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№ 559 · Lebanese

Lebanese Seven-Spice Lamb (Lahm bi Bahar)

Tempo

1h 30

Picante

Dificuldade

Médio

Rende

6porções

Ingredientes

Bahar (Lebanese seven-spice)

Buy if available (Empório Árabe in SP, online). About 2 tbsp needed.

If making (toast spices then grind to powder, keeps a month in jar):

1 tbsp

ground allspice

1 tbsp

ground black pepper

1 tbsp

ground cinnamon

1 tsp

ground cloves

1 tsp

ground cumin

1 tsp

ground coriander

1 tsp

ground nutmeg

Meat and braise

1.2 kg

paleta de cordeiro (lamb shoulder), cut into 5cm pieces, bone-in if possible

2 tbsp

bahar (the spice mix)

1 tsp

salt + more to taste

4 tbsp

olive oil + 30g butter (or 2 tbsp ghee)

large onions, sliced thinly

garlic cloves, minced

cinnamon stick (extra, in addition to bahar)

bay leaves

1 tbsp

tomato paste

500ml light chicken stock

2 tbsp

pomegranate molasses (melaço de romã — Arab grocers, *Cortas* brand most reliable) *(or middle-path: 100ml pomegranate juice reduced to 30ml + 1 tsp lemon juice + 1 tsp brown sugar; or 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar reduced to syrup as last-resort approximation)*

1 tbsp

lemon juice

Finish

100g pine nuts (pinoli — Mundo Verde, Casa Santa Luzia) OR substitute toasted slivered almonds

½ cup

chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp

pomegranate seeds (sementes de romã)

To serve

Vermicelli rice (Lebanese rice with toasted noodles) — see notes

Plain Greek-style yogurt (or labneh)

Toasted Arabic flatbread (pão sírio tostado)

Cucumber-mint salad (just sliced cucumber, mint, olive oil, salt)

Modo de preparo

01**Spice the lamb.** Toss lamb pieces with bahar, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Set aside while you cook onions.
02**Sweat onions slowly.** In pressure cooker, heat the rest of the olive oil + butter over medium. Add sliced onions. Cook **18-20 minutes**, stirring every few minutes, until **deeply golden brown and soft** — not caramelized to mahogany like French onion soup, but well past pale gold. Lebanese cooking lives or dies by the patient onion stage.
03**Add garlic and tomato paste.** Stir in garlic, cook 1 minute. Add tomato paste, cook 2 minutes until the paste deepens.
04**Add lamb.** Tip in the spiced lamb pieces. Stir to coat in the onion-tomato base. Cook 4-5 minutes — the lamb won't brown deeply (the spices darken too quickly) but should sear.
05**Build braise.** Add cinnamon stick, bay leaves, stock, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice. Stir.
06**Pressure cook.** Lock lid, high pressure, **40 minutes**. Natural release.
07**Reduce.** Open lid. Discard cinnamon stick and bay leaves. The lamb should be falling-tender. Set sauté mode and reduce uncovered 8-10 minutes until the sauce becomes a thick, glossy glaze that coats the meat. Onions will have largely dissolved into the sauce — that's the goal.
08**Toast pine nuts.** While reducing, toast pine nuts in a small dry skillet over medium 3-4 minutes, shaking, until **just** golden. They burn fast — watch them.
09**Plate.** Pile lamb in a serving dish. Scatter pine nuts, parsley, pomegranate seeds.

Lahm bi Bahar (Lebanese Seven-Spice Lamb)

A pillar of Lebanese home cooking — lamb shoulder slow-braised with onions, the warm-spice blend bahar (Lebanese seven-spice), and a finish of pomegranate molasses for tartness. The result is comforting, gently spiced, deeply savory, with the long-cooked onion-and-spice forming a glaze that coats the meat. The pressure cooker turns the traditional 2.5 hour braise into 50 minutes.

Heat: 0/5. No chile. Spice-warmth from cinnamon, allspice, black pepper, nutmeg.

Vermicelli rice (the canonical pairing)

While the pressure cook runs:

60g vermicelli noodles (or thin spaghetti broken into 2cm pieces)
30g butter
300g basmati rice, rinsed
600ml hot water
½ tsp salt

Melt butter, fry vermicelli until deep golden. Add drained rice, stir 1 minute. Add water and salt. Cover, simmer 15 min on lowest heat. Off heat, rest 10 min.

Tame it

No heat to tame. The dish is gentle by design.

Serving

A mound of vermicelli rice on each plate. Pile lamb and its glaze on top. A spoonful of cool yogurt next to it. Toasted flatbread torn alongside. Cucumber salad with mint to lift. A glass of Château Musar (Lebanese red, if available) or any light, fruity red.

Notes

The onion stage is the dish. Rushed onions give a thin, watery braise. Patient onions give the deep, almost-sweet base that makes Lebanese braised dishes distinctive.
Bahar varies by family. Some households add a hint of cardamom; some skip nutmeg. Once you've got a bahar mix you like, don't tinker.
Pomegranate molasses is the Lebanese secret weapon for braises — provides the sour edge without sharp lemon. Worth keeping a bottle around (also great for vinaigrettes).
Pine nuts are the garnish that counts. They're the textural and visual signature; don't substitute lazily — toasted slivered almonds work, but cashews or pistachios are wrong here.
Vermicelli rice is the only right pairing. The toasted noodle adds dimension that plain rice can't.
Better the next day. Lamb fat solidifies; warm gently to re-emulsify.
Variations: add 100g cooked chickpeas at step 5 for yakhnet-style. Or stir in 100g sautéed mushrooms at the reduce stage.