It’s fascinating how different the same spices, more or less, can be when used in slightly different combinations or strengths. I play with spices all the time, so I did some thinking and then opened the big spice box in the cupboard.

Here’s the key difference: Indian spice combinations almost invariably include ginger and cumin (one of my favourite spices). Moroccan spicing also uses those two. Some old Persian dishes favour the cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon and turmeric over cumin and ginger. For this dish I decided to leave out both ginger and cumin and focus on the sweet spices, the cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric and, not least, the saffron.

I went quite heavy on the cardamom, using eight pods, and also had a decidedly heavy hand with the garlic: no fewer than 6 cloves of it. For the rest, it’s a balance of cinnamon, nutmeg and turmeric with a pocket-burning couple of pinches of saffron.

I cooked my shanks in a potjie, after first making the cooking broth in a pot on the stove. Here’s how.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

4 lamb shanks

8 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp turmeric

Generous amount of saffron threads

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 x 400 g can chopped tomatoes

500 ml chicken stock

Salt and pepper

2 x 25 g Ina Paarman concentrated liquid vegetable stock sachets dissolved in 500 ml boiling water

2 Tbsp canola oil

For saffron couscous:

1 cup couscous

1 cup vegetable stock

A good pinch of saffron

Method

First, empty a can of quality chopped tomatoes into a pot and add the diluted vegetable stock (I used Ina Paarman’s diluted as described above, but use another if you prefer). Season with salt and pepper. Add all the spices and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and leave aside until needed.

Sauté the onion and garlic in the oil in a potjie (or use a heavy pot on the stove, transferring it to a 180℃ oven). Pour in the cooking broth. Add the shanks, coat and stir. Cook over moderate coals until the shanks are fall-apart tender. This should take between two and three hours. Towards the end of the cooking time, remove the potjie lid so that the sauce can reduce and thicken. 

Serve with saffron couscous. To make this, pour 1 cup of couscous into a bowl. Bring 1 cup/ 250 ml vegetable stock to a boil. Spoon 3 Tbsp of this into a small bowl (such as a ramekin) and add to it a good pinch of saffron threads. Leave to steep for a few minutes then add it to the bowl of couscous. Pour in the remaining stock, stir it, and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. Then loosen the couscous with a fork in the usual way. The couscous will have absorbed a pleasing saffron flavour and will continue to do so while you wait for the shanks to be ready. DM/TGIFood

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