Although the Arabic word mechoui/meshwi refers to grilled meats, in Morocco mechoui is also the name of a traditional festive dish of an entire lamb or kid, rubbed all over with a blend of smen, cumin, black pepper and garlic, and roasted slowly over embers in a pit dug in the ground until the meat is so tender it can be torn off with fingers and shared amongst a community, or a large family.
It is generally prepared in this way for holy days, such as Aid el Adha, to celebrate the near-sacrifice of Isaac, and it is one of the dishes cooked for the Jewish hilloula and the Berber moussem, which are both festive celebrations to mark a religious or significant event, such as a marriage or the death of a saint. Around the souks, the mechoui stalls sell cuts of the plain roasted meat, which people buy to dip in salt and cumin. When cooking a joint of smen-coated lamb in a communal or kitchen oven, Moroccan cooks might add seasonal fruit, such as fresh figs, plums, apricots or quince to the dish.
SERVES: 6-8
Ingredients:
- Roughly 2.25kg leg of lamb
- 200ml/scant 1 cup water
- 30–45ml/2–3 tbsp runny honey
- About 6 fresh figs, plums or apricots, halved and pitted (optional)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped, for garnishing
For the marinade
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 60g fresh ginger, chopped
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
- Pinch of sea salt
- Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
- Small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 5–10ml/1–2 tsp ground cumin
- 5–10ml/1–2 tsp ground coriander
- 45ml/3 tbsp smen, softened butter or olive oil
Method:
First make the marinade. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic, ginger and chilli with salt to form a coarse paste. Add the fresh coriander and parsley, pound to a paste, and stir in the ground cumin and coriander. In a bowl, beat the paste into the smen, until thoroughly mixed. Cut small incisions in the shoulder of lamb with a sharp knife and rub the spicy smen all over the meat, making sure it goes into the incisions. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Place the leg of lamb in a roasting dish, pour the water around it, and pop it in the oven. Roast for roughly 1 hour 15 minutes, basting from time to time, until it is nicely browned. Spoon the honey over the meat and, if adding fresh figs, plums or apricots, place them around the meat, and return the dish to the oven for a further 15 minutes.
Place the roasted lamb and fruit on a serving dish and leave it to sit for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bubble up the juices in the roasting dish, season with salt and pepper, and pour it over the roasted lamb.
Sprinkle with coriander and serve.
Edited recipe extract from The Moroccan Cookbook by Ghillie Başan, ISBN 9780754835646, published by Lorenz Books, $95
