Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Moroccan Lamb Tagine is one of the most popular and delicious tagines in Morocco. You'll be overwheelmed with its taste. The various flavours of this tagine beautifully balanced with each other. The sweet and caramelised prunes work perfectly with the deep and richly spiced meat and onion sauce.

There are a lot of recipes of this tagine out there. We will start today with the Moroccan Lamb Tagine, then we will see the other ones .

Everyone should try this from time to time because it is divinely tasty and it will make your taste buds travel somewhere warm and colourful!

What Does the Moroccan Lamb Tagine Look Like after Cooking ?

INGREDIENTS FOR THE MOROCCAN LAMB TAGINE

Serves 4 to 6
Tagine

• 1.2 kg lamb shanks trimmed of excess fat (about 4 small or 3 large shanks) 
• 4 large onions (about 800 gr), chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (about 4 cloves)
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon saffron
• 1 large coriander bouquet, tied
• Toasted sesame seeds or chopped roasted almonds for garnish
• Caramelised prunes
• 300 gr soft dried prunes
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Now that you have the ingredients, here a step by step guide to prepare the Moroccan Lamb Tagine

1st Step

In a large casserole, heat the olive oil to medium high heat and brown the lamb shanks on each side. Make sure the pan is very hot before placing the meat in the pan, you should hear a sizzle when the meat touches the pan, if you don't, it means the pan is not warm enough. The meat will be naturally released once browned, don’t be tempted to flip it earlier. If you try to flip too early, you will notice that the meat sticks to the pan and you might damage it . Using tongs will help you to flip the meat on each side.

2nd Step

 Remove the browned lamb shanks from the pan and set aside. In the same casserole, place the onions and lower the heat to medium. Cover with a lid and leave the onions until they are soft and translucent, about 10 to 15 minutes. This will allow sweating the onions.

3rd Step

 Once you’ve sweated the onions, place the lamb shanks, the spices, the garlic, salt and pepper in the casserole. Cover with a lid. Pour a cup and half of water (320 ml) in the casserole and place the coriander bouquet on top of the meat. Bring to the boil and cover with a lid over medium low heat. Leave to simmer gently for 2 hours or until the meat is soft and separates easily from the bone.

4th Step

Halfway through cooking, after about 1 hour, reserve ½ cup of liquid from the casserole and set aside. At this stage, if it looks like there is almost no liquid left in the tagine, add a few tablespoons (or 1/4 a cup) of water in the casserole to avoid the tagine from drying out and sticking to the pan.

5th Step

Meanwhile, prepare the caramelized prunes. Transfer the prunes in boiling water for 5 minutes to soften them and drain. Then, in a small deep skillet, transfer the liquids you reserved earlier (½ cup) along with the drained prunes, cinnamon and honey over medium low heat. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.

6th Step

To serve, place the lamb shank and the onion sauce in a plate, arrange the prunes and the syrup (from the prunes) on top Garnish with toasted sesame seeds or chopped roasted almonds. Enjoy with a side of couscous or crusty bread.

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For More decorations, you can add boiled eggs, Friend Almonds as seen in the pictures above.
Now that you have prepared the Moroccan Lamb Tagine, Please tell us about your story and how it tastes after eating.
You can share ideas and you can ask us to prepare other Moroccan dishes for you to learn.