Moroccan tajine lamb with vegetables

What exactly is Tajine?

Tajine is actually a pot, but of an unusual shape. It’s like a cone and it has a clay base. It is a pot used for cooking underground in North Africa and it originates from Berber cuisine.

Today we have two versions of tajine – glazed and unglazed…and the iron one, of course.

Unfortunately, I don’t have tajine, but I set my mind on buying it 🙂

Today, you can find the word tajine in many recipes even though that specific pot is not used during preparation.

So, I will use this term to illustrate this Moroccan dish to you.

Tajine, that is, lamb with vegetables

You need lamb (if you don’t have lamb, you can use anything else besides pork). I mean, you can use pork as well, but it will no longer be a Moroccan dish.

Then, green beans, tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, lemon, cinnamon, olive oil, ground hot pepper and fresh red hot pepper, turmeric, salt, pepper, a little bit of water and 45 minutes of your time.

Lamb with vegetables preparation

My advice is to prepare everything first, put it on your worktop and then just add to the pan and cook in order.

So, remove the pedicel of the tomato, then blanch it in boiling water for about 10 seconds. Not more than that, so as not to overcook it. Then peel away the skins and cut it into bigger chunks. Leave it aside to wait for its turn.

Clean the onion and garlic and cut them. I cut the onion into sheets and garlic the brunoise way  (cubes up to 2mm of size). Do brunoise cut for ginger and hot pepper as well.

I finely chopped coriander, and used cinnamon and turmeric powder.

I added a bit of ground pepper.

I put salt and pepper directly from the grinder.

I cut the lamb into 1,5 cm cubes.

Olive oil

Meat

I put just a little bit of olive oil into the pan because I didn’t want to remove the excess fat from the meat because of the flavour.

I heated up the pan and baked the meat on each side so that it gets its golden crust. Then I took it out and put the vegetables into the same pan.

Vegetables

First braise onion, garlic, hot pepper and ginger for 5 minutes, and then add tomato and green beans, along with the meat and its juices.

Spices

Now it’s time for all the spices: cinnamon, turmeric, salt, pepper, ground pepper. If you don’t really like it hot, pay attention not to put too much spice. Put a teaspoon of lemon juice and a little bit of water. Cover and leave to cook for about 30 minutes at medium temperature. All that’s left is to serve it.

Serving

Put into a plate along with the juice-sauce, and chop a bit more hot pepper and fresh coriander on top.

Lamb with green beans can also be combined with mashed potatoes, rice or you can soften it with sour cream if it’s too spicy.

An additional advice

If you are lucky and you have tajine, put this lamb with vegetables in it, and then into the oven at 160°C for about an hour, that is, until the green beans are cooked and the meat is soft.