This delicious lamb stew with plenty of vegetables is a prime example of the rich and diverse cuisine of North Africa. The tender lamb in this stew is as soft as butter. In the vegetable department, we find hearty eggplants, nutritious chickpeas, and juicy tomatoes. The freshly chopped ginger and garlic bring a subtle sharpness, perfectly balanced with the warmth of the red peppers. This North African lamb stew with vegetables tastes best when served with couscous.

How to make North African lamb stew with vegetables?

This stew starts with some chopping. But then all the ingredients can go into a large pot one by one to simmer for an hour until everything is tender and delicious. And it tastes even better the next day!

The preparations for a perfect North African lamb stew with vegetables

We start with the eggplants. Cut them into cubes and sprinkle them with some salt. Set them aside while you prepare the other ingredients. The salt will draw out the bitter moisture from the eggplants.

Next, we take on the tomatoes. Halve them and remove the hard stems. Then halve the tomato pieces again. They will completely cook down in the stew.

The can of chickpeas is easy to prepare. Open it and let the chickpeas drain well. This can also be done later since we will only add the chickpeas at the end of the stew.

Now it's time to chop the fresh herbs. We start with the fresh ginger. Remove the bitter skin and cut the yellow ginger root into small pieces.

Remove the skin from the garlic cloves and chop them into small pieces.

Finally, cut the green stems off the red chili peppers. Then chop them into small pieces.

You can chop the fresh parsley and cilantro now or later. They only need to be added in the last few minutes of the stew.

If needed, cut the lamb into bite-sized pieces. In a mortar, crush the coriander and cumin seeds. Add some nutmeg and mix this with the pieces of lamb.

Cooking the North African lamb and vegetable stew

Since everything goes into one pot, we need to make sure we use a sufficiently large one. First, we heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in it.

Then we brown the lamb on all sides in the hot oil.

Now, we squeeze the released moisture out of the eggplants. Then we add them to the lamb stew. Stir-fry for about five minutes.

Next, we add the chili pepper, ginger, and garlic to the stew. Stir everything well and cook for another two minutes.

Now it's time to add the tomatoes and white wine vinegar. Mix this well with the other ingredients and reduce the heat to medium. Let it simmer for about an hour, stirring the stew occasionally.

Finishing the lamb stew with vegetables

Just a few more steps and we're done. So we can also heat up water for the couscous and let it swell.

While the couscous is soaking in the warm water, we can stir the chickpeas into the stew. Canned chickpeas are already cooked, so they just need to be warmed through.

And just before serving, mix the chopped parsley and cilantro into the stew. Now you can call out "dinner's ready!" and serve this deliciously fragrant stew.

You can mix the couscous directly into the stew or arrange it separately on the plates. If you have leftovers for the next day, you can mix the couscous with the North African lamb and vegetable stew. As is often the case with stews, they taste even better the next day!

More surprising.African

African cuisine is often underestimated. The North African cuisine, in particular, is closely related to Oriental cuisine and stands out with its delicious aromatic flavors. Be sure to also try the following dishes:

More surprising.stew

Nothing better than a hearty stew on cold winter days. We have a lot of them, so a lot of inspiration for stews also. Check out our best winter stews here:

If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.