In The Kitchen With Kanta : Lamb casserole

Today’s recipe is a simple but delicious Lamb casserole.  Lamb is great when it is cooked correctly – it should be soft and tender and literally fall off the bone. Lamb is one of my favourite meats, it can be cooked in so many different ways and today I’m sharing this lovely, slightly sweet, lamb casserole with you.   It needs to be slow cooked to ensure that the lamb is meltingly tender; and does require some preparation the night before, but this will only enhance the flavours, so why not?  But don’t despair, the cooking part is easy, all that you have to do is combine the ingredients and let your oven do the rest.  You can literally sit back with a glass of wine and wait for the casserole to cook to perfection.

Once the lamb is tender and the gravy thickens you can enjoy it with couscous, rice or potatoes and even nshima, if you wish.  If you are not so keen on the sweet taste simply forgo all the sweet condiments, including the apricots, dates and raisins or sultanas.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1½ tbsp paprika
• 1½ tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1kg of lamb, trimmed and cut into chunks
• 2 large onions, grated
• 4 tbsps olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 115g dried apricots, cut in half (optional)
• 55g dates, cut in half (optional)
• 55g sultanas or raisins (optional)
• 600ml lamb stock, or any other meat stock
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 2 tbsps coriander, roughly chopped (optional)
• 2 tbsps parsley, roughly chopped (optional)

Method

1. Place all the spices in a small bowl and mix them to combine them. Place the lamb pieces in a large bowl and toss them together with half of the spice mix. Cover and leave them overnight in the fridge.
2. The next day preheat the oven to 150 ?C/300 ?F/Gas2.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Add the grated onion and the remaining spice mix and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes so that the onions are soft. Add the crushed garlic for the final 3 minutes.  Then add the onion mixture to a casserole dish.
4. In a separate frying pan, heat the remaining olive oil and brown the cubes of lamb then add the browned meat to the casserole dish.
5. Add the tinned tomatoes, apricots, dates, and raisins or sultanas, lamb stock and honey to the casserole dish; cover with a fitted lid, place in the oven and cook for 2-2½ hours or until the meat is beautifully tender.

Serving

You can serve the lamb in the casserole dish and sprinkle the chopped herbs over the top for decoration.  Enjoy this gorgeous slightly sweet lamb casserole with freshly cooked rice and a glass of wine.

Kanta Temba is a cake maker and decorator. She is also the owner and founder of Kanta Kakes – cake shop.

You can find her work on www.kantakakes.com.  Follow her on twitter @KantaKakes and Instagram @KantaTemba.