![Mrouzia Lamb Shanks](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/07/27/dining/nb-mrouzia-lamb-shanks/merlin_174968559_8322cc1f-0723-4075-9925-fc48f3d9c2cf-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Spiced Lamb and Rice with Walnuts, Mint and Pomegranate
![Spiced Lamb and Rice with Walnuts, Mint and Pomegranate](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/10/25/dining/25KITCHEN1/25KITCHEN1-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 1cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, or 3 cups cooked or canned chickpeas
- 2pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut in 1-inch cubes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1large onion, diced
- ½cup golden raisins
- 2tablespoons pomegranate molasses, optional
- ½teaspoon ground cumin
- ½teaspoon ground coriander
- ½teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg
- 1cinnamon stick, 2 inches long
- 1½cups basmati rice, soaked for 20 minutes and rinsed
- 1tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1cup walnut halves and pieces
- ½cup fresh pomegranate seeds
- 2tablespoons roughly chopped mint
- Pinch of crushed red pepper
- Thick plain yogurt, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
If using dried chickpeas: Put soaked chickpeas in a saucepan and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes to an hour, until tender. Top up with water as necessary to keep chickpeas covered. (If using pre-cooked or canned chickpeas, skip this step.)
- Step 2
Season lamb pieces generously with salt and pepper. In a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven with a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches over high heat, brown the lamb pieces on both sides, removing them to a plate as they are cooked. (Don’t crowd the pan or they won’t brown nicely.)
- Step 3
When all the lamb is browned and the pot is empty, reduce heat to medium high. Add onions, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add raisins, pomegranate molasses (if using), cumin, coriander, allspice, mace, and cinnamon and stir to coat. Return lamb to the pot, along with any juices.
- Step 4
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 5
If using canned chickpeas, drain well. If using cooked chickpeas, drain and reserve the cooking liquid. Add drained chickpeas and rice to onion mixture and stir together. Turn heat to high and add 2 cups chickpea cooking liquid (or 2 cups water or broth, if using canned chickpeas). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover tightly. Bake about 1 hour, until lamb is tender when probed with a fork and rice is cooked through. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving, or up to 30 minutes.
- Step 6
Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt butter over medium heat until it foams. Add walnuts and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Salt lightly and set aside. Fluff the lamb and rice gently, lifting up from the bottom. Serve directly from pot or transfer to a serving platter. Sprinkle with walnuts, pomegranate seeds, mint and crushed red pepper. Pass a bowl of yogurt at the table.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Made this today with 1/2 the lamb since it accidentally came with bones that went into the freezer. Definitely would add more spices and would probably just make lamb stew and rice separately next time. This ended up having the texture and color of slow cooker meals.
Besides the whole house smelling yummy today while this dish was in the oven, the recipe is just delicious. I used leg instead of shoulder meat, since it was on hand, and unsoaked light brown rice for the same reason. Used 1 can of rinsed Goya premium chick peas and chicken broth instead of water. 45 minutes in the oven and 30 minutes rest afterwards. Thank you, David for this restaurant-quality feast.
With recommendation to double the spices and only use a cup of rice: delicious! I'd suggest frying the spices with the onions for a few minutes prior to adding raisins/molasses, and frying the rice in the onion/spice mixture prior to adding liquid. I forgot to soak the rice, maybe that's why it did not get mushy? 2 cups of liquid was too little, check as it bakes in case you need to add more. Molasses are essential, taste really comes through and balances fat, as are mint and arils.
if your objection to the mint is your fear that it's going to taste like toothpaste, it won't. The mint will add a dimension, not a specific flavor. Of course you can use dill, but it will change the entire recipe (and not necessarily for the better).
Trying to rationalize buying all that expensive mint at the grocery store just for two tablespoons of garnish at the end? Instead of just passing around a bowl of yogurt at the table, I made a mint yogurt sauce by finely chopping a healthy amount of mint and combining it with salt, pepper, juice of half a lemon, and some additional cumin in about 1.5-2c yogurt. Really rounded things out.
Followed the recipe exactly, using canned, organic chickpeas - the result was just ok. The rice ended up quite mushy & we found the overall dish kind of bland. If I made this again, I'd cook the rice separately & add more spices.
Made this last last night and thought it was very good. I too only cooked in the oven for about 45 minutes which was sufficient. I would double the spices next time and use less rice—1 cup instead of 1 1/2.
I read the comment that it wasn't flavorful enough, so I doubled up on all the spices except the allspice and nutmeg. It was very tasty.
In Instant Pot: use cooked chick peas, reserving 3 c. of liquid. Brown lamb in batches on sauteé, and reserve. Next sautée onion, add raisins and 2x the amount of spices. Deglaze with the 3 c. of reserved liquid, and add lamb. Set IP to hi pressure for 12 min. Quick release, open pot, add chick peas, give it a stir, then add pre-soaked basmati rice, and press it into the broth (don’t stir again). Set IP to 5 min., and natural release for 10 min. Perfect rice. Will add garlic next time!
Made this last night with 1 1/2 cups dry wild rice, 1/2 the lamb, no chickpeas in a cast iron skillet on the stove . It was wonderful, the rice was perfect, the prep was relatively easy and we’ll have it again.
Since it bakes tightly covered, I wondered if I could adapt it to my stovetop pressure cooker. I think it's worth a try. You could adjust the amount of cooking liquid and time under pressure, per your cooker's instructions for the type and amount of rice you will be using. Also, with long-soaked chickpeas, no need to pre-cook them. They should be fine in the same 20-odd mins you'll need for the rice, maybe plus a little extra liquid. Use the soaking water for the recipe.
I would argue lamb is more healthy than chicken.
wow. this was really easy and amazing. we skipped the molasses (we thought it might be too sweet) and added some garlic but otherwise followed the recipe. the only thing I would "change" is cutting the lamb into smaller pieces, but that's not a big deal. don't skip on the mint or the pomegranate seeds as they add a great texture/flavor. This was restaurant quality and we will definitely make again.
Gorgeous! If you like pilau you'll love this. It's good with leftover (grilled) lamb chops, which is what I had. Not 2 pounds but I made up the difference in protein with extra chickpeas. I used brown basmati rice and increased the broth by 1/4 cup, and I doubled all of the spices except the allspice. Don't forget the pomegranate seed, walnut and mint topping. It's essential.
I made this with a whole chicken instead of the lamb. I did not double the spices, but I did have to add some extra water to get the rice all cooked. It was DELICIOUS--soothing, flavorful, fancy, but fairly easy to produce. The chicken needed an extra 15 mins. to cook through. Really quite extra-special, in fact.
Came out really good! I doubled spices and substituted the molasses for balsamic vinegar. After cooking for about 35 minutes, I added fresh spinach before serving which gives the dish some nice color and healthy veggies.
Consider doubling
This dish is DELICIOUS. I normally make the first iteration exactly as written, but this time, due to comments, I doubled the spices as we like very well seasoned dishes (everything else as per, promise). And the soaked basmati rice was not at all mushy, as others experienced. Cutting and then browning 2lb of shoulder cubes took a hot minute, so next time I'll leave 2 1/2 hours start to finish. Can't wait to deliver this to friends recovering from covid!
Double the spices (1-2 cinnamon sticks) Don’t soak/rinse rice More mint added to top Cooks well in Dutch casserole Serve with hummus and minted yoghurt
Doubled the spices per many of the recommendations in the comments, cooked the lamb for a bit before adding the rice. Rice was still overcooked even without soaking and only cooking for 35 minutes. Lamb was fine, though not flavorful. There are better, similar, recipes that require fewer tweaks and yield better flavor and texture
This was a bust. Tasteless (even though I doubled the spices, as others have suggested). The lamb was overcooked -- at 45 minutes (recipe cook time is one hour) the thermometer read 193 degrees -- way past the 145 degrees at which meat is done. Surprisingly, the lamb was tender. So, it was good lamb. But after sitting for the suggested amount of time, then being stored in the fridge for a few hours, then microwave heated, it was tough as leather. One kg of lamb wasted.
Another great recipe which would be perfect for the holidays because of the red and green from the pomegranate and mint. I did not add rice but served it on couscous. Very nice flavors and textures.
Doubled the spices. Added 1 cup water. 1 can chick peas. 1 carrot. No onion. cooked rice separately
This was quite tasty. Followed the recipe with the exception of doubling up the spices, adding about a teaspoon of aleppo and used 1lb of ground lamb instead of the 2lbs shoulder. Adjusted the baking time to ~30mins since I used ground lamb and the rice was cooked perfectly.
I made this with ground lamb and served the basmati rice cooked separately with it as a side. Nice flavors but I increased seasonings. Yogurt drizzled with olive oil on the plate.
I used lamb neck, halved the quantity - you don't need that much meat in a pilav! - and replaced the evil onion (I'm allergic) with a large knob of ginger, diced. I used chicken stock, upped the spices by half again, plus a heaped tsp of sumac (might up that next time). A hefty pinch of pul biber (red pepper flakes) at the end lifted the whole dish. Next time I'll check after 30 minutes instead of 45, as it was distinctly tahdiggy on the bottom, but it didn't matter: it was spicy and delish.
Store didn't have pomegranates. Tried the dish without any replacement, somewhat bland. Put some sumac over everything and made a hugeeee difference! Acid really makes a difference. 10/10
I used lamb stew meat, doubled the spices and skipped the raisins but otherwise followed the recipe steps exactly and it was very tasty. We eat a lot of Arabic food and I would classify this as a very standard Arabic dish. It is lovely.
This recipe also works well with ground lamb. Didn't have lamb shoulder so I substituted. Cooking time was much shorter. I increased the amount of spices per recommendations and the meal was delicious! Would definitely make this again.
This was a huge success, and I even vegan-ized it! Subbed seitan for the lamb and it was wonderful. My husband loved to combo of seitan and walnuts so if you’re veggie or vegan, try it! The rice needed more stock and 15 more minutes in the oven but that was the only bobble.
Advertisement