Note: The lamb tagine can be served spooned over couscous or rice. Toss some toasted almonds on and serve each serving with a slice of lemon. In order to prepare this recipe, you require a 5 to 6 quart size slow cooker. To get the desired results, the lamb shoulder must be weighed after it is boned and trimmed.

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons of ground cumin

2 teaspoons of ground turmeric

2 teaspoons of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon of finely ground chilly powder

3 lbs of boneless, trimmed lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch cube size

1/4 cup of flour

2 tablespoons of oil

1 tablespoon of butter

2 large onions, cut in to ½ inch size pieces

10 shallots, peeled and left as whole

4 teaspoons of sliced garlic

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

1 cup of dried apricots

1/2 cup of raisins

1 tablespoon of honey

2 or 3 cinnamon sticks

1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth

1 cup of pitted dates

Directions:

In a bowl large enough to hold it all, stir together the cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, paprika and chilly. Add the cubed lamb pieces and mix until these pieces are uniformly covered in the spice mix. Sprinkle the flour and mix to give the lamb a light coating. If there is any flour left out in the bottom of the bowl, you may use this to thicken the tagine.

Heat a large saute pan or stove top-safe slow cooker over medium-high heat. Add the oil and butter. Once these are melted, add the lamb pieces in a single layer, (you may have to do this in multiple sessions) and sear until all the pieces are properly browned on all sides, roughly 8 minutes for each session. Remove the lamb with a slotted spoon back in to the large bowl.

Now, add the onions and shallots in to the pan. Saute them until the onions are just softened and turn slightly golden, roughly 5 minutes, stirring regularly. After this, remove the pan from heat.

Place the onions and shallots in an uniform layer in the slow cooker insert (if it is not in use already). Mix in the garlic, ginger, apricots, raisins, honey, cinnamon sticks and broth. Place the lamb pieces on top of the onion mixture in an uniform layer. Now you can sprinkle any left over flour over the lamb.

Close the insert and set it in the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker on to the high heat setting. After 2 hours, remove the lid and sprinkle the dates over the lamb. Replace the lid quickly as heat is lost whenever the lid is opened, and cook for an additional 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the lamb is fork-tender.

Now, remove the insert from the heat and slightly prop the lid open to let the mixture to cool a bit. Slowly stir the lamb with the vegetables and fruit items. Be gentle with the apricots and dates as they can be crushed easily if stirred too hard.

Total time: 40 minutes, plus cooking time (3 to 4 hours on high; 6 to 8 hours on low).

Servings: 6 to 8.

I saw an induction cooker at work for the very first time in a flower show. That was a few years back. It looked a bit devilish to me at first. The sales man placed a pot of water on the stove and the water started boiling in hardly any time at all. And there was absolutely no flames of any sort. Once the pot was removed, I was asked to touch the stove. I was skeptical and did not take the bate. After the sales man himself touched the stove and proved that the stove is not hot, I touched it myself. And it was not hot at all. I was really amused and asked to see if it needs a lot of electricity for its operation. The sales man told me that the electricity cost will be only a third of what propane needs. As sales men are known to hyperbole and try to sell stuff, I did not buy the instrument that time.

It took me another couple of years before I got an induction stove for myself and started using it. It seemed to me to be a bit similar to microwaving except that you cannot use metallic cookwares in a microwave. But in an induction cooker, only a magnetic flat bottomed metallic cookware can be used. In a microwave, the food is getting heated and then some of the heat is passed on to the pot. In induction cooking, the pot is getting heated first and then transfers most of that heat on to the food.

In normal electric cooking instruments, the cooking element gets heated due to electric resistance to the metal, and then transfers that heat on to the cooking pot. In induction cooking, the stove is not getting heated at all. What it does is heats up the cooking pot directly and thus warms up the food inside it.

The process of induction cooking is achieved through magnetic hysteresis loss. The cooking element on the stove will generate an alternating magnetic field on the cookware and this will in turn create heat due to magnetic hysteresis. This works only on certain type of cooking utensils like cast iron cookware, enamel-covered iron cookware, carbon steel cookware, some stainless steel cookware etc. Not all stainless steel cookware can be used for induction cooking.

How do you figure out an induction friendly cookware?

Any cookware which attracts a magnet to its bottom can be used for this purpose. It should have a flat bottom too. If the bottom of the cookware is not flat, the cooking won’t be efficient. Of late, many cookwares has a description on it saying whether it is suitable for induction cooking or not. If you are not sure about this, you may ask the sales man and clarify your questions.

Some Advantages Of Induction Cooking Over Electric Cooking

• Cooks faster
• Heats up faster
• Much more easier to clean
• More child safe
• More energy efficient
• Do not heat up the kitchen as much

I had questions about the quality of food we have been having for a long time. I have made a post about the same topic here before. On that occasion I wrote about my worries regarding food products coming from China and problems associated with hog industry in America (as reported by Nicholas D Kristof of New York times). I pointed the criminal collusion between the manufacturers and their auditors to circumvent the government’s checks and safe guards.

But I never suspected baby food industry. Who in their right mind would do some thing to harm babies? Especially since these products are consumed by kids of these manufacturers too. And I did not find any proof to contradict this belief so far. But, recently CDC (Center For Disease Control) has disclosed that they have found traces of rocket fuel in baby formula! Can any one believe it? Rocket fuel chemicals in baby formula!

On second thought, this should have been expected. Since the US has the biggest arsenal of arms on the planet, we are bound to test and use them much more than the rest of the world. Naturally residue of the chemicals used in bombs, rockets etc are bound to contaminate the drinking water sources and eventually reach even baby formula. The large number of air planes flying around the country are also bound to leave behind a huge amount of pollutants behind.

The chemical which was found in the powdered baby formula is “perchlorate”. This chemical can occur naturally in certain cases. But in most cases, the contamination is coming from defense installations and activities related to NASA. The amount of the chemical found by itself is within limits of consumption for adults. But when this is mixed with contaminated water, the level of contamination will become beyond safe limits. And the limits are set for adults. So this must be really high for infants! The water in many parts of the US is contaminated with perchlorate and some of these are above safe limits already!

These findings were released by the scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different brands of powdered baby formula.

Perchlorate is considered to be a reason for thyroid problems. But there are no studies which ties this chemical directly to the condition. As thyroid hormones are responsible for human metabolism, this may adversely affect the baby’s over all growth and intellect.

Iodine is known to counteract the effects of perchlorate to some extent. Hence, government has made it mandatory for baby formulas to have iodine in them. This can prevent the adverse effects of this chemical to some extent.

In the same study, cow’s milk has the highest amount of perchlorate in it. So, we have to drink our milk also at our own risk!

Due to the havoc it can create in the baby food market, authorities are still vouching for the safety of baby formula. As there are no conclusive studies to prove the adverse effects of perchlorate, we have to keep our arms crossed and wait in the hope that the CDC is correct in their assessment.