Lamb Tagine With Almonds and Prunes

Hi my lovelies, for today's recipe I've made a lamb tagine with prunes and almonds. Being half Moroccan I've spent my life eating various different tagines so it was only right to share some on here. Normally this would be made with lamb shoulder and in an actual tagine pot but this lockdown has made those two things very hard to get! So, for now, we can use this method.

As always there's a video of me making this on my Instagram just to help you but its a very rough guide so refer to this when trying the recipe.

Notes:

• If you can get your hands on some lamb shoulder then I would definitely recommend that

• You can add other ingredients to the top of your tagine such as apricots and raisins and make them the same way we make the prunes

• When you've added the water to your meat and you are checking your meat, try the sauce. You may need to add more seasoning but be careful not to go crazy at this stage.

Ingredients:

Seasoning the lamb:

700g lamb

1 and 1/4 tsp of Ras el Hanout

1/2tsp ginger powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp cinnamon (when everything is in the pot)

2 tbsp honey (when the meat is nearly ready - optional)

For the Prunes:

1 packet of prunes

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp honey

2tbsp cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick

For the Almonds:

1 packet of bleached almonds

2 tbsp oil

Other ingredients:

2 onions or 1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

Handful of parsley

Procedure:

• Wash your lamb thoroughly and dry with kitchen paper

• Add all your seasoning apart from the cinnamon to your lamb and rub into the meat, leave to season for 4-24 hours, cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge (24 hours is best)

• Cut your onion into slices, chop your garlic and parsley finely

• Add oil to a deep pot and leave to heat up, once your pot is hot add the garlic, onion and parsley and fry for 3-4 minutes

• Add your meat into the pot and make sure you mix everything together nicely. At this stage, we just want to brown the meat so a few minutes will do.

• Add the cinnamon

• Once your meat is nicely browned, add about two glasses of water into the pot (this is dependant on the amount of meat you use and what meat you choose to go for, but essentially you want the meat to basically be covered, maybe just a bit less)

• Cover the pot and set to medium heat so that a nice thick sauce can be created and your meat will be nice and soft or if your using shoulder it should fall off the bone (this will take 1-2 hours)

• Check on your meat every so often and use a spoon to get the sauce and put it over the meat every time you check it. You may also need to add water but it depends on the amount of sauce you want.

• When your meat is nearly ready you can add more honey on the top for extra sweetness but its completely down to you. Start on the prunes and almonds

• Put your prunes in a bowl and boil enough water to cover them, pour into the bowl and set aside for 15 minutes

• Once your prunes have softened, add two tbsp of butter into a wok or a saucepan. Let the butter melt and with a ladle take some sauce out of your meat pot and mix into the butter.

• Add your prunes, two tablespoons of honey and two tablespoons of cinnamon. Cook until they create a nice thick sauce

• Whilst cooking your prunes add oil to a pan and let it get hot

• Add your almonds into the pan and brown them

Traditionally in Morocco, this meal would be served in one plate/the tagine pot and everyone will eat from that so you can either get a big plate or separate plates for everyone and assemble the meal:

The meat at the bottom and pour the sauce over it, followed by the prunes and then the almonds.

Serve with warm bread and enjoy! :)