Ingredients
100g crispy fried onions
15g garlic cloves, peeled
2 tbsps flavourless oil
1kg boned leg of lamb cut into chunks
1 cinnamon stick (about 5cm)
6 whole cloves
6 green cardamon pods, cracked open
2 black cardamon pods
3 dried bay leaves
2 tsps ground fennel
2 tsps ground ginger
2 tsps ground turmeric
½ tsp ground black pepper
3 tsps kashmiri chilli powder
4 tbsps cockscomb powder in 200ml water (optional)
½ tsp saffron strands dissolved in 1 tbsp of boiling water
750g lamb stock
Salt
2 tsps cornflour

Equipment needed
1 large heavy based pot with a lid that can go on the hob and in the oven
Pestle and mortar

Method
Start by making a garlic and onion paste.  Do this by getting the crispy onions and putting them into the pestle and mortar and grinding and crushing the onions, keep crushing and in 5-10 minutes the onion paste will turn from brown to creamy white.  Once the onions are paste add the garlic and keep pounding until the garlic is also a paste.

Heat the oil in a large pan with a lid over a medium heat.  I like to use my Le Cresuset pot.  You want to cook the lamb in 4 batches until it is golden brown - expect this step to take 20-30 minutes to do the whole kg.  Fry the first batch, once cooked transfer into a bowl and do the next batch, repeat until all of the meat is golden, add a touch more oil as and when needed.  Don't rush this as it will be where a hug amount of the flavour comes from, for the same reason, don’t overcrowd your pan, you want the meat to fry not stew.

Once all of the lamb has cooked, add a touch more oil if needed (you might not need it) and add the whole spices and bay leaves and cook for a minute.  Add the onion and garlic paste and cook for a further minute. 

Strain the cockscomb powder if you are using it, you want to keep the red water and throw away the wet powder.

Add all the ground spices and the along with the strained cockscomb water and the saffron and stir continuously until well combined. Increase the heat to high and add the meat, stirring continually, slowly adding the stock, stirring as you go.

Transfer into the oven and cook for an hour before stirring and putting back into the oven for another hour.  After the lamb has been in the oven for 2 hours, in a small bowl combine the cornflour with a couple of tbsps of the hot liquid.  Put the cornflour slurry into the lamb pot and stir.  Put back into the oven for 30 minutes to an hour until the lamb is tender and soft but still holding together.  Check the seasoning and serve hot with naan and rice.