This Lamb tagine has been a family favourite since before we had children. When weaning I would make it without salt and with less spice so we could all enjoy it. Both children loved it from around 9 months and was often one of the meals they took to nursery to enjoy for lunch.
Tagine is traditionally cooked in an earthenware bowl with a cone shaped lid but we’re throwing this into a slow cooker for an easy one pot family friendly meal.
Lamb has become so expensive that this is now an occasional treat but in November Sainsburys have 50% off legs of Lamb. These are on the bone so it takes some effort to remove the meat but it's so worth it! you could also cook it on the bone if your slow cooker was big enough. Note that measurements are for the meat only.
We use Ras el Hanout (also from Sainsbury's) as the base for the spices but if you add enough to get the flavour it can get quite spicy which my children don’t like. We will also add a bit extra of the flavours from the Ras el Hanout separately which is Cumin, coriander, Paprika and cinnamon. This way we still get a tiny bit of heat and the rose petal flavour.
The ingredients below are for 1 family sized portion but I usually double up on this which can get quite full in the slow cooker.
Ingredients
600g lamb leg or shoulder - large diced pieces
1 medium onion – finely chopped
2-3 carrots chopped
1 small sweet potato cubed
Butternut squash cubed (similar volume and size cubes to the sweet potato)
1 tin chickpeas drained
1/2 tin tinned tomatoes
4-5 Soft dried apricots chopped
1 lamb stock cube / pot + 150ml boiling hot water
1 tblsp olive oil
For the marinade
2 tsp ras el Hanout spices
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground Cinnamon
Salt & black pepper
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
Squirt of honey
Method
place the lamb in a bowl and add all the spices, ginger, garlic and honey, salt and pepper. Mix everything together well and place in the fridge to marinade overnight or at least for a couple of hours.
Turn on the slow cooker and add the tinned tomatoes, drained chick peas, butternut squash, sweet potato and chopped dried apricots. mix and then leave covered whilst frying off the meat.
Heat a heavy pan and add half the olive oil and then add the onions and carrots. Allow to fry for a few minutes and then clear a space to add the spiced lamb. sear all sides of the lamb and then add the contents of the pan into the slow cooker.
Add the stock cube / pot to 150ml of boiled water and pour this over the meat. it won't look like there's much liquid in the cooker but lots of liquid will be released from the vegetables and meat.
Serve with cous cous.
This recipe can be doubled so you can enjoy 1 meal and store the other half in the Freezer as an easy dinner for another night. Our Nom Nom Reusable Freezer bags are the perfect size for freezing you batch cooked meals.
