Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine Recipe

COOK meals are perfect for when you fancy a night off cooking … something even the most passionate home cook needs now and again. But how do our prices compare with making it yourself?

We followed our recipe for two for Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine Sauce at home and found it was more expensive getting the ingredients from the supermarket.

We based this on checking Sainsbury’s online ingredient prices in October 22 and now we have updated to most recent prices in February 22, for a two portion recipe. We didn't include ingredients we had in the fridge or kitchen cupboard (including any alcohol) and used the smallest available amounts of what we needed.

Our shopping list for the recipe below included:  leg of lamb, cayenne pepper, black cardamom, ras el hanout, pitted prunes, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, chickpeas, lamb stock, cinnamon stick and flaked almonds. Everything else we had already.

If you'd prefer to make it yourself, our recipe for a 2 portion is below.  As freezer connoisseurs we'd always recommend batch cooking for the absolute best value recipe - scroll to the end for some tips.

Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 medium onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 280g leg of lamb, diced
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp black cardamom
• 1 tsp ras el hanout
• 6 pitted prunes, chopped
• 200g chopped tomatoes
• 2 tsp tomatoe puree
• 100g chickpeas
• 225ml lamb stock
• 180ml water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried mint
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 cinnamon stick
• salt to taste
• flaked almonds, to serve

Method: 

STEP 1. Heat the rapeseed oil in a non-stick pan with a lid. Add the diced lamb and brown the meat. Remove the meat and put to one side. Turn down the heat and add the finely chopped onion and garlic to the pan. Cook gently until soft (but not browned).

STEP 2. Measure out the spices and add to the pan. Cook over a low heat for 20mins, stirring regularly to prevent sticking. Then add the chopped prunes, tomatoes, tomato puree, chickpeas, lamb stock, water, sugar, bay leaf, mint, cinnamon stick, cornflour and a pinch of salt. Return the lamb to the pan and and give it a good stir.

STEP 3. Cover and simmer over a low heat for two hours - or cook in the oven at 150°C / GM 2 - until the meat is lovely and tender, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add a splash of water if it looks dry. Fish out the cinnamon stick and bay leaf and garnish with flaked almonds before serving.

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