These cookies with orange spice are ideal for the holidays. They appear unassuming on the outside, but as soon as you bite into them, incredible flavors start to emerge. After these, you won’t want to eat anything just to preserve that flavor. They are that excellent. You should give it a try to see.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter) (Optional)
- 1 pound lamb meat, cut into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground cardamom
- 2 onions, sliced
- 1 potato, peeled and sliced
- 1 pound eggplant, peeled and cubed
- 1 pound zucchini, thickly sliced
- 2 pounds tomatoes, cubed
- 1 green chile pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¼ cup water
- 6 cloves cloves garlic, crushed
- salt to taste
- 3 tablespoons dried mint
- 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter), melted (Optional)
Instructions
- Heat the ghee in a large pot over medium-high heat and stir in the lamb meat. Cook and stir until evenly browned. Season with allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cardamom and mix well.
- Place a layer of onion on top of the lamb in the pot, but do not stir. Top with layers of potato, eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes.
- Repeat the layers of vegetables until you have used them up, ending with tomatoes on top. Place the chile pepper in the center of the tomatoes. Season with salt. Dilute the tomato paste in the water, and pour it over the vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 hour, until vegetables are tender.
- With a mortar and pestle, crush together the garlic, a pinch of salt, and the dried mint. Mix with 2 tablespoons of liquid from the pot, and drop by spoonfuls over the vegetables in the pot, but do not stir. Simmer for 5 minutes more.
- Transfer the stew to a wide bowl or serving dish by gently tipping the pot and letting it slide out into the serving dish, while maintaining its layers. Sprinkle with ghee, if desired.
- Use freshly-ground spices and then store them in a tightly covered jar. I use 1 part ground allspice, 1 part ground cinnamon, 1/2 part ground cloves, and 1/2 part ground nutmeg. Measure in teaspoons, ounces, or grams. I use 2 to 3 teaspoons for this recipe.
- Serve with rice or coarse burghul made with vermicelli (shayariya). It is also very good with frikeh.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 174 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 21 g |
| Cholesterol | 35 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 54 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Smelled great but tasted so bland. I even doubled the spices as recommended in one review.
This is fabulous! I just tossed everything in the crockpot. Not authentic way to cook it but was delicious! I followed the recipe pretty close except I used a whole small can of tomato paste and about 3/4 cup water with beef bullion. I used regular butter, about 1-2 tablespoons, I would not omit that. Tasted even better the next day! We just had it with pita bread. I shared some with my daughter, she loved it too!
The lamb is tender but the flavor is just okay. I think it’s the garlic/mint in the end. Without, I think it would be really bland despite all the spices. It just isn’t a flavor I like. I made rice for it and it was better without. I love most flavorful Indian dishes but this just wasn’t great for me. I think possibly doubling the spices and not adding the mint/garlic in the end would be worth trying.
This was an awesome dish YUM ,I did however have to add more spices as it became watered down as the vegetables released there juices, Plus even better the next day when the flavors melded together . Would definitely make this again.
Absolute crowd pleaser! And I’m talking about a crowd that was brand new to any kind of Arabic food. I did make some modifications: I subbed unsalted butter for ghee (not readily available near me), after browning the lamb I put everything in a crockpot on low for 3-4 hours. I added cauliflower, raisins and cashews and doubled the spice mixture (as I hear others did). I added roughly 1 cup of chicken broth midway through cooking just because the slow cooking seemed to be drying the veggies out. It made the most delicious sauce! I served alongside lemon scented basmati rice (made with the peel of 2 lemons, 2 cups basmati, garlic and a handful of chopped cilantro) and it was divine. Thanks for posting this recipe, it’s now one of the family faves.
I followed the recipe exactly except I used butter and used a slow cooker and cooked it for 3 hrs. The flavor was awesome the aroma heavenly, I thought the vegetables were good my husband felt they weren’t cooked long enough.The lamb was tender and tasty. I browned the meat as directed in a skillet and then added it into the cooker.I de-glazed the skillet with the water and then mixed in the tomato paste,I poured it over the layers in the cooker covered tightly and let it cook.
This was very delicious! I wasn’t sure how I would like the eggplant in it because I usually don’t care for eggplant, but it was great. The only change I made was that I used a common Middle Eastern spice mix that I had in the cabinet instead of the individual spices. I made it on the stovetop as the recipe called for, but I’m pretty sure it would be just as great in the oven as well. Thanks for sharing.
This is one of the best dishes I’ve ever made. The mint really adds dimension. I followed the recipe exactly, except I skipped the chili pepper and didn’t bother to transfer it to a serving dish. I will definitely make this again!
Fabulous. The lamb was so tender. I was planning to have leftovers, but it was so good we ate the whole thing.
I sustituted canned Italian tomatoes for fresh,cut them up right in the can. This is a keeper! The lamb gets melt in your mouth tender. The aroma is fabulous! A bit tricky turning this out of the pot while retaining the layers (I failed). Different, easy, delicious.
The flavor was wonderful. I’m always trying to find ways to make things lower in fat so instead of using ghee, I cooked the lamb in chicken broth. I failed miserably at keeping the stew in layers. I couldn’t get the broth from the bottom to wash the extra spices down in the stew so I just stirred it all up. I also had 2 eggplants but no zuchini so I used all eggplant. It could have been a little spicier but since I make everything way spicy, I figured it was a welcome break for my family.
I give this recipe four stars because it is delicious, but i did add a few things: a dash of lemon juice, about 2 tbsp curry powder. I fried the lamb and eggplant on the stove, layered the whole thing in a casserole dish WITH one cup uncooked rice mixed with hot water, divided, and baked in oven at 425 for about an hour. TALK ABOUT YUM YUM YUM!!
This really didn’t work for me. I’m at a loss as to how so many wonderful ingredients can end up tasting so, well, bad. It smelled fabulous while cooking, but tasted flat. I might have done something wrong (not sure how, but possible) since I’m not familiar with Damascene dishes – I found this recipe looking for a dish to use up zucchini and lamb. Anyway, I won’t be making again.
This was absolutely delicious!! I used a larger quantity of spices and it turned out really well. I shall definately be making it again.
This stew has wonderful flavours, and I will definitely make it again, mainly because it so tasty and also because of it’s low fat content. I found it to be a bit watery, though, but I may have cooked it too long.