How do you make Nepalese Lamb Pakku? | What is the national dish of Nepal?
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017
I’ve done this to accompany a Dal Bhat, a match made in heaven, or as near to it as you can get in the Himalayas.
In Nepal they would use mutton or goat rather than lamb, but it makes for a close substitute in the UK. Not that mutton is that hard to get, if you really want it, lamb is plenty good enough.
It starts with marinating and as always, the longer the better, but even if you can only manage an hour, take it, it’s totally worth it. How do you make Nepalese Lamb Pakku?
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How do you make Nepalese Lamb Pakku | Nepali style slow cooked lamb, mutton or goat Whilst this is a slow cook dish it is low maintinence. Don't get me wrong, it's not a 10 hour roast job, it's about 60 minutes cooking time (plus marinating) - but slow is the key. The good thing is, you barely touch it as it cooks, leaving you plenty of head space to cook it some friends. It's not a complicated dish, but much like climbing Nepals highest mountain - good preparation is the key to achieving something amazing.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 60 minutes |
| Servings | people |
Ingredients
Main bits
- 4 lamb chops
- 2 tbls vegetable oil olive oil is fine
Spices and stuff
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1.5 tsp coriander powder
- 1.5 tsp chilli powder
- 2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbls fresh ginger grated
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
- 4 bay leaves
- 4 cloves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 cardamom pods
- 1 pinch salt Maldon is the best
Ingredients Main bits
Spices and stuff
| |
Instructions
- Get a good size mixing bowl ready, it's about to take more flavour that it may have in a long time.
- On a chopping board, and please be careful, get the lamb and chop it up in to bite size pieces, some on the bone and some not and place in the bowl. Keeping the lamb on the bone helps with the cooking process and also gives it a feeling of authenticity. Use kitchen shears (meat scissors) if you have them.
- Next, take all of your spices and a dash of oil and throw the lot in to the bowl, get your clean hands in there and mix it all thoroughly - coating all the meat. The smell alone at this point should have you wetting yourself, let alone the colour.
- Cover and place in the fridge. If you can only manage an hour it's still worth it - it's like Everest Base Camp. Stretch that to three or four hours then we're talking Everest Camp Three and way more depth. If however you can do 12 hours plus (overnight would be smart) then we're basically at The Hillary Step about to summit the highest point on earth.
- When you're sure that you are as prepared as you can be, get a large saucepan with a lid (not frying pan) on to a low heat and add the lamb.
- Over the next 30 minutes slow cook it and stir only three times, all you need do is prevent it from catching. What started as a rather dry looking dish will suddenly start to release fats and water, sitting the lamb in a shallow but bubbling sauce.
- Now remove the lid, again stirring only to keep it from catching on the bottom, cook for another 30 minutes and evaporate as much as the liquid as possible.
- When done you should have a slightly glistening, deeply coloured and wonderful smelling Nepali Lamb Pakku.
- Remove the cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamon pods and cloves (if you can find them - don't bust a gut, just get rid of the obvious stuff) and in a bowl or very white plate, make a nice little mountain of lamb.
- This is an easy dish with lots of passive time to create some other dishes to go with it - your mates will think you've actually climbed Everest...maybe.
- Thank you Nepal
धन्यवाद
I stayed in Kathmandu for 3 weeks. It was such a memorable time. Food was excellent. So happy to have met such warm and hospitable Nepalese. I will go back when time and health permits.
Oh, I just placed the mixture in the fridge for two hours. I followed your recipe but I had more chopped lamb…so I added spices. Looking forward serving this tonight to my sons family coming over for dinner tonight.
That sounds amazing Maria, I’d love to go. How was dinner?