By cooking the lamb until it is soft, it becomes mellow, and the warm spices mask any excessively “lamby” flavor. The mix of the apricots, cilantro, and pine nuts is delicious. For a stew with such nuanced flavors, this one required surprisingly little time or work. This would go well with crusty toast, over couscous, or as part of a heartier dish with chickpeas.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups finely chopped onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
- 2 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 cup dried apricots, halved
- 2 (3 inch) orange peel strips
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
Instructions
- Combine lamb, coriander, cumin, paprika, cayenne, cardamom, turmeric, and salt in a large bowl; toss together until lamb is evenly coated.
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or tagine over medium heat. Add onions; cook, stirring occasionally until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, ginger, and cinnamon; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add seasoned lamb; cook, stirring frequently until light brown, being careful not to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until the lamb is just tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Stir in apricots, orange peels, and honey; continue to simmer over low heat, uncovered, until the liquid has thickened slightly and lamb is fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, discard cinnamon sticks and orange peels.
- Divide evenly among 4 bowls. Garnish each bowl with a tablespoon each of cilantro and pine nuts.
- I used olive oil for the fat in this recipe but ghee is also used commonly used.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 553 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 41 g |
| Cholesterol | 126 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 45 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 1130 mg |
| Sugars | 26 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This recipe is AMAZING. My family loves it as much as I do. It has a very unusual flavor. Unique maybe because we don’t have Moroccan cousins? (IDK). But the multitude of spices, oy vey! I had to buy $30 worth of spices I did not have – much to my wife’s chagrin. I like lamb, but the lamby taste is replaced by piquancy of the spices and apricot. It’s wonderful.
Really fabulous. I added carrots and chickpeas. It was a hit
The recipe is fantastic. I made it a couple times with addition to adding veggies.. At the last 30 minutes I put in 1 bunch of cut up kale, zucchini, can gabonzo beans, red bell pepper and diced sweet potato. It was more filling of a stew.
I made this tonight for my 84 yr old Mom and brother as well as myself. It was awesome! Followed the recipe as written. Great flavour and I got to use some spices I never have before. I made couscous as well with this dish, very nice. I will make this again.