Moroccan Lamb Stew

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon cumin ground
• 1 teaspoon paprika ground
• 2 teaspoon turmeric ground
• 1 teaspoon allspice ground
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper dried ground - optional
• ½ teaspoon coriander
• 1 pound lamb ground - minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup apricots dried chopped (I never use this)
• 15 oz garbanzo beans (chickpeas) canned rinsed and drained
• 3 sticks whole cinnamon sticks or 2 teaspoon dried ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Handful of chopped cilantro optional garnish
• 2 cups cooked couscous or basmati rice
• three carrots diced (my addition)

Instructions

1. In a large deep-frying pan or Dutch oven, add olive oil chopped onion, carrots (if using), minced garlic, cumin, paprika, turmeric, allspice, cayenne pepper, coriander and sauté until translucent and aromatic about 1-2 minutes.
2. Add ground lamb and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat until the lamb browns. Drain any extra oil as desired.
3. Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, dried apricots, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cinnamon sticks and cook for about 20 minutes or until the flavors have had a change to mingle. Remove the cinnamon sticks.
4. Remove from heat. Add lemon zest and chopped cilantro and serve over a bed of cooked couscous or basmati rice. Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe can be doubled. To save money I will do 1lb ground lamb and 1lb ground beef. You can do it with all ground beef I’m sure but the lamb flavor really makes this dish. Ground goat is probably nice here too.