Halal-conscious recipe
Omani lamb qubooli
Dina Macki's Omani lamb qubooli with Halal lamb: shanks boiled with whole spices and dried lime, glazed with saffron and roasted, served on baharat rice cooked in the lamb broth with saffron raisins, chickpeas and cashews.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Photo: Dana Club Doha @ YouTube · CC BY 3.0
Why Halal checks matter here
The dish is 4 lamb shanks, which are Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal; the rice cooks in the lamb's own broth, so it follows the lamb.
Lamb shanks are boiled with whole spices, bay and dried limes until they shrink from the bone, then brushed with saffron water and roasted in foil. The rice is fried with baharat and cooked in the shanks' own broth, and the plate is finished with saffron-soaked raisins, chickpeas and cashews fried with onion, coriander and pomegranate. Only the lamb needs a Halal source; since the rice cooks in its broth, it follows the lamb.
It follows Dina Macki's recipe for BBC Food, from Saturday Kitchen Best Bites, which serves four. The homemade baharat makes a jar that keeps for a year, and the recipe says shop-bought baharat works too.
Layer the rice, topping and shanks on each plate to serve.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Lamb shanks Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and lamb without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. The rice cooks in the lamb's broth, so it follows the lamb. Buy the shanks from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.
Safe substitutes
- Lamb shanks of unknown slaughter → 4 Halal lamb shanks
Allergens
tree nuts (cashews)
Ingredients
Baharat (makes a jar; or use shop-bought)
- 50 g whole black peppercorns
- 35 g cardamom pods
- 20 g whole nutmeg
- 50 g cinnamon sticks
- 25 g cloves
- 75 g cumin seeds
- 50 g coriander seeds
Saffron raisins
- 1 tsp saffron
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 200 g raisins or dried barberries
Shanks
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp dried chillies
- 1 tbsp baharat
- 1 tbsp cardamom pods
- 1 tbsp cloves
- 6 bay leaves
- 2 dried limes, pierced
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 Halal lamb shanks, about 300 g each
- pinch salt
Rice
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 onions, sliced (half for the rice, half to serve)
- 1 tbsp baharat
- 660 g rice
To serve
- 400 g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 50 g cashew nuts
- handful fresh coriander, chopped
- to garnish pomegranate seeds
Method
- Make the baharat. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line a baking tray. Toast all the baharat spices on the tray for 15 minutes until fragrant and starting to darken. Cool, then grind to a fine powder. Stored in a sterilised airtight jar, it keeps for a year; shop-bought baharat works too.
- Soak the raisins. Grind the saffron and sugar to a powder with a pestle and mortar and pour over 450 ml boiling water. Pour 300 ml of the saffron water over the raisins and leave to soak; keep the rest.
- Fry the spices. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onion with the garlic and ginger pastes until translucent. Add all the spices with the bay leaves, dried limes and cinnamon, turn the heat to high and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until everything is golden.
- Brown and boil the shanks. Make a couple of slits in each shank, lay them in the pan and brown them on both sides, with enough oil that they don't stick. Add about 1 litre of water, just enough to cover, put the lid on and boil over a high heat for 1 hour.
- Season and finish boiling. The shanks will have shrunk and come away from the bone. Season with salt, cover again and cook for 25 minutes more.
- Start the rice. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry half of one sliced onion with the baharat for 4 to 5 minutes until golden. Add the rice and stir to coat it. Set aside.
- Glaze and roast the shanks. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the shanks on a foil-lined tray, brush them all over with the reserved saffron water, cover with a second sheet of foil sealed all round, and roast for 45 minutes.
- Cook the rice. Pour 1 litre of the lamb's cooking water over the rice, through a sieve if you'd rather not have the whole spices. Cover and cook over a low heat until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft and fluffy.
- Make the topping and serve. Fry the remaining onion in a little oil until golden, then add the soaked raisins, chickpeas and cashews and fry for 5 minutes until the nuts soften slightly. Put the rice on plates, top with the chickpea mixture and then the shanks, and garnish with coriander and pomegranate seeds.
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Food's 'Omani lamb qubooli' by Dina Macki, from Saturday Kitchen Best Bites (serves 4; prepare less than 30 minutes, cook over 2 hours. Baharat: 50 g black peppercorns, 35 g cardamom pods, 20 g whole nutmeg, 50 g cinnamon sticks, 25 g cloves, 75 g cumin seeds and 50 g coriander seeds toasted 15 minutes at 200C, cooled and ground; it keeps a year in a sterilised jar (shop-bought works too). Saffron raisins: 1 tsp saffron ground with 1 tbsp caster sugar, 450 ml boiling water poured over, 300 ml of it poured over 200 g raisins or barberries and the rest kept. Shanks: a sliced onion with 2 tbsp garlic paste and 1 tbsp ginger paste fried in 4 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 tbsp each coriander seeds, black pepper, cumin, dried chillies, baharat, cardamom pods and cloves, 6 bay leaves, 2 pierced dried limes and 2 cinnamon sticks fried 2 to 3 minutes on a high heat; 4 lamb shanks (300 g each), slit, browned on both sides, covered with about 1 litre of water and boiled with a lid on a high heat for 1 hour, salted, then 25 minutes more; brushed with the reserved saffron water, sealed in foil and roasted 45 minutes at 180C. Rice: half of 2 sliced onions and 1 tbsp baharat fried 4 to 5 minutes in 2 tbsp oil, 660 g rice stirred in, then 1 litre of the lamb broth (sieved if you like) and cooked covered on a low heat until absorbed. To serve: the rest of the onion fried golden with the raisins, a drained 400 g tin of chickpeas and 50 g cashews for 5 minutes; coriander and pomegranate seeds). The ingredient list names a 400 g tin of chickpeas twice under 'To serve' while the method uses chickpeas once; we list one tin. We specified Halal lamb; the published steps are followed in order. BBC Food gives no skill level; we rate it moderate. The source lists the cook time as over 2 hours; ours adds up the boiling, roasting and rice from the method. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Technique and ingredient sources
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Omani lamb qubooli — BBC Food
Retrieved:
By Dina Macki, from Saturday Kitchen Best Bites. Serves 4; prepare less than 30 minutes, cook over 2 hours: a toasted baharat; saffron-soaked raisins; lamb shanks boiled 1 hour 25 minutes with whole spices and dried lime, glazed with saffron water and roasted 45 minutes; baharat rice cooked in the lamb broth; chickpeas, raisins and cashews to serve. We specified Halal lamb.
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Lamb analysis — isithalal.food
Retrieved:
What makes lamb Halal: the slaughter.