5 Minute Fall-apart Massaman Lamb Shoulder

October 11, 2024

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This can be a recipe for a succulent fall-apart tender lamb shoulder that’s sluggish cooked in a wealthy massaman curry sauce, introduced in a grand roast lamb centrepiece kind. My present most-made lamb shoulder recipe. Acquired 5 minutes to make it? 🙂

5 Minute Fall-apart Massaman Lamb Shoulder

This recipe goes to save lots of you on these events when it’s essential serve a gaggle and are pressed for time, but nonetheless desirous to make one thing that appears spectacular. I imply, we have now a repute to uphold, in spite of everything! 🙂

You actually simply put all the pieces in a pan, which takes all of 5 minutes, then depart it within the oven to sluggish roast for 4 hours.

And what comes out is extraordinary. The lamb meat is succulent fall-apart tender, swimming in a to-die-for massaman curry sauce with tender potatoes that actually soften in your mouth.

Plus, it may be made the day earlier than as a result of it reheats 100% completely (can’t say that about most roasts!) and it’s child pleasant as a result of Massaman curry isn’t spicy.

Cynical? Don’t blame you!

If it sounds too good to be true – I don’t blame you for being cynical! This recipe works very particularly as a result of it’s slow-roasted (permits time for the sauce and meat to develop flavour), we’re utilizing lamb meat (extra flavourful than rooster, pork and beef) and since we’re utilizing a richly flavoured curry sauce because the braising liquid.

Want extra proof? Head over to the Massaman Lamb Shanks. Identical methodology. Glowing opinions!

Slow Roasted Lamb Shanks in Massaman Curry — Lamb Shank model

Components in Massaman Lamb Shoulder

A shortcut on this recipe is that we use retailer purchased curry paste. Actually, home made Massaman Curry paste doesn’t work for this recipe as a result of it’s too recent! We’d like the concentrated flavour of retailer purchased.

Additionally, as talked about above, utilizing lamb here’s a deliberate selection. Actually, conventional Massaman Curry is made with beef however I go for lamb as a result of it’s a stronger flavoured meat.

1. Lamb shoulder

Lamb shoulder is a reduce of lamb that must be cooked lengthy and sluggish to provide the powerful meat fibres time to interrupt down and grow to be tender. You possibly can’t cook dinner shoulder to blushing pink like a conventional Lamb Leg, it’s simply too powerful.

The place to get it – Nowadays, you will discover shoulder in common grocery shops right here in Australia. It was cheaper than lamb leg however now it’s about the identical worth. However, it’s extra succulent and has higher flavour than lamb leg!
Get bone in as a result of the meat is juicier. Belief me on this, I’ve examined bone-in and boneless aspect by aspect. The distinction is phenomenal! (See FAQ for extra info).
Different lamb cuts – For lamb shanks, use the Massaman Lamb Shanks recipe (it’s barely totally different). Boneless lamb shoulder will work however cut back the cooking time by an hour.
Different proteins – I don’t suppose beef chuck would add sufficient flavour into the sauce for this methodology of cooking (ie no searing meat prior). Beef brief ribs do work (cut back bake time by about 1 1/2 hours, it was nice). Pork shoulder will even work however I haven’t received my head round how good pork is with massaman curry sauce. Tasty, however maybe higher with beef or lamb? Rooster gained’t work as a result of it might probably’t be cooked lengthy sufficient to provide the sauce adequate time to develop sufficient flavour. Keep in mind this recipe is designed with comfort in thoughts which implies we’d like slow-cooking time for flavour creation!

2. THE CURRY PART

Massaman Curry paste – Maesri is my most popular model. Not all curry pastes are made equal! Extra on this under.
Cinnamon and star anise – Flavour enhance of two dominant spices in Massaman curry paste.
Coconut milk – As utilized in conventional Massaman Curry sauce. Search for a coconut milk that’s at the least 80% coconut! Very economical manufacturers could be as little as 30% which barely style of coconut. I take advantage of Ayam (89%).
Rooster inventory/broth – To create quantity to make a braising liquid to principally submerge the lamb, in addition to including depth of flavour into the sauce. A shortcut – conventional Massaman Curry is made by braising items of beef in liquid to make a home made inventory which is used for the sauce.

Get low-sodium so your sauce doesn’t find yourself too salty. (Although it gained’t be a catastrophe when you don’t get low sodium as the large hunk of lamb + potatoes will soak up the salt).
Potato and onion – historically included in conventional Massaman Curry. Use complete child potatoes, round 3cm/1.2″ vast is good, so that they maintain collectively and grow to be superbly tender and creamy inside. ⚠️ Don’t use cubes of reduce potato as they are going to disintegrate and make the sauce grainy!

3. Maesri curry paste

Right here is the undisputed king of all retailer purchased Thai curry pastes – Maesri. Eating places use it, cooks use it, and meals obsessed folks like myself are mad for it.

And it occurs to be offered at common grocery shops and it’s the most affordable (at the moment ~$2.00).

Massaman Curry Lamb Shanks — Maesri curry paste

I take advantage of it for all my Thai curries after I don’t have time / components to make the curry paste from scratch – Pink, Inexperienced and conventional Massaman beef curry. And another recipe calling for a dollop or two of curry paste, from the peanut dipping sauce for Thai Satay Rooster to Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup to Pink Curry Pot Roast Rooster!

The place to search out Maesri curry paste – At your native grocery retailer! It’s offered at most metropolitan Coles and Woolworths grocery shops in Australia (Asian part), at Harris Farms, virtually all Asian shops (it might be un-Asian to not carry it!) and right here it’s on-line in the US, Canada* and UK.
Can’t discover it? Use any Massaman Curry paste you will discover. My private order of desire (Aussie manufacturers) – Ayam, 5 Tastes and mentioning the rear is Volcom (it’s at all times too candy).

* Obscenely costly, please attempt to get to an Asian retailer!

Tips on how to make Massaman Lamb Shoulder

2 straightforward steps -put all the pieces right into a pan, bake 4 hours! You can even use your sluggish cooker – see recipe notes.

Sauce – Put the curry, coconut and inventory in a roasting pan. Whisk till lump free (together with pesky coconut milk lumps).

💡If making forward to reheat tomorrow, use a ceramic, glass or enamel coated forged iron baking dish somewhat than a steel one. I sometimes attempt to keep away from maintaining meals in any kind of steel pans in a single day. Simply to be cautious!
Lamb the other way up – Put the lamb shoulder in then flip to coat within the sauce. Then organize it so it’s the other way up within the sauce. ie fats cap aspect / meaty aspect down, pink boney aspect dealing with up. This fashion many of the meat is submerged within the liquid so it braises.

Scatter the onion, cinnamon, star anise and potatoes across the lamb.

Sluggish roast excessive then low – Cowl with foil. Roast for 1 hour 220°C/425°F (200°C fan) to get the warmth going contained in the pan (it’s an enormous hunk of meat there, which takes some time to warmth up), then 3 hours at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan) or till the meat is fork-tender. Which means you must be capable to pry the meat aside with two forks with none effort.
Brown it – Take away the foil and punctiliously flip the lamb over so. Spoon some sauce over then pop it again within the oven for half-hour till the floor is a beautiful deep golden brown.

Making forward? After browning, let it totally cool uncovered then refrigerate in a single day. On the day of, simply reheat it within the oven coated for 1 hour. See recipe notes for instructions!

Skim fats – Take away it from the oven and let it relaxation for 10 to fifteen minutes. Skim off the surplus fats from the floor of the sauce utilizing a big spoon. There will probably be a good quantity – round 1/2 to three/4 cup (125 – 180 ml). Lamb shoulder is a fatty reduce, and that’s the reason it’s so tasty! Don’t attempt to get all of the fats as a result of in any other case you’ll lose an excessive amount of sauce. And keep in mind, fats = flavour!

💡Should you refrigerated in a single day, you’ll be able to raise sheets of the fats off the floor of the sauce however remember to scrape all of the sauce off the underside!
Garnish and serve – Should you’re posh (I’m not), switch all the pieces right into a serving dish then sprinkle with the pink chilli slices and coriander/cilantro. Serve with rice and tongs – no carving knife required right here, this isn’t the carving kind! See the part under for numerous serving types.

Serving types

An odd-sounding heading maybe, however it should make sense as soon as I clarify! Listed below are the three methods I’ve served this lamb previously few months (it’s been recurrently used since I invented it, so helpful for teams):

Lazy format for acquainted folks eg household, informal lunch with the workforce – Go away the entire lamb shoulder within the roasting pan. It does get a bit messy because the meat-tearing progresses because the bone will get in the way in which, and in addition there are pockets of fats that I discover folks are likely to keep away from and depart within the pan. However, it’s much less work for me to serve, and the entire lamb appears spectacular! 🙂
Meat totally eliminated – This one is straightforward for company to serve themselves although lacks the visible influence of a complete lamb shoulder. Take away all of the meat off the bone and separate into large-ish serving-size chunks. Take away and discard massive identifiable pockets of fats. Squidge meat in sauce, garnish, serve with massive serving spoon.
Bone eliminated, lamb in-tact – This can be a good approach to have visible influence of a complete piece of lamb however it’s simpler to serve as a result of the bone is eliminated. You actually simply seize the bone and slide it out of the meat, taking care to maintain the lamb in tact. As a result of the meat is so tender, it ought to slide out effortlessly.

What to serve with Massaman Lamb Shoulder

Rice is crucial, for sauce soaking. Jasmine is my first choose (being Thai and all) although basmati is gorgeous with it too, given the Indian affect of Massaman curry. They each have a slight fragrance of flavour that goes so nicely with this dish however I’m certain no one would snob different rice varieties on supply! 🙂

I’d counsel choosing a lightweight and recent aspect salad as this dish is kind of wealthy. It’s pictured above with an Asian Slaw on the aspect. Some extra recommendations: Leafy Asian salad, Chang’s Crispy Noodle Salad, Smashed Cucumber Salad, Japanese Slaw, Glass Noodle Salad (skip the rooster), or any recent greens/salady issues / blanched greens you need tossed with my easy 4 ingredient Asian Sesame Dressing.

Take pleasure in! – Nagi x

Massaman lamb shoulder FAQ

Watch learn how to make it

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5 Minute Fall-apart Massaman Lamb Shoulder

5 Minute Fall-apart Massaman Lamb Shoulder

Cynical? Don’t blame you!