Ingredients

• 1 x 5cm/2in piece charcoal
• 4 green cardamom pods
• 4 black cardamom pods
• 1 tsp clarified butter
• 4 ox cheeks (300g–400g/10½oz–14oz)
• trimmed and halved
• 1 veal foot (ask your butcher to cut it into pieces)
• 100ml/3½fl oz corn oil
• 3 black cardamom pods
• 1 stick cassia bark
• 3 cassia leaves
• 3 cloves
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 4 onions
• roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground Kashmiri chilli
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tomatoes
• chopped
• 2 large carrots
• chopped
• handful coriander stalks
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• pinch bicarbonate of soda
• 1 savoy cabbage
• green leaves only
• separated
• 1 hispi cabbage
• leaves separated
• iced water
• 50g/1¾oz butter
• 1 tsp nigella seeds
• 3 shallots
• thinly sliced into rings
• ½ lemon
• juice only
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 head red chicory
• leaves separated
• pinch chat masala
• 2 tbsp snipped fresh chives
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• For the smoke
• heat the piece of charcoal on an open flame
• or with a blow torch
• until it starts to smoulder (you can do this on a gas hob). Preheat the oven to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1.
• For the ox cheeks
• heat a frying pan with a little oil. Cook the ox cheeks to seal them on all sides. Transfer to a lidded casserole dish. Add the rest of the ox cheek ingredients to the casserole.
• Put the charcoal in to a small metal tray. Put the cardamom pods onto the charcoal
• followed by the clarified butter. Place the tray on top of the ingredients in the casserole and put the lid on. Leave for 10 minutes to infuse. Remove the charcoal tray and its conents.
• Cover the casserole ingredients with boiling water. Put the lid on and cook in the oven 3–4 hours. The ox cheeks should be very tender.
• Remove the ox cheeks from the casserole
• set aside and keep warm. Discard the vegetables and veal foot. Pass the cooking liquor through a sieve into a clean saucepan. Simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• For the confit cabbage
• bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Add the cabbages and cook for 3 minutes
• until tender. Refresh the cabbage in iced water
• drain and squeeze out the excess water using a clean tea towel. Finely shred the cabbage.
• Melt the butter in a heavy-based pan until foaming. Add the nigella seeds and shallots. Cook until soft
• then stir in the cabbage and cook for 5 minutes.
• Place the lemon juice
• oil
• salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Just before serving
• dress the red chicory leaves in the dressing and dust with the chat masala.
• To serve
• divide the cabbage between four shallow bowls. Rest the pieces of ox cheek on top and pour sauce around the sides. Garnish with the dressed chicory
• chives and coriander.