Moroccan Lamb & Egg Tagine

I can take no credit for this lamb and egg tagine recipe, its something my brother saw once and has adapted to his own taste. In my opinion, the best recipes are always the ones which are tried and tested and have been tweaked here and there over the years. When he made it a few weeks back I made him show me the ropes so that I could note it all down. The proper name (according to google) for this dish is Kefta Mkaoura and its incredibly simple to make and full of those Morrocan flavours.

Go on.. give it a try..

The quantities here are for 3 hungry people although it would stretch to 4 easily with a big salad and couscous on the side. Depends how greedy you are really!  Using mince also makes this lamb and egg tagine relatively budget-friendly – compared to something like a kleftico for example which uses more expensive cuts of meat.

Ingredients:

For the meatballs (makes 12):

• 500g lamb mince (the best you can afford – cheaper can sometimes be a bit fatty)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• Olive oil for frying
• 1 tsp chilli powder (or more to your taste)

For the tomato sauce: 

• 1 onion finely diced
• Thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 red chilli finely diced
• A large bay leaf
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• A couple of cassia bark pieces
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tin of plum tomatoes

To finish:

• Freshly chopped coriander
• 1 egg per person – I’m obsessed with Leicestershire Bitteswell Browns at the moment but any nice free range will do.

*You need a frying pan you can put into the oven/ under the grill – although you could make this in a tagine too if it can go on the hob!* 

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 200c / gas mark 6.
• Start with the meatballs. In a bowl, combine your mince and all the spices listed. Season and mix before rolling into 12 balls (around ping pong ball sized). Leave to one side.
• Fry the garlic, onion, chilli and ginger on a low heat for around 10 mins until soft. Add the cassia bark/cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Add the tomatoes and leave on a very low light.
• In a frying pan heat olive oil and add the meatballs (in batches if you have a small pan!). You want to brown them not burn them but don’t allow them to cook all the way through. Once they are browned all over, add to the tomato sauce and leave to cook through – this should take around 15 minutes.
• Make small dips in the tomato sauce with a spoon and crack in your raw eggs. Put into the oven and allow to cook for around 10 mins. This will mean your eggs are still runny but cooked underneath (trial and error in the past!).
• Serve with couscous or a large green salad. For the couscous here, I simply seasoned with half a vegetable stock cube (if its good enough for Tom Kerridge, its good enough for me!), salt and pepper and tossed in some frozen peas. Then added chopped fresh coriander before serving.

The finished thing: 

Last but never least – I’m entering this lamb and egg tagine into the blog link up – Simply Eggscellent – which is hosted by one of my all-time fave food bloggers Dom at Belleau Kitchen.  Blog link ups are a great place pick up lots of fab recipes and this one is dedicated to the humble egg! It’s my first time taking part in this one so please go and take a peek on the link above for more egg recipes.