Thareed Laham

Ingredients

• 700 g bone-in lamb, cut into pieces
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp bezar or baharat
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 dried limes, pierced
• 2 tsp salt
• 1.5 litres hot water
• 1 large carrot, cut into rounds
• 1 potato, cut into chunks
• 250 g pumpkin, cut into chunks
• 2 courgettes, thickly sliced
• 6 sheets regag or other thin flatbread
• 1 handful coriander leaves

Before you cook

• Slice the onion thinly and crush the garlic.
• Pierce each dried lime twice with a knife tip.
• Cut the carrot, potato, pumpkin and courgettes into even chunks and keep them in separate piles.
• Tear the flatbread into pieces roughly the size of a playing card.

Steps

1. Heat the ghee and oil together in a large heavy pot over medium heat.
2. Cook the sliced onion for 10 minutes, stirring often, until it is deep golden.
3. Add the crushed garlic and cook for 1 minute.
4. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes until the mixture turns brick red and thick.
5. Add the bezar, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper and salt and stir for 1 minute.
6. Put in the lamb pieces and turn them until every surface is coated in the spice paste.
7. Drop in the dried limes and pour over the hot water.
8. Bring the pot to a boil, skim the surface, then cover and simmer gently for 1 hour until the lamb is tender.
9. Add the carrot and potato and cook for 10 minutes.
10. Add the pumpkin and courgettes and cook uncovered for a further 15 minutes, until everything is soft and the broth has reduced by about a third.
11. Taste the broth and adjust the salt, remembering it has to season the bread as well.
12. Line a wide serving dish with a layer of torn flatbread.
13. Ladle over enough hot broth to soak the bread completely and leave it for 2 minutes to swell.
14. Add a second layer of bread and soak that the same way.
15. Arrange the lamb and vegetables over the top and spoon the remaining broth around them.
16. Scatter with coriander and serve immediately, before the bread loses its shape.