Moroccan lamb tagine
- Published: 13 Dec 16
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
Melt-in-your-mouth lamb and warming Moroccan spices – this lamb tagine recipe is perfect served with warm flatbreads. Sprinkle the tagine with the garnish just before serving.
Want something quicker? This lamb, date and spinach tagine is ready in just 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 2 red onions, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric
- 1.4kg British lamb shoulder, diced into 2cm cubes
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 250g stoned prunes, roughly chopped
- 500ml chicken stock
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Juice ½ lemon
To serve
- Large bunch fresh parsley
- Large bunch fresh coriander
- 80g shelled pistachios, toasted in a dry pan
- 100g pomegranate seeds
- Couscous or flatbreads
Method
- Heat a large glug of oil in a deep, flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 4-5 minutes until beginning to colour. Add the garlic and all the ground spices and fry for 2 minutes more, stirring with a wooden spoon.
- Season the lamb, then add it to the pot and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the chopped tomatoes, prunes, stock and sugar and bring to a good simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Add 100ml water and simmer gently for 3 hours. Stir the tagine every so often so it doesn’t stick and burn on the bottom. If it reduces and thickens too quickly, add a splash more water to loosen it. You want a rich sauce that’s still fairly liquid.
- For the last 30 minutes of the cooking time, stir in the chickpeas and lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve scattered with parsley, coriander, pistachios and pomegranate seeds, with couscous or flatbreads (you could try one of these flatbread recipes) as an accompaniment.
- Recipe from November 2016 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 461kcals
- Fat
- 20.1g (6.9g saturated)
- Protein
- 43.3g
- Carbohydrates
- 22.3g (17.4g sugars)
- Fibre
- 9g
- Salt
- 0.5g
FAQs
Can I make this tagine in advance?
The tagine can be made up to 24 hours in advance (without the herbs, pistachios and pomegranate seeds) and kept in a sealed container in the fridge.
Can I freeze a tagine?
This recipe can be frozen for 1 month in a sealed container.
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Watch how to make a lamb tagine in this video:
Learn how to prepare a pomegranate in this video:
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I made this last night. I only used 1 x 400g tin of tomatoes because I was using a slow cooker which doesn’t reduce as much as pan cooking. Turned out at exactly the right consistency.
Flavour-wise this is a very good recipe with big spice hits. I hate those recipes which mess around with teaspoons of this and that. As it stands it’s a ten ten recipe. I left out the sugar as I used tinned prunes in syrup, which added enough sweetness. I wouldn’t use tinned prunes again tho as they’re so soft they dissolved. I don’t mid that but I do like to chew on a prune. Next time it’ll be dried prunes.
Half way through cooking I tasted and decided on a hunch to add 2 tablespoons of rose harissa paste. That addition lifts this recipe to a top 5 spot.
One thing I think is slightly off. I think there’s too much ginger. It lingers on the tongue long after every other flavour has gone. Next time I’ll halve the ginger. I would also suggest that since the dish is quite high in fat and oil more lemon wouldn’t go amiss to cut through the fat. I fancy that the addition of preserved lemon will make this recipe pretty much unsurpassable.
Hi Mark. Thanks for the lovely feedback – you would be a good recipe tester! Tinned prunes are not the same as dried, they are hydrated, and so you would stir those in to heat up 5 minutes before serving, rather than cook them for a long time (which hydrates them). The ginger is very much to personal taste, so yes if it’s too much for you, it is a great idea to reduce next time! Happy cooking.