I enjoy a well seasoned lamb tagine. A few years ago I followed a recipe I saw on the internet and made the dish on a cold winter's day. A recent cold snap led me to make this dish again. After searching for several hours for the recipe I used before without success I opted to follow a lamb tagine recipe I found on allrecipes. I noted that someone had provided commentary on how make the dish more authentic. The suggestions were: use beef stock, ground caraway, ground allspice, preserved lemon, and add harissa, a spicy pepper paste/sauce used frequently in North Africa. I went to a nearby supermarket with the list of ingredients in hand. I asked three different employees where harissa might be located. I was pointed in three different directions in the store. I went home without harissa. By the time I arrived home with my ingredients the weather had worsened, so I focused on unloading the bags of groceries and starting the lamb tagine. My tagine included: onion, garlic, potato, rutabaga, raisins, carrots, apple, prunes, Brussels sprouts, lamb and numerous spices. I added the beef stock. I added the ground caraway seed. I added the ground allspice. I added a bit of preserved lemon. No harissa! I called another nearby supermarket, Giant Food. The man who answered the phone calmly explained that the store was now closed, but I could come to the store in the morning, at 6am. I laughed when the call ended because I realized he most lilkely received calls from panicked would be customers often.
What could I use as a substitute? I looked at the shelves in desperation. I mixed one tablespoon of tomato paste with the a dash of scotch bonnet pepper sauce, habanero pepper sauce and Smackason's ghost pepper sauce in my spice cabinet. I thought this combination should be close enough to
harissa. I added to the other ingredients and let the crockpot do its work. I awoke the next morning to a delicious aroma. The crockpot timer went off, signaling the timed cooking was done and the dish would now be kept warm.
I decided to venture to the Giant Food supermarket to see if harissa was sold in the store. After the unsuccessful attempt at the other supermarket I determined I would have to go to one of the nearby international markets to buy harissa. The produce manager at Giant saw me walking up and down the spice aisle and asked me what I was looking for. When I told him I was looking for harissa. He told me that he wasn't familiar with harissa and asked what region it was used. He stopped what he was doing and walked down the international food aisle with me. Several jars and varieties of Mina harissa were neatly stacked on the store's shelf! I was impressed. I thanked the producer manager several times and made a mental note to check the store in the future for other items. I finally had a bowl of the much anticipated lamb tagine for dinner. It was smoky and savory. I enjoyed it very much. An hour later and for the remainder of the evening my system was distressed- the pepper sauce combination was too much. I refused to throw away a nearly full crockpot of lamb tagine and remaking the dish was impractical. The tagine would have to be tamed.
A little research yielded three options:
- add sugar to the dish
- add lemon juice to the dish
- add vinegar to the dish
Next time I'll just use the harissa (or wait and buy it at the store). Do you like lamb tagine? What ingredients do you use in your lamb tagine? Share in the comments below.
Be well,
Technicolor girl
 |
| image created by Ink+ LLC |
