The lamb tajine cook off: The Hairy Dieter’s take

After The Spicery and The Laughing Lemmon, now is the turn of the Hairy Dieters. Again, the same basic ingredients:  lamb, spices and fruits. But, it also had chickpeas and tinned tomatoes.  And it was sweet. Very sweet… probably one spoon of honey  too much for my taste buds.  All in all, it was delicious and filling. In fact, a lot more heavy than the other version even though it had much less fat. Don’t take me wrong – it was delicious. It is the comparison with the Laughing Lemnon’s which it makes it sound like a bit pedestrian.

Lamb tajine (adapted from Dave Myers and Si King’s The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight)

• 750gm lamb shoulder
• 2tsp ground cumin
• 2tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 medium onions halved and sliced
• 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
• 400gm can chopped tomatoes
• 400mls cold water
• 3tbsp runny honey
• 400g tin of chick peas drained and rinsed
• 1 lamb stock cube
• 75gm no soak apricots,halved
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Trim the lamb of any hard fat and cut into rough 3cm chunks, season all over with salt and pepper.

Mix the cumin, coriander, cinnamon and chilli in a bowl.

Heat oil in the tajine until is piping hot. Add the lamb, onions and garlic and stir fry over a high heat for 1 minute until lightly coloured.

Sprinkle with the spices and cook for 1-2 mins more, tossing constantly until you have a fragrant aroma. Tip the tomatoes into the casserole dish, together with the cold water,  honey  and chickpeas. Add the stock cube over the top and stir well.

Bring to a simmer, stirring couple of times. Cover with the lid and let cook with low heat for 60min. Open the lid and drop in the dried fruits and still well. Put back the lid and let it cook for another hour, or until the lamb is tender.