This meltingly tender shoulder of lamb can be cooked in stages over a few days. Serve with some fruity couscous or a nice salad, pitta bread and a yoghurt and mint dressing.

SERVES 6 -8

PREP: 45 MINS

COOK: 4 HRS

Plus a few hours for marinating and overnight chilling.0

This can be prepared up to 2 days before you want to serve. 

  • 2kg Shoulder of Lamb
  • 3 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 2 Onions, sliced
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 4 cardamom pods
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp light muscovado sugar
  • 1 tbsp malt vinegar
  • 2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 100g natural yogurt
  • 200ml Water

For the spice paste

  • 6 garlic cloves
  • thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 green chilli, roughly chopped (deseeded if you don’t like it too hot)
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp mild chilli powder
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  1. Tip all the spice paste ingredients into a mini chopper or small food processor with a splash of water and a pinch of salt. Blitz until smooth. Lightly score the lamb a few times on all sides and rub about a third of the paste all over. Cover the lamb and leave in the fridge  overnight, and chill the remaining paste.
  2. The day before you want to eat the lamb, heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 4. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a casserole or flameproof roasting tin that is big enough to fit the lamb snugly then add the onions, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaves to the hot oil and cook for 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and starting to brown. Sprinkle over the sugar and splash in the vinegar, then sizzle for 1 min. Tip in the remaining curry paste and cook everything for 1 min until aromatic.
  3. Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 min more, then stir in 200 ml water and the yogurt. Season with salt and bring everything to a simmer. Nestle the lamb into the pan and spoon over some of the sauce. Cover the pan with a lid or tightly with foil and place in the oven for 3 hrs until the lamb is really tender. Leave the lamb to cool in the sauce, then lift it out and tip the sauce into a container – cover both and chill in the fridge overnight.
  4. On the day you want to eat the lamb, heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the lamb on a shallow roasting tin, brush with the remaining oil and roast in the oven for 40 mins until nicely browned. While the lamb is roasting, prepare the sauce by scooping off the solidified fat from the top, put the sauce into a saucepan and simmer for 10 mins until thickened, if needed season to taste. Blitz the sauce with a hand blender until reasonably smooth, then reheat in the pan.
  5. When it comes to serving, simply place the lamb on a board or serving plate with a couple of forks for shredding.