Moroccan Goat Tagine

This works really well with almost any meat - goat, lamb, beef, venison, chamois. And you don't have to cook it in a tagine, a casserole works just as well.

Meatballs

• 500g goat (or other red meat) mince
• 1.5 tsp Moroccan spice mix (make 4 times as much and store in a jar for next time!)
  1/4 tsp ground cumin
  1/4 tsp cinnamon
  1/4 tsp ground ginger
  1/4 tsp paprika
  1/4 tsp turmeric
  grind of S&P
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (chunky)
• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  1/2 onion finely diced

Sauce

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut diagonally
• 1 large kumara, cubed
• 200 g canned tomatoes (pureed or mashed)
• 50 g dried peaches or apricots, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp clear honey
• 375 ml chicken stock
• 1.5 tsp Moroccan spice mix (see above)
  
  1 tsp all spice

Buttered couscous

• 250 g couscous
• 200 ml boiling water
• knob butter
• fresh herbs

Method

Preheat oven to 180 °C.In a large bowl, mix together goat mince, spice mix, breadcrumbs and egg yolk. Rings off and get in there and use your hands! If you haven't got goat meat (what a shame!) you can just as easily use lamb, beef, venison, rabbit, chicken even pork. The flavor is amazing with any minced meat.

Shape the meatballs from a tablespoonful of mixture rolled in the palm of your hands. Then roll each ball in flour that you have seasoned with salt and pepper. The flour coating will seal the balls and also help thicken the sauce. Heat oil in a non-stick frying-pan and brown meatballs gently on all sides for 10 minutes. Place in tagine or covered casserole dish and prepare sauce.

For sauce, heat oil in a frying-pan and gently sauté onion and garlic until softened, before adding remaining sauce ingredients. Simmer for 5–10 minutes. Pour sauce over meatballs and cover tagine before baking for 30 minutes to enable flavours to develop.

Ten minutes before tagine is cooked, put couscous with salt and pepper to taste into a large bowl and stir in boiling water. Cover with a tea towel and leave to soak for 10 minutes. Add a knob of butter and fresh herbs to taste. Heap couscous directly into tagine and serve at the table.