Rating
5(1,506)
Notes
Read community notes

Traveling in Morocco 30-some years ago, I had eaten tagines — stews distinguished by being cooked in the pot of the same name — that I did not recall as involving any browning.

This method is described as “starting the tagine cold.” It involves heating the lamb gently along with spices and other aromatics, allowing the flavors to fully penetrate the meat. At that point it is covered and cooked until tender.

When I tried the “cold start” approach, substituting a low heating of the lamb with aromatics and a little butter for the usual hard sear in olive oil, it worked like (well, kind of like) magic. The overall flavor of the dish was less robust than one that began with browning, but it was equally flavorful, in a gentler way.

Featured in: Deep Flavor, No Browning Required

  • 2pounds lamb shoulder
  • 2tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1small onion, grated (about ⅓ cup)
  • 4cloves garlic, minced
  • 1teaspoon black pepper
  • 1teaspoon salt
  • 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • ¼cup apricot preserves
  • ⅓cup red wine vinegar
  • 120-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2cups chicken stock
  • ¼cup raisins
  • ¼cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 2tablespoons lemon juice
  • Cooked couscous, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide

  1. Trim excess fat from the lamb and cut into 1-inch cubes.

  2. In a Dutch oven or other large, heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the lamb, onion, garlic, pepper, salt, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, red pepper flakes, apricot preserves and vinegar and cook, stirring frequently, until the aroma of the spices is strong, about 5 to 7 minutes. (Do not allow the meat to brown.)

  3. Add chickpeas and stock, bring just to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently until the lamb is very tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

  4. Add the raisins and continue to cook, uncovered, until they are nicely plumped, about 10 minutes more. Remove from heat, stir in the parsley and lemon juice, and serve with couscous.

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Great recipe but 1.5 hours is no where near enough time to make the lamb tender enough to create "ohs and ahs". We had a Saturday night party - I cooked the lamb for 2 hours on a low boiling simmer on Friday night and let cool overnight. I put the dish (uncovered) in a 200 degree oven for 10 hours on Saturday. One probably doesn't need to cook it that long, but I will say that it was the most tender lamb I've ever had. I'd definitely make it again, and cook it low and slow for a few hours.

Another way to serve this delicious lamb stew is over rice served the Lebanese way: break up a bit of angel hair pasta into little pieces and saute in butter until they turn brown, add rice and saute a bit and then add water and proceed cooking. It's delicious served with stews.

Used olive oil for the butter, diced dried apricots instead of preserves, added a cup of green lentils and an extra cup of chicken stock. Transcendant!

Put the onion in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before you grate it. You'll thank me later.

Did this all in my instant pot. Dry un-soaked chick peas. Sautéed in instant pot, added chick peas and stock, capped it and pressure cooked for 45 minutes. Took off lid, added raisins and dried apricots and brought to a boil right in the instant pot for about 3 minutes while it thickened up a bit. Delicious.

Excellent dish! Made this stew with a few variations: subbed chopped dried apricots for the preserves (added with the stock) as well as for the raisins (added at end as directed) and added carrots and parsnips (45 min into the cooking time). As other reviewers noted, needs at least an extra 30-45 mins for the lamb to be really tender. This was a big hit and I will definitely be making again!

Season lamb with salt & pepper. Brown lamb in Dutch oven in oil over medium-high heat, ~10 mins total, transfer to a plate. Drain fat if necessary, leaving just enough to coat the pan. Reduce heat, add onions and some salt, cook until soft, about 5-8 minutes (maybe less if this onion is grated). Add spices and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker. Add lamb, apricots and stock. Cook on LOW for 8 hrs.

I personally think that using chopped dried apricot makes for a better dish than using apricot preserves. There is already plenty of sweetness to the dish already without adding the extra sugar from the preserves. I'm also lucky to have a great source for Iranian sangak bread here in San Diego and it was a perfect medium for eating this wonderful stew!

Helped to coat the lamb bits in flour first, thickens the sauce nicely

The flavors in this dish were phenomenal — the vinegar and heat from the chile flakes especially. I used currants instead of raisins since that's what I had handy. Next time, I might use half the stock or add an extra pound of lamb so the leftovers aren't as thin.

Outstanding. I made this according to the recipe (maybe a little heavy handed on the spices). The lamb was not fall apart tended after 2.5 hours but was delicious... but perhaps too spicy for some tastes. Ate it again the next day, reheated a portion in the microwave and the lamb was very tender and the spices had mellowed. I'm making this in a couple of months for a group of 8 and will cook it the day before (simmer 2 - 3 hours) and then reheat in a low oven the next day for several hours.

It would be great to have an instant pot update of this recipe!

Great recipe!Double the onions. Use quality Apricot preserves.1/2 cup good white wine. High quality red wine vinegar.Grass Fed Lamb Shoulder chops best. Trimmed of fat.Add: Chopped carrots, with twenty minutes to go. Not much. For color. Frozen peas, with 5 minutes to go. Subtle.Finish: Mushrooms salted in garlic buter. Chopped parsley.Wine: Good Pinot Noir, slightly chilled.

Love your honey!

Why wouldn't a slow cooker be the way to go?

Thanks for your comment. This is why I decided to put it all in a crock pot, which worked really well.

This was great, but I did take a LOT of leeway. I used carrots instead of raisins and apricots. I also used my tagine instead of a regular American pot.

I used a prechopped frozen lamb stew meat I get from my grocery delivery and it was perfect following the recipe. I followed it exactly and it's definitely one of the most delicious things I've made and will certainly come back to it.

Followed recipe as published but cooked in an instant pot for 50 minutes. Substituted the cooked chickpeas for dried. First time I tried it, I only did 40 mins in the pressure cooker, and the chickpeas were still a little hard. Added an extra 10 mins of pressure and they were perfect.

I made the recipe exactly as written and it was delicious! Over couscous it was superb. The lamb was tender after an hour, so I’m not sure why others are needing to cook it all day.

Loved this recipe, it got so many compliments and I wish I had more leftovers. I doubled the spices because I like more spice-forward flavor and added some spinach at the end for more veggies. Chefs kiss!

It's below zero in Minnesota and I was looking for something warm that didn't require me to go to the store, so made a few adjustments. Used a ceramic tagine and 1lb of lamb (only 2 people, used 1c broth). Had an open jar of hot mango chutney in the fridge, so used that instead of the preserves. Didn't have chickpeas on hand, so added some sweet potato. Let simmer for about 3.5 hours. Served over couscous with warm, crusty bread and a Russian River Valey Pinot Noir. Absolutely delicious.

Delicious flavors! I added some cubed eggplant and sweet potato ( had both on hand) which worked really well. May try dried apricots next. I agree that the recommended cooking time is not quite enough.

Need to cook longer. Eg 2 hours. Used apricots instead of jam. Added a little tomato paste

Served on top of leftover mashed potatoes- divine!!

I spent time today trimming 2 lamb shoulders to make stew meat. Note: the actual meat yield from a lamb shoulder will be 25-30% less than the untrimmed shoulder weight. I noticed that the shoulder contains a lot of connective tissue and fat. There is no way this lamb will be tender in less than 5-6 hours simmering. If you use leaner meat from the leg or loin, you'll have a nice tagine in the time allotted in this recipe, but shoulder? Nope.

Added preserved lemon for a nice flavor bomb punch.

Great flavors in the sauce - sweet no tabgy. The lamb was bland and did not absorb any of the yummy sauce, so I am a bit on the fence

I cheated with a couple of tablespoons of Vik's Madras Curry Paste instead of the spices and apricots but, man oh man, was this delicious! Also, I can only afford local lamb when it's leftover bone-in pieces. I just cook till the meat falls off, then toss the bones. Sooo good!

Followed notes on cooking it in the Instapot. 45 minutes with unsoaked chickpeas was too little; added 15 and that was too much. Meat was shredded, but the chickpeas were done. Skipped the apricot jam and added diced apricots, raisins, and a handful of chopped Swiss chard at the end and simmered. Added parsley. Yum.

Made as directed, except skipped the cinnamon butter at the end and added 3/4 c dried chickpeas. Way too sweet with the quantity of apricots listed. Also too much cinnamon. Would not make again.

Private notes are only visible to you.