Lamb Neck Potjie Tagine
Ingredients
- 1 kg lamb neck, bone-in if possible, cut into thick slices or chunks
- 2 large onions, finely sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 30 g fresh ginger, grated
- 1 pinch saffron, soaked in 30 ml warm water (optional)
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 500 ml chicken or lamb stock
- 100 g dried apricots, halved
- 15 ml honey
- ½ preserved lemon, rind only, finely chopped
- 15 ml preserved lemon syrup
- 400 g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 30 ml olive oil
- 1 pinch salt and black pepper
Spices
- 10 ml ground cumin
- 10 ml ground coriander
- 5 ml ground cinnamon
- 5 ml sweet paprika
- 5 ml ground ginger
- 2 ml turmeric
- 2 ml chilli flakes (or 5 ml ras el hanout)
To finish
- 40 g flaked almonds, toasted
- 1 large handful fresh coriander, chopped
- 1 large handful fresh mint, chopped
Instructions
- 1
Get the fire going. Medium-hot coals under the potjie to start, with a side fire burning down ready for top-up coals.
- 2
Pat the lamb neck very dry — properly dry, with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
- 3
Splash of olive oil into the hot potjie. Brown the lamb in batches, all sides, deep mahogany colour. Don't crowd the pot or it steams instead of searing. Set aside on a plate.
- 4
Onions into the pot, splash more oil if needed. Cook 10 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden. Scrape up the brown bits from the lamb. If the heat is too aggressive and they're catching, move the pot to one side off the hottest coals.
- 5
Add the garlic and fresh ginger, cook 1 minute. Then add all the dry spices (cumin, coriander, cinnamon, paprika, ground ginger, turmeric, chilli flakes). Toast for 30 seconds until fragrant — watch it, cast iron holds heat hard and spices on the fire burn quickly.
- 6
Tomatoes and stock in. Stir, scrape the bottom, bring to a simmer. Add the saffron and its soaking water if using.
- 7
Lamb back in with any resting juices. The liquid should come about two-thirds of the way up the meat — top up with a splash of water if it doesn't.
- 8
Lid on. Now leave it alone. Bare simmer for 2 to 2.5 hours. Top up with a few fresh coals every 30 to 40 minutes from the side fire. You want a quiet bubble, not a rolling boil. If you can hear it bubbling aggressively, pull a few coals out. If it's silent, add some.
- 9
Don't lift the lid often. Once or twice in 2.5 hours to turn the lamb and check liquid levels. Each lid lift drops the temperature and adds 10 minutes to the cook.
- 10
When the lamb pulls apart with a fork (around 2.5 hours), lift the pieces out gently. If the sauce is thin, lid off, push the pot over hotter coals for 5 to 10 minutes to reduce.
- 11
Stir in the honey, preserved lemon rind, and a splash of the lemon syrup (start with 15 ml, taste — it's sweet). Add the apricots. Simmer 10 minutes.
- 12
Lamb back in. Fold in the chickpeas gently and warm through for 5 minutes.
- 13
Off the heat. Scatter toasted almonds, coriander and mint over the top. Serve straight from the potjie.
Notes & Tips
Why lamb neck
Lamb neck is the most underrated cut on the carcass. All collagen, deep flavour, falls apart after two hours of low slow heat. Cheap as chips at any decent butcher, and it eats like something three times the price. Bone-in if you can get it — the marrow enriches the sauce.
Side fire tip
Build a side fire to the right of your main fire from the start. You'll need to feed fresh coals under the potjie every 30 to 40 minutes to keep the heat steady. A side fire keeps a steady supply ready to scoop across — without it the pot drops temperature and the lamb stops cooking.
The lid game
If you have a flat-topped potjie lid, you can put a few hot coals on top of it to get heat from above as well as below. That's the real tagine effect — gentle convection inside the pot. Just don't go mad with top coals or you'll over-reduce the sauce.
Make ahead
This tagine is genuinely better on day two. The spices settle and the lamb absorbs more sauce. Reheat gently in the potjie with a splash of water.