Tagine of Lamb with Prunes and Honey
Ingredients
1kg Lamb cut into pieces
5tbsp olive oil
Pinch salt
1 finely sliced onion
pinch ginger
bouquet coriander
pinch saffron powder
1 cinnamon stick
450g prunes
5tbsp honey
1tbsp sesame seeds
1tsp orange-flower water
Method
In a tagine, place lamb, olive oil, pinch salt, onion, ginger, coriander, saffron and cinnamon. Cover with water, put on the lid and simmer over very low heat for 2 hours. When the meat is cooked, take off the lid and allow the sauce to reduce and thicken. Remove the coriander, meat and cinnamon. Add prunes to sauce and cook for a further 20 minutes. Then pour in honey and simmer for a further 10 minutes. In a frying pan, brown 1tbsp sesame seeds. Return the meat to the tajine along with 1tsp orange-flower water. Replace the lid, reheat and serve very hot. Just before serving sprinkle with fried sesame seeds.
The Berbers are the indigenous peoples from west of the Nile Valley. They speak their own Afro-Asiatic language and have an ancestry and heritage that is mystifying and rich.
They call themselves 'Imazighen', which means free and noble people. Their existence dates back to around 6000BC. At the peak of their existence, they governed the kingdom of Numidia in present day Algeria and Tunisia.
Under the Umayyad dynasty the Berber land was occupied and its people forced to adopt new islamic ideas and practices. The Berbers were heavily taxed and enslaved to the Arabs. This persisted until 740 when the Berber people revolted against the Umayyad dynasty and formed their own territories.
In the 11th Century the Berber civilization was reduced to a few coastal towns by the arrival of Banu Hilal of the Fatimid dynasty who arrived to punish the Berber for abandoning Shiism. Over time the region became arabized. and the Berber absorbed the arabic language and tradition.
The Berber today live across half of Morocco, Algeria and also in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Mauritania.
They call themselves 'Imazighen', which means free and noble people. Their existence dates back to around 6000BC. At the peak of their existence, they governed the kingdom of Numidia in present day Algeria and Tunisia.
Under the Umayyad dynasty the Berber land was occupied and its people forced to adopt new islamic ideas and practices. The Berbers were heavily taxed and enslaved to the Arabs. This persisted until 740 when the Berber people revolted against the Umayyad dynasty and formed their own territories.
In the 11th Century the Berber civilization was reduced to a few coastal towns by the arrival of Banu Hilal of the Fatimid dynasty who arrived to punish the Berber for abandoning Shiism. Over time the region became arabized. and the Berber absorbed the arabic language and tradition.
The Berber today live across half of Morocco, Algeria and also in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Mauritania.