Lamb Neck Nihari and Smoked Bone Marrow Pie

Lamb Neck Nihari and Smoked Bone Marrow Pie

To celebrate National Pie Week (March 7-13) we have teamed up with modern Indian restaurants, Kricket, to serve a Lamb Neck Nihari Pie special which will be available at The Grazing Goat, The Alfred Tennyson, The Thomas Cubitt and The Coach Makers Arms for the entirety of Pie Week. The suet crust pies will be filled with Kricket’s delicately spiced lamb curry filling enriched with bone marrow that has been smoked with coconut charcoal and ghee for added indulgence.


”Nahar’’ means morning, and Nihari was traditionally eaten by the Nawabs in the Mughal empire for breakfast before morning prayers. Designed to sustain for a day due to its energy boosting properties.


Usually made with mutton, and thickened with its marrow and wheat flour. We remove the flour and increase the richness of the dish with beef bone marrow that has been smoked with coconut charcoal and ghee.


The spice mix that goes into the masala is deep and complex, and in the overall dish you should be able to identify these spices. The flavours are spicy and rich!


Prep Time
5.5 hours
Cooking Time
1 hour
Difficulty
Medium
Serves
8
Lamb Neck Nihari and Smoked Bone Marrow Pie
Lamb Neck Nihari and Smoked Bone Marrow Pie

Ingredients

Nihari masala

Carom seeds 1 tbls 

Coriander seeds 4 tbls 

Green cardamon 1 tbls

Cloves 2 tbls 

Black cardamon 4 pieces

Indian bay leaf 2 pieces

Star anise 4 pieces

Black salt 1/4 tsp 

Red Kashmiri chilli powder 1 tbls

Turmeric powder 1 tbls

Ginger powder 1 tsp

Nutmeg 1/4 tsp

Mace 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds 2 tbls

Fennel seeds 3 tbls

 

Smoked bone marrow

Beef bone marrow centre cut 1kg

 

Nihari

Ghee 100g

Diced lamb neck 1kg

Fried onions 100g

Ginger/garlic paste 150g

Garlic paste 75g

Split green chillies 20g

Red Kashmiri chilli powder 10g

Turmeric powder 5g

Water 1 litres

Nihari masala 30g

 

Compound butter

250g unsalted butter

Black mustard seeds 10g

Cumin seeds 5g

Dried Kashmiri chillies finely chopped 2.5g

Turmeric powder 2.5g

Fresh curry leaves 10g

 

Suet Pastry Base

350g self-raising flour

150g shredded vegetable suet 

150ml ice cold water

2g fine sea salt

 

Rough Puff Pastry Top

300g unsalted butter

320g strong plain flour

150ml ice cold water

4g fine sea salt


Directions

Roast all the whole spices at 160 degrees celsius in the oven for 12 minutes, remove from the oven, add powdered spices and allow to cool completely. Blitz to a powder in a spice grinder.

Soak bone marrow in heavily salted water for 5 hours. Place bones on a perforated tray and place that on top a deeper tray. In the bottom one add white charcoal, two spoonfuls of ghee then place the bone marrow tray on top. Cover well with foil and smoke for 30 minutes.

Brown the lamb pieces off in ghee until caramelised and dark in colour. Remove any excess water/ghee in the process and set aside. Lift the browned lamb pieces out of the pan and to that same pan add the ginger/garlic paste, garlic paste and green chillies. Cook out for 5 minutes. Add the lamb back to the pot with the powdered spices and cook out for a further 5 minutes. Add the fried onions, the strained ghee/lamb fat mix from earlier and the water. Cook out until the lamb is tender and the curry has lost some moisture and the spices have split to form a red sheen of oil. Season with the nihari masala and salt. Add in the smoked bone marrow that has been scooped from the bone, and mix well. 

For the compound butter temper the spices in very little oil, add to softened butter.

For the suet pastry base mix the flour, suet and salt and then mix in water to form a good, sturdy dough. Cover and chill until ready to roll.

To make the rough puff top, put the plain flour and salt into a bowl and dice the butter. Rub together to mix but there should still be small lumps of butter. Pour in the cold water and mix to combine to a firm dough, do not over mix.

Cover with cling film and place in the fridge.

Bringing it together 

  1. Roll out your suet pastry and cut into 8 x circles to fit into a 9cm mold. Grease the molds with a little oil and pop the pastry inside 
  2. Fill each with an 8th of the lamb neck nihari 
  3. Roll out your rough puff pastry top into 12cm circles and place on top and crimp around the edges 
  4. Egg wash the tops and then sprinkle with cumin and fennel seeds for decoration. 
  5. Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins at 180c 
  6. To serve – mix the compound butter into some plain mashed potato and serve alongside

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