Tajin Sfinari bil Zaytun/ Libyan Lamb Casserole with Carrots and Green Olives#EatTheWorld

Traditionally, tajin sfinari bil zaytun is cooked stove top and then baked in an oven, a clay pot is used, which is later transferred to the oven. This colorful, its combination of carrots and green olives has a unusual mix of flavorings, like caraway seeds, lemon juice, cinnamon, harissa paste and parsley.

Tagine in Libya doesn't refer to the distinctive Morrocan cooking vessels, it just means casserole. 

Serves 3 -4
Ingredients  
½ Kg Boneless Lamb / Mutton - cut into 2" cubes
500 Ml Lamb Bone Stock / Chicken Stock or Water
500 Grams Carrots - sliced diagonally into thick pieces
1 Medium Onion- chopped
1 Teaspoon Grated Ginger
1 Stick Cinnamon
1 Teaspoons Caraway Seeds / Shahjeera
Salt & Black Pepper powder - to taste
½ Cup Pitted Green Olives
1 Heaped Teaspoon Harissa - I used homemade Harrisa
For Serving
Olive oil
Juice of one lemon
½ Cup Chopped Parsley

Method

Place the onion, cinnamon and caraway seeds in the pot ( I used my mud pot) with olive oil, and stir on medium heat.

Add the diced lamb, stirring occasionally until it is evenly browned. Add the stock. Cover and leave to cook on a medium heat until the meat is just done, at this point the stock should be reduced to about half the amount (concentrated). Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon and strain the liquid through a sieve (fine enough to catch the caraway seeds). 

Add the meat, stock to same mud pot. Add in the carrots, cover the pot tightly with foil, and place in the oven for about 45 minutes at 200°C. When the carrots and lamb are fork tender, add the harissa and mix it in the sauce. Scatter olives on top and place the pot in the oven for about 10 minutes without a cover. 

When some of the sauce has evaporated and the lamb has browned slightly, remove from the oven. Don't let it dry out!
Stir in the fresh lemon juice over it and drizzle generously with olive oil, then garnish with chopped parsley.

Enjoy warm with bread to soak up the sauce.

Labels: Lamb, Libya, Mutton, Stew, Baked, Carrots, Olives, Main course, Eat the World, Sunday Funday

 

Each month a group of us join Evelyne of CulturEatz as she travels to different countries to Eat the World.
Check out all the wonderful Libyan dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us! 

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Sneha’s Recipe: Tajin Sfinari bil Zaytun/ Libyan Lamb Casserole with Carrots and Green Olives 

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