Pakistani
Nihari (Slow-Cooked Beef Shank)
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Nihari (Slow-Cooked Beef Shank) is Pakistani home cooking, eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
The quantities follow this count.
How to cook it
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Grind the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin, peppercorns, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, star anise, dry ginger and nutmeg to a fine powder. This is the nihari masala and it is worth making rather than buying.
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Heat the ghee in a very large pot and fry the sliced onion until deep brown, about 15 minutes. Lift half out for the garnish.
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Add the ginger garlic paste and the beef shank and sear 10 minutes until browned on all sides.
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Add the ground masala, turmeric, both chili powders and salt with a cup of water and bhunno 10 minutes until the oil separates and the pot smells of the spice rather than of raw powder.
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Pour in the remaining water, bring to a boil, then cover and cook on the lowest possible flame for 3 hours until the meat falls off the bone and the marrow has slipped out.
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Whisk the atta into a cup of cold water until completely smooth, then stir it into the simmering pot in a thin stream and cook 20 minutes more until the gravy is glossy and thick. Serve with julienned ginger, green chilies, coriander leaves, lemon wedges and hot naan.
Watch how to cook Nihari (Slow-Cooked Beef Shank)
Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.
Serve it with
A Pakistani dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Nihari (Slow-Cooked Beef Shank), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The protein alongside
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The cooked vegetable
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Nihari (Slow-Cooked Beef Shank) carries dairy and gluten. It is free of the remaining 8 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | Yes | Aloo Anday (Potato and Egg Bhujia) |
| Gluten | Yes | Aloo Anday (Potato and Egg Bhujia) |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Estimated, per serving
- Calories
- 590 kcal
- Protein
- 35 g
- Carbs
- 6 g
- Fat
- 47 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 330 mg
- Saturated fat
- 27 g
Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.
When to cook it
Nihari (Slow-Cooked Beef Shank) takes about 240 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a proper project. It is eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is at its best in winter, which is when what goes into it is worth buying.
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Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.