One shank each. Brown, then 2½ to 3 hours covered at 160°C, or about 45 minutes in a pressure cooker.
How to cook them
Brown them all over, then braise, covered, in a 160°C oven or on the lowest hob heat for 2½ to 3 hours, with onions, tomatoes, spices or stock. They're done when the meat comes away with a fork. They're even better the next day, so it's a good one to cook ahead.
Why they're worth the wait
The shank is the lower leg. It works hard, so it's full of connective tissue that's tough if you rush it. Cooked slowly, that tissue melts into a glossy, sticky sauce and the meat slides off the bone. The marrow (nalli) adds even more, which is why shanks turn up in nihari, Afghan kabuli pulao and shorwa.
Shank recipes
Whole or cut?
Whole shanks look generous on the plate. For curries, nihari and pulao, ask me to cut them through the bone into two or three pieces, so they fit the pot and the marrow gets into the sauce.
From the counterIf the sauce is thin at the end, take the shanks out, boil the sauce hard for 5 minutes, then put them back. Don't boil the shanks.
Cut through the bone for nihari? Easy, just ask. Find us in Shawlands.