Lamb tagine with apricots and salted almonds recipe
A tagine is a sweet and warmly spiced Moroccan stew in which meat and/or vegetables and pulses are slowly simmered.
Lamb and apricots is a lovely combination but goat, veal or beef can be used as well.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg boneless shoulder of lamb, cut into chunks
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 x 5cm piece of cinnamon stick
- 2 tsp Ras el Hanout (Moroccan spice powder)
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 pinch of saffron threads
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 50 g unsalted butter, melted
- 1 l lamb or vegetable stock
- 500 g whole dried apricots, soaked in water to sofen, then pitted
- 100 g blanched almonds
- 50 g salted butter
- 50 ml honey
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
Details
- Cuisine: Moroccan
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 25 mins
- Cooking Time: 150 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Toss the pieces of lamb with the oil, then sear in a hot frying pan over a high heat until browned on all sides. Remove from the heat.
- In a flameproof tagine or casserole mix together the lamb, onion, garlic, cinnamon stick, ras el hanout, ginger, turmeric, saffron, pepper and melted unsalted butter. Add salt to taste. Cover and cook over a medium heat for 12-15 minutes. Pour in 750ml of the stock and continue cooking, covered, for 2 hours or until the meat is very tender.
- Meanwhile, drain the apricots and cook in enough fresh water to cover for 30-40 minutes or until reduced to a nice pulp. Fry the almonds in the salted butter until lightly browned.
- Add the apricots, nuts, honey, ground cinnamon and remaining stock to the lamb. Simmer for a further 10 minutes. Serve hot with couscous.
Atul’s Curries of the World is published by Absolute press, an imprint of Bloomsbury publishing, £20. Photography by Mike Cooper.
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