Asian-style Lamb Shanks

Your new favourite! The orange & honey add a hint of sweetness, and the beef stock and soy deliver a deep and unforgettable umami flavour. 

Ingredients
4 large lamb shanks or 6 small ones
Olive oil
1 onion dice
2 star anise pods
½ tsp five spice
1 Tbs flour Use 2 tablespoons when making this in an Instant Pot
500 ml beef stock (1/2 cup if you are making the shanks in an Instant Pot)
1 Tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 Tbs minced garlic about 3 – 4 cloves
4 Tbsp honey or brown sugar
4 Tbsp soy sauce
Juice from 1 orange about 80ml (or clementine)
Pinch of chilli or more if you like heat

Instructions
Remove the lamb shanks from the fridge and season the lamb shanks well with salt and pepper.
Heat a splash of olive oil in the Instant Pot set to saute and brown the meat on both sides. Do this in two batches. Remove and set aside.

Keeping the Instant Pot set to sauté function, add the onions and cook until softened – about 6 – 8 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent them from going brown.

Add two tablespoons of flour and stir through the softened onions to form a paste.
In a jug add the beef stock (you could also use lamb stock), soy, ginger, garlic, five spice and stir to combine You will need a a little extra stock when cooking in an Instant Pot so add about 1/2 – 1 cup extra.

Set the Instant Pot to Manual pressure cook HIGH (take off the keep warm function) and set it for 50 minutes.
Once the cooking time is up, let the Instant Pot naturally release pressure for 15 minutes. Then, carefully release any remaining pressure manually.

Remove the shanks with a slotted spoon and allow the liquid to settle. Either use a fat separator or place a sheet of kitchen paper over the top of the liquid to absorb this fat layer. Quickly remove and discard. Depending on how fatty the meat was, you will probably need to repeat this 3 more times (a total of 4 x sheets of paper).

When you think you have removed most of the fat, cook the juices down for 10 – 12 minutes until it has reduced and thickened slightly. Return the lamb shanks to the Instant Pot to heat through and spoon the sauce over when you serve.