Classic Moroccan Lamb & Veggie Tagine

Moroccan tagine is a traditional slow-cooked stew, made from meat (generally lamb or chicken) and vegetables. The dish is usually cooked and served in a clay tagine pot consisting of a glazed clay base and a large conical lid that’s designed to guide the condensation from cooking back into the pot.   While simmering, the cover can be lifted off without the aid of a mitten, enabling the cook to inspect the main ingredients, add vegetables, mix the contents, or add additional braising liquid.

For classic lamb tagine it’s best to use the shoulder, neck or shank of the lamb, cooked until it is falling off the bone. One of the ideas of the dish – as with most stews – is to use the cheaper cuts of meat and render them tender through slow cooking. You won’t find two cooks who’ll agree on what exactly should go into a tagine as most follow their own family’s recipe, finely tuned in their ancestor’s kitchens over decades.

It takes plenty of time to prepare the stew and usually it takes longer than you might expect for the meat to achieve that fall-apart tenderness. So, leave it for at least three or four hours- from browning the lamb to possible serving time. Good news is that it doesn’t require much interference while shimmering, leaving you nothing to do but make some couscous a few minutes before serving.

The best thing about tagine dishes is that, it’s really easy to prepare and it will fill your home with delicious aromas! If you manage to get it tender enough, you can rely on this recipe to impress friends. Serve it with some crusty bread, rice or plain couscous.

Ingredients:

500g diced lamb

1 medium sized onion- peeled and sliced

2 garlic cloves- crushed

1 aubergine or courgette- cut into chunks

200g canned tomatoes

2 carrots- peeled and cut into chunks

1 sweet potato- peeled and cut into chunks

75g dried apricots

75g dried prunes

1 can chickpeas

1 inch of stem ginger

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

½ tsp saffron

300 ml vegetable stock

Bunch of fresh mint- finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

3 Tbsp of oil- for frying

1. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole and brown the lamb in batches

2. Add the onions and garlic and fry until soft and aromatic (about 5-10 minutes). Then add the paprika, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, saffron and black pepper and fry another minute.

3. Add the tomatoes, carrots, apricots prunes and stock to the casserole and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Season with salt.

4. After an hour, add stem ginger, sweet potato and chickpeas and apricots and continue to simmer gently for another 2 hours until the meat is tender. Add a little water if the liquid has reduced - you want plenty of rich sauce.

5. 15 minutes before taking the casserole off the heat add courgette (or aubergine) chunks and chopped mint leaves and carry on cooking.

6. Serve the stew spooned over the couscous or rice and garnish with mint leaves. If you are a lucky owner of traditional Moroccan tagine dish, you can use it to serve your stew. Enjoy!

Authentic Moroccan tagine pots.

Tips:

You can easily turn your tagine stew to a lovely vegetarian dish. Instead of lamb use more vegetables and start the recipe from step 2. Of course veggie stew won’t need that much time for the ingredients to soften and melt in your mouth. So keep on checking and when your tuber vegetables soften add courgettes and mint and cook for about 15 minutes so they can absorb the flavour. Enjoy!