Leg of lamb steamed in Moroccan spices is simple and delicious. The water that you
have used for steaming the lamb is used afterwards for the cous cous.
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6-8 Portions
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Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 60-90 minutes
Ingredients
Lamb
1.5-2kg leg of lamb
Spice Rub
100g butter (soft) or olive oil
2 garlic cloves. finely chopped
1 tbsp. ginger, finely chopped
3 tbsp coriander. finely chopped
2 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp hot paprika
1/4-1/2 tsp. saffron
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch maldon salt and freshly ground pepper
juice and zest o half a lemon
5 sprigs fresh thyme
To Cook
handful each of corriander and mint leaves
100-120g dried apricots
Spicy Tomato Sauce:
1 tbps olive oil
200g canned plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 red chilli finely chopped (I like to use haribiro chillies while extremely
hot they have a very rounded flavour)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tbps caster sugar
50ml cooking liquid
Couscous
300g couscous
500-600ml cooking liquid
60g sultanas
2 tbp mint, shredded
2 tbp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 tbps corriander, finely chopped
Pinch maldon salt
Method
Lamb: Wash and dry the lamb and cut 3-4 deep slashes into the skin
(serving side).
Spice Rub: Mix all the ingredients together in a container. Rub the
mixture into the lamb pressing it deep into the cuts.
To Cook: Fill the bottom of a large steamer with water so it comes
half wayto the top, cover it and bring to the boil. place greaseproof paper in the
top half of a steamer and lace the corriander and mint leavs on it and sprinkle the
apricots around herbs. Place the lamb in the steamer, cover it and leave for 60-90
minutes over a steady low simmer. The amount of time you cook it depends on how well
you like it to cooked and the size of the leg. When the meat is ready remove it from
the heat. in the top half of the steamer and place it on a chopping board, remove
the apricots and replace the lid (to keep warm) and set aside while you prepare the
cous cous.
Sauce: Place the oil in a suacepan over a moderate to high heat.
When it is hot add the onions and sweat them for 2 minutes, then add the garlic,
ginger, and cumin powder and cook fo about 30 secons. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar,
and cooking liquid and leave it to simmer for 10 minutes, until you have a thick
sauce.
Couscous: Place the cous cous in a large bowl and pour over 500ml
of the boiling cooking liquid and cover the bowl with cling film and leave ti to
steam for 10 minutes. Test the couscous it should be tender but if not add a little
more stock and recover. Rougly chop the apricots, sultanas, cashew nuts, sultanas,
herbs and seasoning, toss the cous cous so that the ingredients are well
distributed. Set aside while you slice the lamb
To Serve: Slice the lamb into even slices. Place the lamb on 1 side
of each plate so that they overlap. Portion outhte couscous among the plates, I use
a darimole mould or ramekin. pour a little of the sauce on each plate and
serve.