli, turn the heat down and cook for 1 min.
Add 1 tbsp sugar, stir, then add the Vietnamese sauce, stock, purée and season. Bring to the boil. Add the shanks back to the pan and turn off the heat.
Cover and cook in the oven for 1½ hrs, then add the sweet potatoes and cook for 1 hr more. The lamb should be completely tender and almost falling off the bones.
Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and 1 tsp extra of Vietnamese sauce to just lift the flavour. Serve with fresh coriander & mint.
Hints & tips
Lamb shanks - Shanks are a great cut of meat to cook slowly in liquid. They release flavour into the sauce and become pull apart tender.
Easy swap - A small lamb roast would also work, make a few slashes in roast down to the bone, this will make sure the sauce flavours as much of the meat as possible. The cooking time may need to be increased.
Beef shanks is another easy swap. The cooking time would need to be longer as the meat is tougher. Start with an extra 1/2 of cooking time and increase if needed.
Slow cooker - High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours until the lamb is tender. If you're cooking on Low I suggest adding the sweet potatoes 2 - 3 hours before the end, on High for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
Serving suggestion - Serve with rice of choice and Asian greens.
Portion size - Serves 2-4. This recipe will double.
Storage - Storge in the fridge for 3 days. Suitable for freezing. When reheating rice make sure it is steaming hot.
