I love simple, tasty meals and this Moroccan Style Lamb with Sweet Potato Mash certainly hits the mark.
It combines sweet potato (or kumara, as we call it in New Zealand) with some wonderful Moroccan style spices and then pairs it with succulent, stir-fried pieces of lamb. Yum! The extra elements of pine nuts and yoghurt add great texture and taste and all combined together, it’s a satisfying and delicious dish put together very easily and quickly.
I was inspired by the Stir Fried Lamb with Kumara Puree recipe in New Zealand’s Cuisine magazine (issue 165, July 2014), but rather than the plain puree they suggested, went with a Moroccan inspired sweet potato mash from UKTV.co.uk. I was more than happy with the outcome – the flavours worked together beautifully. I’ll definitely be making this one again.
MOROCCAN STYLE LAMB WITH SWEET POTATO MASH
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potato Mash
- 675 g sweet potato
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp honey
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp paprika
- Salt and black pepper
For the Lamb Stir-fry
- 600 g lamb pieces
- 2 spring onions (sliced)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
To serve
- 100 ml plain unsweetened yoghurt
- ½ cup toasted pine nuts
- Coriander leaves (cilantro)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Place the unpeeled sweet potato in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the flesh is very tender (insert a skewer into the middle of the sweet potato to test). Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.
- Carefully peel the skin away from the sweet potato and place the flesh in a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon, cumin, ginger and paprika and mash, or beat with a fork until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Put back in the still-warm oven while you continue.
- Put the lamb into a mixing bowl and add the oil, spring onions and salt and pepper. Mix well and add to a frying pan over high heat. Stir-fry for a few minutes until the lamb is just cooked.
- Pile the lamb onto the sweet potato and serve each portion with a dollop of yoghurt, a sprinkle of pine nuts and some coriander leaves.