Meat mains
Chicken (or lamb) and carrot tagine
Served with a pile of steaming couscous, this recipe makes an excellent family dinner. A tagine is a special cooking dish, wide and shallow with a conical lid. Unless you own a proper tagine, use the widest pan you have – an enamelled cast iron casserole dish would be good.
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken (or use 8 chicken portions) or 1kg stewing lamb
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp saffron threads
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1kg carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- a squeeze of lemon juice
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Cut the chicken into 8 pieces. If using lamb, dice into 4cm cubes. Place the meat, 1 chopped onion, all the spices, garlic, salt, oil and a couple of twists of pepper in a wide flameproof casserole or heavy saucepan.
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Step 2
Add enough water to just cover. Put on the lid, bring to the boil and simmer gently. After 50 minutes, or when the meat is almost cooked, add the remaining onion, carrots and 2 tablespoons each of parsley and coriander, and the honey.
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Step 3
Stir and continue simmering, uncovered, for a further 30-40 minutes until the liquid is reduced to a thick, syrupy sauce. Stir in a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Adjust seasonings and serve, sprinkled with the remaining parsley and coriander.
