I do enjoy a good tagine; slow cooked tender meat which melts in your mouth with gentle spice coming from ground cumin, coriander & chilli, sweetness from sweet apricots & sweet potato, fragrance from grated lemon zest & freshness provided by a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley. This recipe uses ground chia seeds & a handful of lentils to help thicken the sauce.
As this takes a long time in the oven to cook, I usually make a second slow-cook dish at the same time or bake some treats to make use of the oven. This dish freezes beautifully, making it ideal for batch cooking.
Preparation time: 25-30mins (most time is taken in trimming the fat off the lamb)
Cooking time: 1 hr 45 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
700g lean lamb with fat trimmed off (lamb steaks, leg neck fillet) all work well
2 red onions
3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
2.5 tsp ground coriander
2.5tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes or chilli powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional; I am not keen on cinnamon)
1 can (400g) of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp runny honey
600ml stock. I use boullion powder
350g sweet potatoes chunks (approx. 2.5cm)
60g dried apricots sliced into slithers
4 tbsp ground chia seeds
3 tbsp red lentils
2.5 tsp ground coriander
2.5tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes or chilli powder
salt & pepper
To serve: Handful of fresh parsley & grated lemon zest to garnish, blob of Greek yoghurt
Method:
Dice the lamb into approximately 3cm chunks
Preheat the oven to 160ºC.
Brown the lamb, garlic & onions ideally in a casserole dish with a little coconut spray oil. If you do not have a casserole dish or cannot accommodate a second one in your oven, a deep oven tray with works with foil covering the top.
Add the spices & stir for a further 2 mins, but do not let the spices burn otherwise they will impart a bitter flavour to this dish.
Add the canned tomatoes, lentils & stock. Stir. Then add the honey & chickpeas. Bring to a boil. Then place the casserole lid/ foil lid back on on & cook in the oven for 1 hour.
Add the sweet potato chunks & apricot slithers. Put back in the oven & cook for a further 35 mins.
Then add the ground chia seeds, mix & cook for a further 10-15 mins until the lamb is very tender & the sauce thickened up.
To serve: with freshly chopped parsley & lemon zest with steamed greens & a blob of Greek yoghurt.
Don’t forget you can find my favourite recipes in my FREE eBook here.
