L'ham Lahlou - Algerian / North African Sweet Lamb Dish.

Um Safia's Note:

This dish is traditionally cooked in Algeria for eating during Ramadan and on special ocassions. It is hardly ever eaten as a main course, but as a small dish after the main. This recipe freezes well. In my family, it's only my husband that eats it so I freeze individual portions for him. I tend to play around with the recipe and change the fruit around and add a little extra liquid. This is just one of hundreds of variations of this recipe, I will post a few alternatives later.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

Yield: 8.0 small(i ...

• 2 ½ lbs lamb , cubed
• 3 tablespoons butter
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups water
• ¼ cup sugar
• 16 prunes , soaked and drained (ready to eat)
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 2 tablespoons almonds
• 1 pear , peeled and cubed
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water (mazhar)

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pan. add the lamb and saute over a low heat for around 5 minutes.
2. Add the water, sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Cook on a moderate heat for approximately 40 minutes.
3. Add prunes, raisins, almonds, pear and mazhar. Simmer for 15 more minutes. Add the orange juice and mix well before serving (make sure you have a good mix of ingredients in each portion).

Reviews

[Glori-B]

This was wonderful, we really enjoyed this! It was a bit sweeter than I am accustomed to, but that was part of it's charm. Due to time constraints, I made it ahead of time and kept it warm in the crock-pot for several hours. I was excellent and the flavors really got a chance to meld. Thank you so much for posting!

[French Tart]

Now we really loved this - but I do make lots of North African dishes with fruit - so I am very fond of the sweet flavour cutting through the spicy flavour. Excellent flavours, although I did not have a pear handy - so I used an apricot instead. The only other small change, was that I added a few chickpeas, which I had in the fridge - this really added a new dimension to this dish. Thanks for posting this authentic Algerian dish Rezika - it was devoured by the two of us! (By the way - I made the full amount and but the rest in the freezer!) FT:-) Oh yes - we ate this with real STEAMED fruited couscous!

[Lil' Chef Beth]

Now this is a funny thing. I made this the other day and didn't care for it much but my brother in law LOVED it and so did my Moroccan friend who said it was like something her mum makes. I think it's a question of taste. I was expecting something like a sweet and sour dish, but it's not like that. Only try this if you've had something similar before or have a very open mind (and palette)!