Iraqi Lamb Stew, Inspired by Pandemonium Noshery #EattheWorld

I am sharing my version of Pandemonium Noshery's Iraqi Lamb Stew today for our monthly Eat the World event which is a fun blog swap. Here's the line-up...

• Pandemonium Noshery: Ottolenghi’s Burnt Eggplant Salad 
• Evelyne at Cultureatz: Gromperekichelcher: Potato Fritters from Luxembourg 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Baytinjan 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Hadgi Badah iraqi cardamom cookies 
• Culinary Adventures with Cam: Iraqi Lamb Stew

Eat the World's 2021

It's hard to believe that we are at the the end of 2021. Crazy. So, welcome to the December installment of our #EattheWorld project, being spearheaded by Evelyne of CulturEatz. Here's her challenge. This month we are doing something a little bit differently. Instead of Evelyne picking a country from which we all cook, the Eat the World crew is doing a blog swap, giving some love fellow bloggers and making one of their previous #EattheWorld recipes. Before we get to that, here's a recap of this past year. By tabletop, I shared the following as we've traveled to...by month, county, my post, and Juli's post...

• January - Vietnam - Cà Phê Trứng (Vietnamese Egg Coffee) - Bánh Tráng Nướng
  
• February - Sudan - Basbousa and Karkadé - Kamounia
• March - Luxembourg - Bou’neschlupp - Bouneschlupp
• April - Uruguay - Empanadas a la Criolla, Uruguayan Wines, and Upcoming #TannatDay  - Polvito Uruguayo
• May - China - Scallion Pancakes - See Ji Tan - Chinese Lion’s Head Meatballs
• June - Lesotho - I missed the month - Butha Buthe - Spinach and Tangerine Soup
• July - Scotland - Juli and I both missed the month
• August - Native American Recipes - Purple Corn and Api Morado - Juli missed the month
• September - Guyana - I missed the month -  Guaynese Garlic Pork
• October - Greece - Skordalia - Aginares a la Polita - Greek Artichoke Stew 
• November - Île de la Réunion - Vanilla Duck from the Île de la Réunion - Sausage Rougail and Zembrocal Rice 

Meet Juli

I was assigned to Juli of Pandemonium Noshery. Years ago I was part of a monthly recipe swap; I forgot how much I missed doing a deep dive into another blog and exploring recipes. I'm just going to let you meet her through her own words: "As a self proclaimed food nerd I've put quite a bit of effort in to my study of other cultures cuisines. What stared as simple curiosity led to an in depth search to learn more. I've been lucky enough to traveled some in my life, across the US and some stops in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East."

 Iraqi Lamb Stew

There were so many recipes of Juli's that I wanted to try, but I landed on her Iraqi Lamb Stew. She shared, "I adapted a stew posted on The Iraqi Family Cookbook with a few adjustments. I've had this recipe on my "to make soon" list so when Evelyn of CulturEatz posted this months country I knew I had to move this recipe from "to make soon" over to this weeks menu, and I'm so glad I did. This recipe with all it's wonderful spices was rich, and warming, and perfect for a snowy week."

I picked this recipe for a couple of reasons: first, I had leftover lamb in the fridge and, second, it reminded me of one of Jake's favorite dinners. You can read my post Lubyee Bi Lahmi to get the whole story about this Lebanese dish.

very slightly adapted from Juli's recipe

 Ingredients

• 1 pound stew lamb, trimmed of most of the fat and cubed
• 1/2 pound stew beef, trimmed of most of the fat and cubed
• 3 Tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped, approximately 1 cup
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cups beef broth (I had some homemade beef bone broth)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 4 cups potatoes, cubed
• 1 (12 oz.) bag frozen peas green beans (I couldn't find peas)
• Also needed: saffron jasmine rice, yogurt sauce

Procedure 

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot with a lid. Add the meat, in batches, and cook until browned on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot and add the onions. Cook for a minute and stir to coat with all the juices from the meat. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring, until caramelized, approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
 
Turn the heat to medium high and add the garlic to the pan, cook for a minute before adding in the tomato sauce, cinnamon stick, beef broth, browned meat, salt, cloves, allspice, black pepper, and cardamom to the pot..
 
Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Braise for 2 hours, until the meat is tender.
 
Remove the lid and stir in the potatoes and beans. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, approximately another 25 to 30 minutes. The sauce should also be nicely thickened. If it is still too liquidy, remove the lid and bring to a boil until reduced to desired thickness. 

Serve with steamed saffron rice and yogurt sauce. 

That's a wrap on Eat the World's 2021. Looking forward to what 2022 brings.