Moroccan inspired lamb stew

I love stews, full of flavor, meat thats soft and tender and falls apart. To me real food heaven. Soul food, comfort food. I love my stews either full of spices Moroccan style or drenched in wine and loaded with herbs. This recipe is of the latter, inspired by Moroccan spices and flavors. I have a feeling that this could be cooked perfectly in a tagine (Moroccan terra-cotta pyramid shaped cooking pot). I love lamb in this stew as its deep earthy flavor deepns the flavor of the spices but a good bio/eco beef or chicken would also do well. I served the stew with couscous and rice, bulgur could also do well.

As all stews this will take about 2,5-4 hours to cook, the longer the better. This will allow all the spices to fuse together and the meat go soft and what I call "stringy". I recommend using a deep thick bottomed pan for this.

to make 8 servings
(perfect dish to freeze and take out on a night you can't be bothered to cook or when you know your going to come home late)
2 aubergines
1 red paprika (capsicum to all Australians)
1 fresh chili
1 large yellow onion
8 dried apricots
6 dried prunes
400 gram lamb/beef meat (make sure the cuts you get are good for a stew)
3-5 merenguez sausages (or other spices sausages)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3 garlic cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch cardamon
pinch dried chili
pinch paprika powder
+/-1 tsp salt
pepper
1 cube beef stock or 1 tbsp concentrated liquid stock
1 chopped tinned tomato
3 dl water (enough to cover the meat & veg)
optional - 1 tsp "ras el hasout" spice (I found it at my local turkish corner store - kind a like a curry powder but not completely.
Chopped parsley and/or coriander

1. Cut the meat into strips or cubes (no smaller than 3x3 cm)
2. Fry the meat for 2 min, till its browned but not cooked through.
3. Place the meat in a bowl or plate.
4. Chop the paprika, onion and garlic, fry till soft and golden. Add to the plate of meat.
5. Chop up the aubergine and fry in olive oil till soft, takes about 5-8 min. Getting it soft is important as aubergine can easily get tough if not cooked well enough.
6. Add the meat, paprika, onions and garlic to the aubergine and add all the spices, fry for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Add the dried fruit, tinned tomatoes and water.
8. Place the lid half ways over the pan.
Keep stirring the stew every 20 minutes so that it doesn't burn.

I think a last minute pinch of lemon zest or even organge could lift all the flavors up and bring a little zing to the otherwise very 'soft' and almost sweet tasting dish. I have not tried it yet but if you give it a try let me know how it turned out!