L'ham Lahlou bel Mechmech, Algerian Beef with Apricots, Boeuf aux Abricots

Some of you may be wondering why I present such small portions, when North African cooking is known for huge platters of food. Most of us Maghrebis have been to feasts or even "regular" meals where platter after platter of food was served. It's not an exaggeration to say that some couscous platters need several people to carry.

I work teaching double shifts at the school, so most of my meals during the week day are taken there. My wife is petite and my two children are still very young. So our home cooking these days is reduced in portion size.

I promise to present all the variations of our wonderful dishes and photographs of how we eat. This will take along time considering how old our culture and cuisine are.

The traditional amount of sugar for this dish might be unacceptable to those not accustomed to sweet dishes of meat. I have tried it without any sugar and it is still delicious. But the dish has to be seasoned with salt then.

(I used beef, because someone gave me some as a gift.The best cut of beef for this dish is the boneless rib meat)

Ingredients:

2 pounds of lamb preferably from the leg, shoulder is fine, cut into 2" cubes
1 kilo de mouton ou boeuf

3/4 pound of dried apricots
250 gr d'abricots secs

1 tablespoon of orange flower water
1 cuillere d'eau de fleur d'oranger

1/8 cup of sugar (some cooks add much more)
1/8 tasse de sucre

1 pinch of cinnamon
1 pincee de cannelle

1 pinch of turmeric
1 pincee de curcuma

1 pinch of ginger
1 pincee de gingembre

1 pinch of saffron
1 pincee safran

1 cup of toasted, blanched almonds
1 tasse d'amandes

Extra virgin olive oil
Huile d'olive

(this is a traditional dish for Ramadan, hence no salt which might cause extra thirst during daylight fasting hours)

(As always, use spices according to taste. However this dish is traditionally made with sweeter and warmer spices. Use caution with ginger. As always you should use high quality spices, but inferior ginger in particular can be particularly bad, if you don't have high quality ginger omit it from the dish)

This dish in particular benefits from tajine cooking. But I do not have one at the moment. So I give you a stove top method in a dutch oven.

Method:

1) Brown the lamb in hot pan with a little olive oil. Brown the meat in small batches, crowding the pan will cause the temperature of the pan to reduce too much and the meat will begin to steam instead of browning.

2) After all the meat is browned place in a dutch oven or a pot. Add a 1/4 cup of water and the spices. The meat should cook over gentle heat at barely a simmer. Turn the meat occasionally.Remember you need to watch your food during cooking, eventually you will develop a rhythm for it.

3) 45 minutes into cooking add the apricots. In Algeria traditionally, they are of course sundried without the use of chemicals. Add the sugar at this time and stir. The sauce should be thick, but you may need to add a little water to prevent burning. I have noticed that depending on the country you are in and where you buy your meat, it can give off shocking amounts of water during cooking. In such cases I reduce the sauce at the end and of course do not add water.

4) Cook for 30-45 minutes longer or until the meat is very tender.

Serve garnished with the toasted almonds. I prefer flat bread with this dish, but there are those who eat it with couscous.

(L'ham means meat in Arabic. Traditionally in Arabic speaking countries meat refers to lamb or mutton)

Algeria Algerian Cuisine Algerian Recipes Algerian Food Algerian dishes Cuisine Algerienne Recettes  Algerienne North African cuisine Maghreb Cuisine

Comments

[Evelyn]

Oh this sounds wonderful. My algerian sisters-in-law made a dish similar. We ate it with bread, but I really can't handle eating too much bread. Is there something else to serve this with?

[Farid Zadi]

Hi Danielle,

Yes I have several recipes for Algerian almond cakes which I will post.

But to recreate a special dish of someone's mother made in a certain place and time, clouded with golden memories... ;-)

We will try.

[danielle vachon]

Hi,
I'm from Quebec city, Canada and my best friend is Algerian. He always talking about the almond cake of his mother. Do you have a recipe of that kind of cake? thanks a lot!

[Jilal]

Harira ce mange aussi pendant le ramadhan la meilleurs "selon moi"
est la chorba bel brick=a base de blé concassée..
Certains regions le font avec des vermicelles..

[Zora]

Harira too for Ramadan. Farid post a recipe for harira!

[jilal]

This is a delicious, sweet lamb dish traditionaly eaten during Ramadan.

[Farid Zadi]

Thank you Joey.

I really believe that the range of Algerian cooking and flavors makes it's very appealling globally. My Korean in laws just adore it, usually with Harisa of course! I made them brik bil tunn and they couldn't stop eating it and they love plain buttered couscous.

[joey]

This sounds great...I really enjoy these types of dishes and am no stranger to sweet food...Filipinos generally like a little sweetness in their savory dishes :-)