Spiced Lamb and Rice with Walnuts, Mint and Pomegranate

Made this today with 1/2 the lamb since it accidentally came with bones that went into the freezer. Definitely would add more spices and would probably just make lamb stew and rice separately next time. This ended up having the texture and color of slow cooker meals.

Besides the whole house smelling yummy today while this dish was in the oven, the recipe is just delicious. I used leg instead of shoulder meat, since it was on hand, and unsoaked light brown rice for the same reason. Used 1 can of rinsed Goya premium chick peas and chicken broth instead of water. 45 minutes in the oven and 30 minutes rest afterwards. Thank you, David for this restaurant-quality feast.

With recommendation to double the spices and only use a cup of rice: delicious! I'd suggest frying the spices with the onions for a few minutes prior to adding raisins/molasses, and frying the rice in the onion/spice mixture prior to adding liquid. I forgot to soak the rice, maybe that's why it did not get mushy? 2 cups of liquid was too little, check as it bakes in case you need to add more. Molasses are essential, taste really comes through and balances fat, as are mint and arils.

if your objection to the mint is your fear that it's going to taste like toothpaste, it won't. The mint will add a dimension, not a specific flavor. Of course you can use dill, but it will change the entire recipe (and not necessarily for the better).

Trying to rationalize buying all that expensive mint at the grocery store just for two tablespoons of garnish at the end? Instead of just passing around a bowl of yogurt at the table, I made a mint yogurt sauce by finely chopping a healthy amount of mint and combining it with salt, pepper, juice of half a lemon, and some additional cumin in about 1.5-2c yogurt. Really rounded things out.

Followed the recipe exactly, using canned, organic chickpeas - the result was just ok. The rice ended up quite mushy & we found the overall dish kind of bland. If I made this again, I'd cook the rice separately & add more spices.

Made this last last night and thought it was very good. I too only cooked in the oven for about 45 minutes which was sufficient. I would double the spices next time and use less rice—1 cup instead of 1 1/2.

I read the comment that it wasn't flavorful enough, so I doubled up on all the spices except the allspice and nutmeg. It was very tasty.

In Instant Pot: use cooked chick peas, reserving 3 c. of liquid. Brown lamb in batches on sauteé, and reserve. Next sautée onion, add raisins and 2x the amount of spices. Deglaze with the 3 c. of reserved liquid, and add lamb. Set IP to hi pressure for 12 min. Quick release, open pot, add chick peas, give it a stir, then add pre-soaked basmati rice, and press it into the broth (don’t stir again). Set IP to 5 min., and natural release for 10 min. Perfect rice. Will add garlic next time!

Made this last night with 1 1/2 cups dry wild rice, 1/2 the lamb, no chickpeas in a cast iron skillet on the stove . It was wonderful, the rice was perfect, the prep was relatively easy and we’ll have it again.

Since it bakes tightly covered, I wondered if I could adapt it to my stovetop pressure cooker. I think it's worth a try. You could adjust the amount of cooking liquid and time under pressure, per your cooker's instructions for the type and amount of rice you will be using. Also, with long-soaked chickpeas, no need to pre-cook them. They should be fine in the same 20-odd mins you'll need for the rice, maybe plus a little extra liquid. Use the soaking water for the recipe.

I would argue lamb is more healthy than chicken.

wow. this was really easy and amazing. we skipped the molasses (we thought it might be too sweet) and added some garlic but otherwise followed the recipe. the only thing I would "change" is cutting the lamb into smaller pieces, but that's not a big deal. don't skip on the mint or the pomegranate seeds as they add a great texture/flavor. This was restaurant quality and we will definitely make again.

Gorgeous! If you like pilau you'll love this. It's good with leftover (grilled) lamb chops, which is what I had. Not 2 pounds but I made up the difference in protein with extra chickpeas. I used brown basmati rice and increased the broth by 1/4 cup, and I doubled all of the spices except the allspice. Don't forget the pomegranate seed, walnut and mint topping. It's essential.

I made this with a whole chicken instead of the lamb. I did not double the spices, but I did have to add some extra water to get the rice all cooked. It was DELICIOUS--soothing, flavorful, fancy, but fairly easy to produce. The chicken needed an extra 15 mins. to cook through. Really quite extra-special, in fact.