1.7kg leg of lamb

MARINADE

1 tsp cardamon seeds

1 onion, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2 cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped

3 green chillies, seeded

2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground cloves

1 ½ tbsp lemon juice

250 ml thick plain yoghurt

ALMOND COATING

3 tbsp blanched almonds

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

125 ml thick plain yoghurt

Coriander leaves (optional)

Start by preparing the lamb. Trim off any excess fat and use a sharp skewer to poke holes all over the meat. This will allow the marinade to penetrate the lamb thoroughly.

For the marinade, grind cardamom seeds into a fine powder using a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar. Then, in a blender or food processor, create a paste using chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and green chillies. If you don't have a food processor, you can finely chop the ingredients with a knife and then grind them into a paste using a pestle and mortar. Mix in the ground cardamom seeds, cumin, cloves, lemon juice, and yoghurt. Coat the lamb with half of the marinade, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it marinate in the fridge overnight. Store the remaining marinade in the fridge as well.

For the almond coating, preheat the oven to 190C. Finely chop the almonds with a food processor or a knife. Mix the reserved marinade with the ground almonds, soft brown sugar, and yogurt. Uncover the marinated lamb, coat it with the almond mixture, and place it in a shallow roasting tin. Loosely cover the tin with oiled foil and bake for 1 hour. Then, remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the lamb is cooked and the coating is set and browned. You can check if the meat is cooked by testing the part nearest to the bone – a skewer should come out very hot.