Katif ghanam recipe: Imad Alarnab's lamb and kabsa rice

Katif ghanam is Imad Alarnab's answer to a Damascus Sunday lunch: a whole lamb shoulder sealed in foil until it falls off the bone, served over saffron-yellow rice studded with raisins and sweet peppers.

The dish comes from Imad's Syrian Kitchen, the second Shoreditch restaurant and cookbook the Damascus-born chef built after leaving Syria in 2015. Alarnab's version leans on a kabsa-style spice base more associated with the Gulf, a reminder that Syrian home cooking has always borrowed across its borders.

The technique does the real work. Wrapping the marinated lamb in a sealed parcel traps the steam from its own juices, so the shoulder braises rather than roasts for most of its four hours, then gets a short blast of high heat to brown the outside.

Four hours of low heat do what no spice blend can alone: turn lamb shoulder into something eaten with a spoon.

Ingredients

• 1.5kg bone-in lamb shoulder
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled, plus 5 more grated for the marinade
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp mild curry powder
• 1 tbsp baharat spice mix
• 3cm fresh ginger, grated
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp red pepper paste
• 150ml olive oil, plus 4 tbsp for the rice
• 400g basmati rice
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 3 red peppers, deseeded and chopped
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 2 red onions, sliced
• 1-2 red chillies, halved (optional)
• 1½ tbsp kabsa spice mix
• 1½ tsp baharat spice mix, extra
• 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardamom pods, 3 cloves, 1 bay leaf
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 75g golden raisins
• Salt, to taste
• Cashew nuts and parsley, to finish

Method

1. Mix the grated garlic, paprika, curry powder, baharat, ginger, lemon juice, tomato purée, red pepper paste, olive oil and salt into a marinade, rub it over the lamb and chill for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight — the acid and salt season the meat all the way through, not just the surface.
2. Line a tray with foil and baking paper, scatter the whole garlic cloves and herbs underneath the lamb, then fold the parcel closed with no gaps, so the meat cooks in its own steam rather than drying out in the oven's air.
3. Slow-roast at 160°C (140°C fan) for about 4 hours, until the meat falls off the bone, then unwrap and roast at 200°C (180°C fan) until the surface browns — the two temperatures do two different jobs, one for tenderness, one for colour.
4. Soak the rice in cold water for 30 minutes before cooking; the grains hydrate evenly, so they cook through without breaking.
5. Heat the 4 tbsp of olive oil and toast the cumin seeds for a minute, then cook the peppers and onions for 8-10 minutes until lightly coloured, building the sweetness that carries the dish.
6. Stir in the chillies, kabsa spice, extra baharat, whole spices, salt and chopped tomatoes, then add a tin's worth of water and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the peppers collapse into a loose sauce.
7. Drain the rice and stir it through with the raisins, bring back to the boil, then cover and drop to the lowest simmer for 15 minutes before resting, lid on, for 10 more — the rest lets the last of the steam finish the grains without scorching the base.
8. Fluff the rice with a fork, pile the pulled lamb on top and scatter with cashews and parsley.

A dish built for sharing

Alarnab's cookbook suggests swapping the rice for root vegetables cooked inside the same foil parcel as the lamb, for a simpler plate. A bowl of plain yoghurt cuts through the spice, and the dish needs little else beyond flatbread and something crisp, like a tomato and cucumber salad, on the side.

Can katif ghanam be made ahead? Yes — the lamb reheats well wrapped in foil, so cook it a day ahead and only finish the rice before serving; this katif ghanam recipe keeps its texture better that way than if the rice sits overnight too.