Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Baby Carrots in the Instant Pot

Flanken can be substituted but better you use the lamb. Don’t snoot the prunes, they add an incredible depth of flavor and umami yumminess and almost melt into the dish.

This dish is ridiculously delicious and a bit exotic (not a bad thing) and surprisingly easy to make. When I served it to my brother Shlomo and SIL Dorie and Doug and Paulette, we all nearly licked our plates, I kid you not.

The first time I ever ate this dish (an approximation thereof) was at the kosher meat restaurant run by Sylvia in Gibraltar. I practically dreamed about it afterward and have had it there almost every time I’ve been back. I decided I had to either deconstruct it or find something similar.

There are all sorts of recipes out there but some of them seem to me to over complicate the recipe and I decided to do it my way, even if less traditional. Many of the recipes call for cooking the prunes separately and I find the whole point being to meld them into the dish for their flavor which sweetens the longer they cook. Since I wound up serving this for the first night of Rosh HaShana, I said, hmm, let’s add baby carrots and turn it into a play on tzimmes, a carrot dish. I gotta tell you, it was a match made in heaven. Then of course, I had to drizzle a bit of honey in there, since, hey! Rosh Hashana.

When DH and I went shopping for the holiday, we spied a large leg of lamb, which you don’t always find and had to have it, being lamb people. So, I decided that although most people cook leg of lamb in the oven, I decided to cook it in the Instant Pot since the point of the dish is not to be lovely slices of lamb but rather cooked till it tenderly falls off the bone. Also, the Instant Pot retains the liquid of the dish in a way that oven cooking won’t. Win-win.

Take your leg of lamb or neck or other cut that will nicely fall off the bone after much cooking.

Rinse and pat dry. Next, take some oil (olive or canola both good) and put in IP and heat your instant pot on sautee till it reads HOT like so:

Carefully take the lamb (I cut it in a few pieces so it would fit) and brown on both sides.

Now this is the good part. Turn off the IP and you don’t drain the pot, just heap the ingredients on top of the lamb.

Some chopped onion, cloves of garlic, cinnamon stick, small bunch parsley, saffron, prunes, carrots and a teaspoon of cumin (don’t tell my mom, she claims she can’t eat it, not allergic just dislikes it, but if snuck in amongst other ingredients, it’s fine). I happily discovered some saffron in a grocery shop in Aix Les Bain but if you can’t find any, you can substitute turmeric.

Now it’s up to you if you wish to saute the onion and garlic briefly while the lamb is sauteeing and while it might add a bit more depth of flavor, you can get away without it.

Drizzle with about a tablespoon of honey for flavor more than for sweetening and pour hot water on top to come up about midway.

Cover the IP and set it on the Meat/stew setting to 90 minutes. Let the IP do it’s thing while you prepare some fluffy couscous https://kosherfromjerusalem.com/2019/09/12/fluffy-couscous/

as a side dish and I also made the sweet potato with cranberry sauce https://kosherfromjerusalem.com/2019/09/04/sweet-potatoes-in-cranberry-and-sweet-chili-sauce/ and it was a substantial and filling combo which works beautifully together. Once the IP is finished, when it goes to Keep Warm, just turn off or unplug and let cool down on its own. It’s all good since we want the meat to fall off the bone.

This is a fabulous dish and a true compliment to your guests but also surprisingly easy to make. Rich and flavorful, it’s a stick to your ribs meal.

Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Baby Carrots in the Instant Pot

One leg of lamb about 2.5 kilo or about 5.5 pounds, cut to fit into Instant Pot (IP) Now, if you insist on switching it out with flanken, you still brown briefly on both sides in IP and proceed
2 tablespoons oil, olive or canola or veg
1 1/2 cups of pitted prunes
500 grams or a pound plus of frozen baby carrots, defrosted and drained
one stick of cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon saffron or 1 teaspoon turmeric
1 small peeled, chopped onion
3 peeled chopped cloves of garlic
small bunch cleaned washed parsley
1 tablespoon honey for drizzling
2 cups (approximately) hot water

Directions:

Take your IP and put the oil in and turn on to Sautee and when it gets to HOT (see pic above) put lamb or beef in and brown on both sides. Immediately after browning, turn off and then add all the ingredients ending with the drizzle of honey and water on top. It should come about halfway up the pot, maybe a bit less. Turn on the Meat/Stew function for 90 minutes. This is the joy of the IP, wait to check that it really comes up to steam and starts rocking properly and then you can leave it alone. A regular pressure cooker you have to watch carefully, that’s why I love my IP.

In the meantime, prepare the fluffy couscous (see above, press on the link) and I’d also recommend the sweet potato cranberry dish. It’s an explosion of flavors in your mouth!

After the IP cools down enough to open, serve on top of the couscous. You can also serve the lamb in a tureen and pass the couscous around in a separate dish. This reheats amazingly well and you will lick your fingers in joy.