This is the third installment in my Instant Pot Lamb adventures. My first experiment was a delicious Indian lamb curry with yogurt and coconut milk. For my second project , I took inspiration from Greek cuisine and made a comforting lamb stew with dill and artichokes, thickened with a lemon and egg sauce.
This time, I crossed the Mediterranean southbound to discover the flavours of Moroccan cuisine. I have never been to Morocco, nor been much exposed to its cuisine, save for a few couscous dishes with somewhat dubious ties to their traditions of origin.
I can, however, recall with nostalgia, the awe-inspiring Moorish architecture I ogled at throughout my travels in southern Spain, as well as the colours and aromas of the Moroccan Souk in the city of Granada, where I exchanged a blur of Spanish and French words with the shop vendors. Had I been gifted more time, I wouldn’t have hesitated to saunter over the Straits of Gibraltar to sample what lay on the other side. This was over 10 years ago now, but I still remember fondly the spicy tea blends that, buried deep inside my backpack, perfumed my weary, well-traveled outfits for the rest of my three months of backpacking through the European continent.
To put it less poetically, the tea blends are probably the only thing that kept my clothes, hand-washed in hostel sinks, from stinking horribly by the time I got to London.
Tajine Spices
Apricots, dates, and lemon zest
Green cardamom pods
I will not make the claim that my Instant Pot Lamb Tajine is in any way more traditional than those couscous dishes from my childhood. But I wanted to dive deeply into the unrestrained use of Souk spices, and to experiment with the pairing of meat and dried fruit. I wanted to create a meal rich with memories of distant places, and hopes for future travels.
Joëlle
Inspired by a stroll through a Moroccan souk in southern Spain a decade ago, this recipe attempts to recreate a snapshot of the aromas, tastes and colours that made an impression on me then, in a rich lamb tajine flavoured with apricots, dates and a rainbow of spices.
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Ingredients
- 1.5 lb stewing lamb
- Himalayan salt
- 1 tbsp tallow (or other cooking fat)
- 3 shallots, minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 small leek, sliced thinly (white part only)
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Pinch of saffron
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1/4 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup medjool dates, coarsely chopped
- Zest of one lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 cup bone broth
- 1/4 almonds, toasted and quartered lengthwise
- Fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Start by preparing all the ingredients for the tagine. If you don't have ground cardamom (I didn't), lightly pound a tablespoon of green cardamom pods in a mortar, break the pods open with your fingers and remove the seeds. Discard the pods and put the seeds back in the mortar, and pound them to a coarse powder.
- When all your ingredients are ready, sprinkle salt on the meat and set your Instant Pot to Saute mode.
- When hot, add a tablespoon of tallow and brown the lamb pieces on all sides. Place the browned meat on a plate and set it aside.
- With the Instant Pot still on Saute mode, add shallots, cook for 2-3 minutes, then add garlic, leeks and ginger and cook a few minutes more.
- Stir in the spices, tomatoes, apricots, dates, tomato paste, lemon zest, olive oil, honey and salt.
- Put the lamb pieces back into the liner, along with a cup of broth
- Press Cancel on the Instant Pot to turn it off, and screw on the lid. Making sure the Steam Release Handle is turned to the Sealing position, set the Pressure Cook program to cook for 40 minutes on high pressure.
- While the tajine is cooking, toast almonds and slice them lengthwise into quarters. Prepare a small bowl of fresh cilantro leaves.
- Let the Instant Pot do a natural release, and take the lid off.
- Taste, and add more salt if necessary.
- Sprinkle with toasted almonds and cilantro leaves and serve with riced broccoli or cauliflower or steamed kale.
