Sneha's Recipe: Libya

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!

A Day in the Life on the Farm: Libyan Cheese Dip

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

Palatable Pastime: Maghreb Chicken and Vegetable Stew

Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Macroona Imbakbaka (Libyan Minestrone)

Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Mbakbaka (Spicy Libyan Pasta)

Kitchen Frau: Kufta bin Batinjal (Eggplant Kofta in Tomato Sauce

Pandemonium Noshery: Sharba Libiya - Libyan Mint and Lamb Soup

This month in Mena's Cooking Club, I am travelling to Libya. Here I have prepared a soup of Libyan cuisine. This soup is mainly prepared during Ramadan. The recipe source is from here. In this recipe Orzo pasta is used which we do not get in India, I surfed the internet and made this at home, which was very interesting and easy.

Ingredients
200 Grams Chicken legs - skinless
1 small Onion  -  finely chopped
1 small Tomato  -  finely chopped
1/4 Cup Parsley -  finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Tomato paste
1 Cinnamon stick
1 Bay leaf
3 Cardamom seeds - split
4 Cloves

6 Peppercorns
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne powder
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric
Salt to taste
1 Teaspoon fresh Thyme

1 Chicken soup cube
1/2 cup lisan asfour (bird's tongue) orzo pasta - Homemade

A litre water - for making the soup

Method

Heat oil in a pot, add chopped onion, drop in the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns and bay leaf, stirring until the oil is infused. Add the chicken, tomato paste and stir. Add the cayenne, turmeric powder , fresh tomatoes, soup cube and parsley, a cup of boiling water, cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Then add the remaining water and cook on medium heat for 45 minutes.

Remove the chicken pieces, cinnamon sticks and bay leaf. De-bone the chicken pieces and cut into bite-sized chunks set aside. Add the remaining amount of parsley, and lisan asfour (orzo), cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Turn of the heat, drop the chicken pieces back in, rub a handful of fresh thyme between the palms of your hand straight into the pot, then give the soup a final stir. Serve hot and enjoy....