A craving for slow cooked lamb and the discovery of a pack of Sami’s Kitchen Falafel Spice Blend in the pantry led to the creation of one of the best dishes I have ever cooked.
It all started on a Sunday afternoon trawling through the vast number of slow cooked lamb recipes on the Internet. I finally settled on a recipe, one of the ingredients was “Middle Eastern Spice Mix”.
I found myself writing down a list of ingredients so I could head to the shops and then checking the pantry to see what we already had. Oil, tin of tomatoes and…..a Middle Eastern Spice Mix! I forgot about Sami’s Kitchen Falafel Spice Blend I had been saving for something special. Today was the day.
Below is the adapted recipe from Taste.com.au. I basically replaced the Lamb Shanks with diced lamb as I didn’t like the look of the Shanks at the supermarket and used Sami’s Kitchen Falafel Spice Blend instead of another Middle Eastern Spice Mix. Instead of Poltena I used Couscous.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 400g diced Lamb (or Lamb Shanks)
- 2 red onions, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tablespoons Sami’s Kitcen Falafel Spice Blend
- 425g can crushed tomatoes
- 1.5 cups reduced-salt beef stock
- 400g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
- 100ml reduced-salt chicken stock
- 100ml water
- 200g couscous
- 1 lemon
Method
Preheat oven to 170°C. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add lamb. Cook until browned. Transfer to a crock pot.
Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, garlic, Sami’s Kitchen Falafel Spice Blend and remaining oil to frying pan. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Add tomatoes and beef stock. Bring to the boil. Pour over lamb. Cover dish tightly.
Place lamb in oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours. Stir in chickpeas. If dry, add a little bit of water. Cover and return to oven. Cook for a further 25 minutes or until lamb is tender. Remove from oven. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, bring the Chicken stock and water to the boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat. Add couscous and stir. Squeeze half a lemon into the saucepan and grind some lemon zest to taste. Place back on medium heat and continue to stir until ready. Remove from heat. Spoon couscous onto plates. Top with lamb and sauce and serve.
This created the most amazing dinner. It was fantastic. So good in fact, I forgot to take a photo for this blog post!!