Obviously this is not a traditional dish since pork would probably not be used as the protein of choice in any self-respecting tagine (for which I apologize). This dish is certainly a case where the equivalent in English of the " à la" or "à la façon de" so beloved by French menu writers would be helpful.
Basically, I was craving a dish with the spices one would use in a tagine, I wanted to use my cone-lidded tagine pot, which was due for an outing from the cupboard, I had pork stew meat in the freezer and half a package of pitted prunes in the pantry, and so created this Tagine-esque dish.
2 lbs pork stew meat
1 medium onion (red would be good, yellow works too), peeled, halved and sliced into thin half moons
1 cup dried prunes
1 can chickpeas
1 Tbsp freshly ground ginger root + 1 thumb-sized piece of the root (unpeeled is fine)
2 tsps + 1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsps + 1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsps + 1 tsp cardamon powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 hot pepper (I used a Habanero)
2 Tbsps tomato concentrate
2 Tbsps olive oil
1/2 cup chopped coriander/cilantro
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
3/4 cup ground almonds
Salt
The night before you plan on making this dish, toss the pork stew meat in a large bowl with 2 teaspoons each of the cumin, coriander and cardamon, and all of the turmeric. Make sure that each cube of meat has a thin spice coating. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Remove the bowl from the fridge about an hour before you are ready to cook the meat. Prep your vegetables, rinse your chickpeas, and pour boiling water over your prunes, measured out into a bowl.
Add one tablespoon of oil to a large sauce pan, and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Working in batches, add some of the stew meat to the pan and cook on all sides to create a golden-brown crust. Do not crowd the pan, and add more oil if needed. As the meat browns, remove the pieces to a separate bowl and add a new batch to the pan. Salt each batch of meat as you sear it.
Once all of the meat has been browned, lower the heat and add the onions to the pan in which you cooked the meat. There should be a bit of oil left in the bottom, enough so that the onions won't stick as they start to cook. Salt the onions and stir often.
As soon as the onions have started to soften and become translucent, add the remaining spices, the grated ginger, and the tomato concentrate to the pan. Stir to combine, and let cook for a minute or so, stirring occasionally, until the spices are very fragrant and the tomato concentrate has lost its bright red color.
Add the meat back into the pan and add a cup of water. Stir to distribute the spices and tomato concentrate in the liquid. Nestle the piece of garlic root, the hot pepper, and the dried lime among the pieces of pork.
Cover the pan and cook for two and a half hours, until the meat is tender and you can easily pull a piece apart between two forks. Check the dish every half hour or so and add more water, a quarter cup at a time, if it looks as though the pan might be getting dry. It shouldn't, as the pork meat will add some liquid to the pan, but you never know. After the first half hour, taste the broth and add salt if needed. Remove the hot pepper if the spice level of the broth works for you. If not, leave it in, and remove it the next time you check on the dish.Or the time after that...
After 2 hours, strain the liquid from the meat. Place the meat in a bowl and the liquid back in the pan along with the ginger root and the (by now) rehydrated dried lime. Turn the heat back to medium and let the liquid boil away until reduced by half and intensified in flavor. While it is boiling away, use 2 forks to shred the pork.
Once the sauce has reduced by half, remove and discard the ginger and lime. Add the pulled pork to the pan along with the drained prunes and the chickpeas and cook until the pork, prunes, and chickpeas are heated through. Taste one last time for seasoning and add more salt if needed.
Serve with couscous, plain or carrot. Sprinkle with some of the cilantro, mint, and ground almonds before serving.
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