Spiced lamb and bean stew
I love Middle-Eastern slow-cooked lamb stews but I didn’t have any chickpeas in my larder so I decided to use beans instead and add some wine to create a more Mediterranean-style stew. My Spiced lamb and bean stew turned out to be rather delicious! I served it with steamed rice but some lovely fresh flatbread would go with it too. If you’d prefer a traditional version – use chickpeas instead of beans, spinach and no wine!
Ingredients
Method
- Cut the lamb into bite-sized chunks. Season with salt.
- Finely slice the onion and garlic.
- Heat a Tbspful of oil in a large casserole dish and fry the lamb until it changes colour.
- Transfer the meat to a plate and clean out the pan.
- Heat another spoonful of oil and gently sauté the onion and garlic (under cover and on low temperature) until soft and translucent.
- Meanwhile chop the carrots and tomatoes.
- Add the carrots and tomatoes to the onion then the powdered spices and stir for a minute or so until fragrant.
- Add the stock, wine, raisins, cinnamon, star anise and the pepper/chilli. Add more stock if the meat is not completely covered. Bring to the boil then put the lid on and gently simmer for about an hour over low heat.
- Take out the pepper, star anise and cinnamon piece – discard these.
- Drain the beans and add to the stew. Cook for about 10 minutes – if the stew is not thick enough, turn up the heat to reduce the sauce ( don’t put the lid back on).
- Add the spinach/kale and cook for 3-5 minutes.
- Serve with rice or flat bread.