Spicy Lamb Tagine

If you like Moroccan Tagines, you will love this. Its all fairly easy to do and you can just bung it in the oven – like I tend to do!

 

Ingredients: 

• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1kg of Lamb – lean and diced
  
• 1 Tin of chopped tomatos
  
• 2 onions – halved and sliced
  
• 1 Beef Tomato – thinly sliced
  
• 50gms Butter
  
• 50gms Dates – pitted and roughly chopped
  
• 100gms Dried Apricots roughly chopped
  
• 1 pint Beef or Lamb stock
  
• 2 tsp of Honey
  
• 2 Cloves of garlic – chopped
  
• 2 tsp Ras El Hanout
  
• 1 tsp Tumeric
  
• 1 tsp Chilli powder (miss this out if you don’t like the food too ‘hot’)
  
• 1 tsp Ground ginger
  
• ½ tsp Saffron – soaked previously in a little warm water
  
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander (garnish when serving)
  

 

Brown the meat in the olive oil and set aside. Melt the butter to a frying pan and then add the spices and cook for a few minutes, then add the onions and garlic and cook until soft and golden. Mix this with the meat together with the remaining ingredients in an ovenproof dish and tight fitting lid. (I use an oval Le Creuset Casserole dish) Place in a preheated oven @ 160deg for approx 2 hours. Inspect and turn the meat every now and then. After 2 hours you can remove the lid to allow the tagine to become thicker and richer if it should it need to. The chilli can vary considerably and so I suggest go add less than more as this can give quite a kick. You can easily avoid the chilli and still get a rich spicy dish! I serve with either a fruity rice or a couscous with oven roasted vegetables.

(Serves 6)