Turkish Lamb and Apricot Stew

Due to finding it hard getting free range or "Freedom Food" chicken recently and also because we were watching a cooking show that was using lamb, I've decided to diversify our menu a little more and try new meats and new cuts. Lamb was never a regular meat for me growing up so besides Irish Stew and I thought I would love to try something altogether new for my palate. After searching through my cookbooks I found a great recipe for Turkish lamb and apricot stew and thought it was worth trying. I had to edit it slightly though seeing as my husband is a carnivore and left out the aubergine and chick peas (and when serving it picked the apricots out of his dish). This was very tasty and quite sweet. the cookbook recommends serving this with couscous, but I hate the texture of it so we were typically Irish and had potato! Here's the recipe as i cooked it:

Turkish Lamb and Apricot Stew

Serves 2 or 3

Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 whole cloves
400 g boned leg of lamb, cubed
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1/2 pint water
10-14 dried apricots
1 tsp clear honey
chopped fresh parsley, to garnish
chopped toasted almonds, to garnish
salt and pepper

Recipe
1. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole or large pot. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the ground cinnamon and cloves; fry for 1 minute.
3. Add the lamb, cook for 5-6 minutes, stir until browned.
4. Add the tomatoes, water, apricots and add seasoning. Bring to the boil the cover the pan, reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Stir in the honey and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the lamb is tender.
6. Serve garnished with some chopped almonds and parsley.

And if you want to add the aubergine and chick peas here are the missing steps:

Cube 1 large aubergine, place in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 minutes. Rinse, drain and pat dry then add to the pan (just after step 3), cook for about 3 minutes. Then move on to step 4.
Stir in 2/3 cup of canned chick peas at the same time as the honey (step 5).