Baby Lamb Tagine
This is a lovely flavourful dish for your baby, I add cinnamon, a little garlic and dried apricots, but these are all optional. The lamb mince is a good source of red meat, or iron for your baby. From 6 months your babies natural levels of iron start to deplete; a diet which includes plenty of iron rich foods is recommended. I add sweet potato, to make this a meal in one. You can supplement/ replace sweet potato with potatoes, or butternut squash depending on what you have in your fridge.
recommended 7 months +
& with garlic, cinnamon and apricots added, from 8 months +
*suitable for freezing
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
300g organic lamb mince
2 sweet potato (200g approx), peeled and diced
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
6 dried apricots (I choose unsulfured apricots, these are darker in colour), finely chopped
500ml homemade stock (with no added salt), or water
Take a large ceramic pot and add the oil, onion and carrots; gently sauté until softened for 10 minutes. Next add the lamb mince, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula as you stir. You want the mince to colour but not brown, to avoid toughening the meat. Add the sweet potato, cinnamon, garlic and chopped apricots: stir everything to combine and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Finally cover with homemade stock, or water. Bring up to a gentle boil; then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes approx. Stirring occasionally. The sauce will reduce, thicken and the meat and vegetables should be completely cooked through.
For babies ~
Blend using a hand blender, until smooth (add a little boiled water to loosen if necessary)
For toddlers & kids ~
Serve as it is, or stirred through pasta shapes, or couscous.