Moroccan Lamb with Chickpea Bake

Every since my visit to Moroccan Soup Bar a few weeks ago, I have been craving the gorgeous chickpea and yogurt bake which I have since discovered is called 'fetteh'. To my delight, a fellow blogger has come up with a similar recipe which I made and tweaked a little the other night. It was a really easy and satisfying recipe to make, and a perfect accompaniment to the beautiful young lamb that I slow cooked in Moroccan spices for a do it yourself Moroccan dinner at home.

For the chickpea bake (fetteh) I followed this recipe. However, I substituted the olive oil for butter as when talking to the waitress at the Soup Bar when commenting how much I loved the dish she had replied, "Its the butter that makes it!". I also added a tablespoon of honey as per the comments at the bottom of the recipe which added a nice sweetness. The crunch of the slivered almonds and toasted pita adds a gorgeous crunch to the soft, yogurty chickpeas!

I served this with some slow cooked Moroccan lamb that I cooked in my tagine. This worked well with the chickpeas, but would also be beautiful with pilaf or couscous. I used the leftover lamb on homemade pita pizzas the next day which were beautiful. The beauty of leftovers ;)

 

Moroccan Lamb (serves 4 with leftovers)

 

 

1 kg of diced lean baby lamb
1 sweet potato chopped into 1-2 cm pieces
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 cup of beef stock
1 tablespoon honey
Large handful parsley chopped
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 140 degrees C.

In an oven safe frypan or tagine, over the stove heat a little oil and add lamb. Cook until lightly browned all over, then remove and set aside. Add to same pan onion and garlic. Saute until soft, then add all spices. Saute until coated. Add beef stock and honey, then re-add lamb and transfer to oven, covered, for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, add sweet potato and parsley, and place back in oven for 45 minutes.

I had to replace mine on the stove for 15 minutes to reduce the liquid.

Serve with chickpea bake as above, or pilaf, or couscous.

Enjoy!

Maybe even use your leftovers for a beautiful pizza like I did ;)