Lamb and Date Tagine

Asked by birdie1962. Answered on 5th January 2016

Full question

I want to make Nigella's Lamb And Date Tagine recipe from her Nigella Christmas book and it asks for pomegranate juice from a bottle. I was wondering if I could use pomegranate molasses instead?

Our answer

Nigella's Lamb And Date Tagine (from Christmas) uses pure pomegranate juice as this adds a slightly tart sourness to the dish, to offset the rich sweetness of the dates. It should be pure juice rather than a pomegranate juice drink as the juice drink contains added sugar and water. Pom is a good brand to look out for and can be found in many UK and US supermarkets.

Pomegranate molasses are made by boiling down pomegranate juice until it is thick and syrupy. It has a sweet-tart flavour but is much sweeter than the pure pomegranate juice. So we would not recommend using it as a substitute for the juice, as the tagine overall will become too sweet.