Halal-conscious recipe
Persian lamb tagine with Halal lamb
Justine Pattison's Persian lamb tagine for ten: Halal lamb neck fillet braised with cumin, coriander, saffron, cinnamon and preserved lemon, then apricots, dates and pistachios, finished with rosewater.
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.
Photo: Ridouan Red · CC BY-SA 4.0
Why Halal checks matter here
The tagine is made with 2 kg of lamb neck fillet, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal.
This big-batch tagine braises chunks of lamb neck fillet in the oven with onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, chilli, turmeric, saffron, cinnamon and preserved lemon, then adds dried apricots, dates and pistachios for the last half hour. A little cornflour mixed with rosewater thickens the sauce at the end. It is cooked in water rather than stock, so the lamb is the only thing to check: it needs to come from a Halal butcher or a certified pack.
It follows Justine Pattison's Persian lamb tagine for BBC Good Food, which serves ten. She notes that the cornflour isn't traditional but helps the tagine freeze well.
Serve it with couscous or basmati rice, with chopped pistachios and coriander on top.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Lamb neck fillet 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 neck fillet of unknown slaughter → Halal lamb neck fillet
Allergens
nuts (pistachios)
Ingredients
Tagine
- 2 kg Halal lamb neck fillets
- 5 tbsp mild olive oil or sunflower oil
- 3 medium onions, cut into thin wedges
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 tsp ground cumin
- 4 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp hot chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp flaked sea salt
- 1.5 litres water
- large pinch saffron
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 preserved lemons from a jar, drained and cut into thin wedges
To finish
- 300 g ready-to-eat dried apricots
- 250 g ready-to-eat dried pitted dates
- 100 g shelled pistachios
- 2 tsp rosewater
- 25 g cornflour
- small bunch coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- to serve cooked couscous or basmati rice
Method
- Brown the lamb. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas 4). Trim the lamb of any hard fat, cut it into chunks and season all over. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large flameproof casserole and brown the lamb in 3 or 4 batches over a high heat for 1 to 2 minutes until lightly coloured, adding 1 tbsp more oil between batches and moving each batch to a bowl.
- Build the braise. Heat the rest of the oil in the same dish over a medium heat and fry the onions for 5 minutes until softened and lightly coloured. Stir in the garlic, cumin, coriander, chilli powder, turmeric, pepper and salt and cook for 1 minute. Return the lamb with 1.5 litres of water, the saffron, cinnamon and preserved lemons. Bring to a simmer, stirring a few times, then cover and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
- Add the fruit. Take the dish out of the oven and stir in the apricots, dates and half the pistachios. Cover and return to the oven for 30 minutes more, until the lamb is very tender.
- Thicken and serve. Move the dish to the hob and adjust the seasoning. Mix the cornflour with the rosewater and 3 tbsp cold water, stir it in and cook over a medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until the sauce thickens. Chop the rest of the pistachios and scatter them over with the coriander. Serve with couscous or rice.
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Persian lamb tagine' by Justine Pattison (serves 10: oven at 180°C (160°C fan, gas 4); 2 kg lamb neck fillets trimmed of hard fat, cut into chunks, seasoned and browned in 3 or 4 batches over a high heat 1 to 2 minutes each, with 1 tbsp of 5 tbsp mild olive or sunflower oil per batch; 3 medium onions in thin wedges fried 5 minutes in the rest of the oil; 4 chopped garlic cloves, 4 tsp each ground cumin and coriander, 1 tsp each hot chilli powder and ground turmeric, 1 tsp ground black pepper and 1 tsp flaked sea salt cooked 1 minute; the lamb returned with 1.5 litres water, a large pinch of saffron, 2 cinnamon sticks and 2 drained preserved lemons in thin wedges, brought to a simmer, covered and cooked in the oven 1 hour; 300 g ready-to-eat dried apricots, 250 g pitted dates and half of 100 g shelled pistachios stirred in and cooked 30 minutes more until very tender; on the hob, 25 g cornflour mixed with 2 tsp rosewater and 3 tbsp cold water stirred in and cooked 1 to 2 minutes to thicken (the source notes this isn't traditional but helps it freeze); the rest of the pistachios chopped and scattered over with a small bunch of chopped coriander; served with couscous or basmati rice). We specified Halal lamb; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Technique and ingredient sources
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Persian lamb tagine — BBC Good Food
Retrieved:
By Justine Pattison. Serves 10, prep 25 minutes, cook 1 hour 50 minutes: browned lamb neck braised in the oven 1 hour with spices, saffron, cinnamon and preserved lemon, then 30 minutes more with apricots, dates and pistachios, thickened with cornflour and rosewater. We specified Halal lamb.
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Tagine analysis — isithalal.food
Retrieved:
What to check in a tagine: the meat and the stock.