Lamb, Butternut Squash and Date Tagine

5 from 4 votes

Lamb, Butternut Squash and Date Tagine

Incredible warming Moroccan spices make this healthy tagine perfect for chilly autumn and winter evenings. Serve with buckwheat for an extra health kick! (Serves 4-6, depending on appetite.)

Course Main Course

Cuisine Middle Eastern, North African

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 30

Servings people

Calories 401kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion sliced
2 cm ginger grated
3 garlic cloves grated or crushed
1 teaspoon chilli flakes or to taste
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
800 g lamb neck fillet cut into 2cm chunks
½ teaspoon salt
100 g medjool dates pitted and chopped
400 g tin chopped tomatoes plus half a can of water
500 g butternut squash chopped into 1cm cubes
400 g tin chickpeas drained
2 tablespoons fresh coriander plus extra for garnish
Buckwheat, couscous, flatbreads or rice to serve

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 160C / 140C fan / gas mark 3 / 325F.
Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large ovenproof saucepan or cast iron casserole dish. Add the sliced onion and cook on a gentle heat, with the lid on, for about 5 minutes, until the onions are softened but not brown.
Add the grated garlic and ginger, chilli, cumin, cinnamon and turmeric. Stir well and cook for 1 more minute with the lid off. Add a splash of water if it gets too dry.
Next add in the lamb chunks. Stir well to coat the meat in the onions and spices and then add the salt, chopped dates and tomatoes, plus about half the tomato can of water (roughly 200ml / a little less than 1 cup).
Bring the tagine to the boil and then put the lid on and put in your preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Thirty minutes before the end of the cooking time, add in the chopped butternut squash and drained chickpeas. Stir everything together, put the lid back on and return to the oven for the final 30 minutes of cooking.
When the tagine is ready, remove from the oven and stir through the chopped coriander. Serve with buckwheat, couscous, flatbreads or basmati rice.

Notes

If you don’t own an ovenproof saucepan or cast iron casserole dish, simply cook the tagine in a regular saucepan up until it has to go in the oven and then transfer the tagine into a regular lidded casserole dish before placing in the oven. Add on an extra 5 minutes cooking time to allow for the fact that the casserole dish will need extra time to heat up.
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition