I made something like this recipe on 11 August 2012; the differences reflect insights I gained at that time. It draws inspiration from a number of recipes on the web: bbcgoodfood.com, taste.com.au, uktv.co.uk and jamieoliver.com. Some of the ingredients in these recipes are particularly amusing: ½ ground ginger, 400.0g tin cherry tomatoes, 1 garlic blub, 2 pinch garlic cloves. You'd think they'd proof read their recipes better.

Ingredients

Serves 4.

Normally I give ingredients by weight, but nobody is going to use fractional shanks if the 3 don't weigh exactly 1.25 kg.

quantity		ingredient		step
20 g		garlic		1
400 g		onion		1
3		lamb shanks (about 1.25 kg)		2
		frying oil		2
10 g		ground coriander seeds		3
10 g		ground cumminseed		3
2 g		cinnamon, ground		3
5 g		ras el hanout		3
800 g		tinned tomatoes		4
10 g		salt		4
		pepper		4
350 g		sweet potato		5
250 g		dried apricots		5
150 ml		water, optionally		5
		mint		6
		coriander		6
		Moroccan salted lemons		6

Preparation

1. Chop onions into pieces about 5 mm on a side. Crush garlic.

2. Fry shanks in the tagine until browned on all sides. Lower heat, add onions and garlic and fry until translucent, without burning.

3. Add the ground spices and fry until fragrant.

4. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper, bring to the boil and cover. Simmer on low heat for 2 hours.

5. Chop the sweet potato into pieces about 5 cm on a side. Add sweet potatoes and apricots to mixture, cook for another 1½ hours.

6. Garnish with mint and coriander, serve with cous-cous and salted lemon.