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Lamb shank tagine with tabbouleh

James Martin's Moroccan lamb shank tagine with Halal lamb: spiced shanks braised with tomatoes, honey, pomegranate molasses, saffron, apricots, olives and almonds, with a bulgur tabbouleh cooked in Halal or vegetable stock.

Moroccan · Main · Moderate · 4 plates · 190 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The tagine is 4 lamb shanks, which are Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, braised in chicken stock, with more chicken stock in the tabbouleh; bought chicken stock is a chicken product.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Lamb shanks: Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and lamb without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the shanks from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.
• Chicken stock (tagine and tabbouleh): Bought chicken stock is a chicken product, and the UK's mainstream stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or meat fat. Use a Halal-certified chicken stock or a vegan vegetable stock. See Stock cubes.

Ingredients

Tagine

• 1 tsp ras el hanout
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp smoked sweet paprika
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• 4 Halal lamb shanks
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, thickly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• ½ tsp saffron
• 350 ml Halal-certified chicken stock, or vegetable stock
• 125 g dried apricots, stoned and halved
• 110 g green olives, pitted
• 75 g whole almonds
• to taste salt and black pepper
• 2 preserved lemons, rind only, chopped, to serve

Tabbouleh

• 175 g bulgur wheat
• 350 ml Halal-certified chicken stock, or vegetable stock
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 100 g pistachios, roughly chopped
• 1 lemon, juice only
• 1 pomegranate, seeds only
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• small bunch each fresh flat-leaf parsley, coriander and mint, chopped
• to taste salt and black pepper

Method

1. Spice the shanks. Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Mix the ras el hanout, cinnamon, ginger, paprika, cumin, black pepper and turmeric in a bowl, add the lamb shanks and turn them to coat evenly.
2. Sear the shanks. Heat a large ovenproof pan until smoking hot, add 1 tbsp of the oil and sear the shanks on all sides for 2 to 3 minutes until golden-brown. Lift them out and set aside.
3. Build the tagine. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and fry the onion and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes until softened. Return the shanks and stir, then add the tomatoes, honey, pomegranate molasses, saffron, stock, apricots, olives and almonds, and bring to a simmer.
4. Braise. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours, or until the lamb is tender. Take off the lid and cook for 30 minutes more, until slightly thickened. Season to taste.
5. Cook the bulgur. Meanwhile, put the bulgur wheat in a pan with the stock and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer over a low heat for 8 to 10 minutes until tender, cooking a little longer if needed. Drain off any excess stock.
6. Make the tabbouleh. Let the bulgur cool slightly, then tip it into a bowl and mix in the red onion, pistachios, lemon juice, pomegranate seeds, olive oil and herbs. Season to taste.
7. Serve. Divide the tabbouleh between four plates, spoon the tagine alongside and scatter with the chopped preserved lemon.

Allergens

tree nuts (almonds, pistachios), gluten (bulgur wheat)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Food's 'Lamb shank tagine with tabbouleh' by James Martin, from Saturday Kitchen Best Bites, which calls it a Moroccan dish (serves 4; prepare less than 30 minutes, cook over 2 hours. Tagine: 1 tsp ras el hanout, ½ tsp each ground cinnamon, ginger, smoked sweet paprika and cumin, ¼ tsp each black pepper and turmeric rubbed over 4 lamb shanks; seared 2 to 3 minutes in 1 tbsp of the 3 tbsp olive oil; a thickly sliced onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves fried 2 to 3 minutes in the rest; a 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp runny honey, 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses, ½ tsp saffron, 350 ml chicken stock, 125 g halved dried apricots, 110 g pitted green olives and 75 g whole almonds added and brought to a simmer; covered and cooked 2 hours in a 160C oven, then 30 minutes uncovered; seasoned; 2 preserved lemons' chopped rind scattered over to serve. Tabbouleh: 175 g bulgur wheat simmered covered 8 to 10 minutes in 350 ml chicken stock and drained; a small chopped red onion, 100 g chopped pistachios, the juice of a lemon, the seeds of a pomegranate, 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and a small bunch each of chopped parsley, coriander and mint). The source's fourth step says to add the remaining tagine ingredients 'except for the coriander', which is not in the tagine list; its last step scatters the coriander and preserved lemon at serving, so we keep the preserved lemon back for that. We specified Halal lamb and a Halal-certified or vegetable stock. BBC Food gives no skill level; we rate it moderate. The source lists the cook time as over 2 hours; ours adds the 30 uncovered minutes and the searing. Nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: vegetables layered in a tagine before cooking, not the finished dish from this recipe.