Halal-conscious recipe
Slow cooker Moroccan lamb stew
Cassie Best's slow cooker Moroccan lamb stew with Halal lamb: browned shoulder with onion, garlic, ginger, warm spices, preserved lemon and Halal or vegetable stock, cooked low for hours and finished with honey, lemon and olives.
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 stew is 1 kg of diced lamb shoulder, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, slow-cooked in 600 ml of beef or lamb stock, which is a meat product.
Diced lamb shoulder is browned, then slow-cooked for six to eight hours with onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, saffron, preserved lemon, tomato purée and stock, and finished on high with honey, lemon and Kalamata olives. The source tags it Moroccan. Two things need a Halal source: the lamb, and the stock, for which a Halal-certified beef or lamb stock or a vegetable stock works (see stock cubes).
It follows Cassie Best's slow cooker Moroccan lamb stew for BBC Good Food, which serves six. After the browning and softening, the slow cooker does the rest.
Top with the herbs and serve with couscous or rice.
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.
- Beef or lamb stock Bought meat stock is a meat product, and the UK's mainstream stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or meat fat. Use a Halal-certified beef or lamb stock or a vegan vegetable stock. See Stock cubes.
Safe substitutes
- Lamb shoulder of unknown slaughter → 1 kg Halal diced lamb shoulder
- 600 ml beef or lamb stock → 600 ml Halal-certified beef or lamb stock, or vegetable stock
Allergens
none
Ingredients
Stew
- 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 kg Halal diced lamb shoulder
- 2 onions, halved and sliced
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and grated or finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch saffron (or turmeric, for colour)
- ½ large or 1 small preserved lemon, skin only, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 600 ml hot Halal-certified beef or lamb stock, or vegetable stock
To finish
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 lemon, zested, plus a squeeze of juice
- 80 g pitted Kalamata olives
- handful chopped mint, coriander or parsley (or a mix)
- to serve couscous or rice
Method
- Brown the lamb. Set the slow cooker to low. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and brown the lamb in batches, moving it to the slow cooker as you go.
- Soften the onions and spices. Add the rest of the oil and the onions to the pan and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and ginger for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the spices, preserved lemon and tomato purée and warm through.
- Slow-cook. Tip the onion mixture into the slow cooker, swirl a little water round the pan and add that too, then pour in the stock. Season, cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours until the meat is really tender.
- Finish. Turn the slow cooker up to high. Add the honey, lemon zest and juice and olives and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Serve. Top with the herbs and serve with couscous or rice.
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Slow cooker Moroccan lamb stew' by Cassie Best, tagged Moroccan (serves 6: the slow cooker set to low; 1 kg diced lamb shoulder browned in batches in 1 tbsp of 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil and moved to the slow cooker; 2 halved and sliced onions softened 8 to 10 minutes in the rest of the oil; 5 crushed garlic cloves and a thumb of grated ginger 1 to 2 minutes; 1 tbsp each ground cumin and coriander, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, a pinch of saffron (or turmeric), the finely chopped skin of half a large or 1 small preserved lemon and 1 tbsp tomato purée warmed through and added, the pan rinsed with a little water; 600 ml hot beef or lamb stock poured in, seasoned, covered and cooked 6 to 8 hours; then on high with 1 tbsp honey, the zest of a lemon and a squeeze of juice and 80 g pitted Kalamata olives 20 to 30 minutes; topped with a handful of chopped mint, coriander or parsley and served with couscous or rice). We specified Halal lamb and a Halal-certified or vegetable stock; the two published steps are split at their natural breaks. Nothing else needed changing. The cook time is the source's 9 hours. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Technique and ingredient sources
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Slow cooker Moroccan lamb stew — BBC Good Food
Retrieved:
By Cassie Best, tagged Moroccan. Serves 6, prep 10 minutes, cook 9 hours: lamb shoulder browned; onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, saffron, preserved lemon and tomato purée; cooked low 6 to 8 hours in stock; honey, lemon and olives 20 to 30 minutes on high; herbs to finish. We specified Halal lamb and stock.
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Tagine analysis — isithalal.food
Retrieved:
What to check in a tagine: the meat and the stock.