Meat tagine with prunes, almonds and honey: the Moroccan celebration recipe

Meat with prunes is the tagine of celebrations and weddings in Morocco: meat slow-cooked until it falls apart, prunes glazed with honey and cinnamon, fried almonds and sesame. In this video we cooked it over charcoal in the countryside, with steamed seffa.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg lamb or beef
• 2 grated onions
• One spoon of ginger, half a spoon of pepper, a little saffron and salt
• One cinnamon stick, parsley and coriander
• 3 spoons of olive oil and one spoon of smen
• 300 g prunes
• 2 spoons of pure honey
• One spoon of ground cinnamon
• 100 g blanched fried almonds and toasted sesame to decorate

Method

1. Put the meat in the tagine or pot with the onion, spices, cinnamon stick, parsley, coriander, oil and smen, and brown for a few minutes.
2. Add water to cover and cook over low heat for about an hour and a half, until the meat is tender and the sauce thick.
3. Meanwhile, soak the prunes in hot water for half an hour.
4. Drain them and cook in a small pan with the honey, cinnamon and a little sauce until glazed and shiny.
5. On the serving dish, arrange the meat and sauce with the glazed prunes on top.
6. Decorate with fried almonds and sesame and serve hot with bread or seffa.

Which honey to use?

To keep the taste of prunes and cinnamon in front, use a mild honey such as orange blossom honey or wild herb honey. A strong honey like thyme masks the flavours. See the Moroccan honey guide.

See also

Quince and meat tagine and seffa medfouna with chicken.