The Fidji Times
Chef Lance Seeto
Moroccan lamb shanks with tomato salsa. Picture: SUPPLIED
As children prepare to go back to school for the New Year, my culinary and cultural adventures in Fiji now enters its third year, with even more local cultural and culinary experiences that I will share with readers throughout the year.
Definitely the most exciting new project is my first travel cookbook “Food in my Belly, Sunshine in my Heart”, scheduled for worldwide release later this year and documents my life-changing experiences working, living and cooking in Fiji.
Its full of myths, legends and real-life stories on how rural and island Fijians are still living, as I visit and experience some of the distant places over the coming months to reveal fresh food, ancient culture and its people. Compared to the many troubles and unhappiness in overseas countries, Fiji has become a beacon of hope for the rest of the world to see how they could be living. Politics aside, the essence and true meaning of happiness and respect flourishes here, and if you could bottle it to sell around the world, then Fiji would be the richest place on the planet.
My Sunday column also gets a new direction as I take you each weekend to a distant, far away land to introduce recipes from other ancient cultures that can be adapted here in Fiji with ingredients that you can buy locally and cook at home. Combined with your fresh local foods, I hope that this year readers will learn new flavours, new tastes and a passion to embrace new ideas in the kitchen.
Today, we head off to the ancient Kingdom of Morocco in Northern Africa, over 18000kms from Suva on the other side of the world, and would take you near one whole day to fly there.
With a population of over 35 million today, Morocco has been in existence since 110BC and has been fought over since biblical times by the Romans, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and later the Spanish and French. But while Morocco is a world away, its cuisine has many similarities to modern Fijian ingredients so it makes a perfect place to look for recipes that can be adapted to the Fijian kitchen.
Moroccan cuisine is considered one of the most diverse cuisines in the world because of their early trade with the New World, and the constant refinement of food by cooks in the royal kitchens throughout each century.
Similar to Indian cuisine, Moroccan cooking uses a combination of spices that can be readily found in Fiji like cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, ginger, pepper, paprika, star anise and coriander seeds. Oranges, lemons, saffron olives and mint also grow abundantly in Morocco, and are the basis for many of their ethnic dishes. Like the Fijian way of eating, Moroccans also eat with their hands and use bread to pick up the food, with a typical meal beginning with hot and cold salads, followed by a stew cooked in an earthen claypot called a Tagine, and finished with a cup of sweet mint tea. The Tagine is a pot with a cone-shaped lid that allows for circulation of heat and is ideal for slow-cooked stews that need to cook for longer time to help tenderise cheaper, more tough meats, and by adding fruits, vegetables and spices, you can make one of the most delicious tasting and aromatic stews. And like tavioka and dalo are the basic starches to a Fijian, cous cous or wheat semolina is the most famous accompaniment to many Moroccan dishes. You can probably see why I chose Moroccan cuisine to cook in Fiji, because all the key ingredients can be found at the markets or shops, and one pot of stew can feed the whole family cheaply and much more healthy than processed food.
One of the most popular Moroccan dishes we serve on Castaway Island is the Moroccan Lamb Shanks, slow simmered for at least 4 hours in local orange juice with sweet spices. Despite how tough the on-the-bone lamb normally is, slow cooking gradually dissolves the fibres in the muscle, resulting in the most tender flesh that’s infused with hot and sweet spices. I buy the shanks from Tebara because they are huge, Halal-certified and have plenty of meat. You can also pick them up from MH supermarkets or Cost-U-less in Suva. If price is a concern, you can also use goat meat in this recipe as both meats need to be cooked on low temperature for prolonged periods to get them soft. You also don’t need any special cooking equipment, as a big pot with lid and a gas or wood -fired stove is perfect. If you plan on serving this dish for dinner then it’s best to make sure everything is simmering just after lunch as you’ll need at least four hours cooking time, but once you’ve cooked a big batch then its easy to keep in the fridge for reheating the next day. I know you’ll enjoy this taste of Morocco as its one of the most requested recipes I get on the island, is gluten-free and when served with roti or tavioka, makes it a modern Fijian dish.
* Lance Seeto is the Australian Executive Chef and Author based at Castaway Island resort
MOROCCAN LAMB SHANKS
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 lamb shanks, season at least 1 hr with salt & pepper
4 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 ltr Orange juice (100% juice, with no preservatives)
2 cups Red Wine
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 Onions white, chopped rough
1 ltr Whole peeled tomatoes (tinned or fresh)
1cup Tomato paste
1 cup Dried Fruit (mango, apple, apricot, dates), chopped
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi)
Spiced Bouquet Garni (6 cloves, 2 cinnamon quills, 4 star anise)
2 tablespoons Sweet Paprika
Method:
In large frypan or saucepan, brown lamb on all sides. Drain off fat & remove.
Fry onions & garlic in a large pot, add the lamb shanks
Add orange zest, orange juice, and crushed tomatoes with its juice
Bring to boil (add more orange juice or water to fully cover shanks), add bouquet garni and dried fruits
Reduce heat, cover and simmer, turning occasionally, for 3-4 hours or until lamb is tender. Add more water if the liquid begins to dry out before the lamb is tender.
Add vegetables as desired – cook until vegetables are ready
Season with a little salt
Serve with roti, dalo or tavioka
