Lham Lhalou - literally 'sweet meat' - is the dish of Moroccan weddings and Eid celebrations, where the table must offer both savory and sweet to honor guests. The combination of slow-braised lamb with prunes, honey, and almonds comes directly from Andalusian Arab cooks who fled Spain in 1492 and brought their sweet-savory sensibility to the kitchens of Fes. The prunes represent prosperity (their wrinkled abundance suggesting many offspring), the honey represents the sweetness of life, and the almonds symbolize hope. At a Fes wedding, the dish is served near the end of the meal, after the savory couscous and before the pastries - a hinge between worlds. Every Fassi grandmother has her own proportion of honey to sugar, and they will argue the difference for hours.
Original traditiontagineFès-Meknès
Lham Lhalou (Sweet Lamb with Prunes)
Festive sweet-savory lamb tagine from Fes: slow-braised shoulder glazed with honey, draped with prunes, and scattered with toasted almonds and sesame.
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Lham Lhalou (Sweet Lamb with Prunes) belongs to the Fès-Meknès table. Taste it where its Andalusian-Moroccan heritage kitchen tradition lives, or fold it into an itinerary through the region.
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