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Halal-conscious recipe

Lamb tagine with dates and sweet potatoes

Mary Cadogan's Moroccan lamb tagine for ten with Halal lamb: shoulder chunks browned with onion and ginger, simmered in spiced passata, then finished with sweet potatoes, dates, toasted almonds and coriander.

  • Cuisine Moroccan
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 10 portions
  • Time 2h 30m
  • Last updated

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.

Printable view
Green beans, carrots and potatoes layered in a metal tagine base, ready to cook
Photograph from our ingredient library: vegetables layered in a tagine before cooking, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Ridouan Red · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The tagine is 2 kg of boneless lamb shoulder, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal; the sauce is passata and water, with no stock.

Chunks of lamb shoulder are browned with onion and ginger, spiced with cumin, paprika, coriander and cinnamon, and simmered in passata and water until tender. Sweet potatoes go in for the last 20 minutes and dates for the last five, and the tagine is finished with toasted almonds and coriander. The sauce is made with water rather than stock, so the lamb is the one ingredient that needs a Halal source.

It follows Mary Cadogan's lamb tagine with dates and sweet potatoes for BBC Good Food, which serves ten. The source says it is one of those dishes that improves with keeping.

Scatter with the almonds and coriander just before serving.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Lamb shoulder 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 lamb from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.

Safe substitutes

  • Lamb shoulder of unknown slaughter → 2 kg Halal boneless lamb shoulder

Allergens

nuts (almonds)

Ingredients

Tagine

  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp fresh root ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 kg Halal boneless lamb shoulder, in 5 cm chunks
  • 4 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 850 ml passata
  • 800 ml water
  • 700 g sweet potato, in chunks
  • 350 g pitted dates

To finish

  • 100 g blanched almonds, toasted
  • good handful coriander, roughly chopped

Method

  1. Soften the onions. Heat the oil in a large, deep pan. Add the onions and fry gently until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger.
  2. Brown the lamb. Add the lamb in batches and fry on all sides until lightly coloured. Return all the meat to the pan, stir in the ground spices and cinnamon sticks and cook for 1 minute.
  3. Simmer. Add the passata and 800 ml water and bring to the boil, stirring. Season well, then cover and simmer for 1½ hours until the lamb is tender.
  4. Add the sweet potatoes and dates. Add the sweet potatoes, stir well, cover again and cook for 20 minutes or until just tender. Stir in the dates and heat through for 5 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
  5. Serve. Spoon the tagine into a serving dish and scatter with the almonds and coriander.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Lamb tagine with dates & sweet potatoes' by Mary Cadogan, tagged Moroccan (serves 10: 4 thinly sliced onions fried gently in 6 tbsp olive oil in a large, deep pan until soft, about 5 minutes; 2 tbsp finely chopped ginger stirred in; 2 kg boneless lamb shoulder in 5 cm chunks browned lightly in batches; 4 tsp ground cumin, 2 tsp each paprika and ground coriander and 2 cinnamon sticks cooked 1 minute; 850 ml passata and 800 ml water brought to the boil, seasoned, covered and simmered 1½ hours until tender; 700 g sweet potato chunks covered and cooked 20 minutes until just tender; 350 g pitted dates heated through 5 minutes; seasoned and scattered with 100 g toasted blanched almonds and a good handful of coriander). We specified Halal lamb shoulder; the first and last steps are each split at their natural break. Nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Lamb tagine with dates & sweet potatoes — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Mary Cadogan, tagged Moroccan. Serves 10, prep 30 minutes, cook 2 hours: onion, ginger and 2 kg lamb shoulder browned with cumin, paprika, coriander and cinnamon; simmered covered 1½ hours in passata and water; sweet potatoes 20 minutes, dates 5 minutes; almonds and coriander to finish. We specified Halal lamb.

  2. Tagine analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    What to check in a tagine: the meat and the stock.

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