A Moroccan Tagine is a traditional North African dish that is typically made with chicken or lamb, vegetables, and spices. The dish is cooked in a Tagine, which is a special type of earthenware pot that has a conical lid. This allows the steam to circulate and cook the food evenly.
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Traveling to Morocco or discovering cities in the Sahara desert, and wondering what food you’ll eat while spending your vacation in Morocco? Imagining what Moroccan cuisine will taste like?
You don’t have to worry for the best places to visit in Morocco since every place in the whole country has a culinary background.
Moroccan food is regarded as among the best in the world, featuring a wide variety of traditional dishes that draw heavily on the cuisines of the Amazigh, Romans, Africans, Arabs, French, and Spanish.
This rich combination of different cultures makes Morocco’s cuisine so versatile.
Once you ride and venture into a tour of Marrakech, Meknes, or Fes, which are one of the best cities in Morocco, you will find an unlimited choice of Moroccan street food; you can find both traditional street food and the new school of street food that you can find in almost any street of any Moroccan city.
Couscous, Pastilla, or roasted lamb are one of Morocco’s most famous dishes that fascinate people from around the globe. But the traditional Moroccan tagine remains the most iconic national dish.
Let’s first picture you what is a tagine:
Traditional Moroccan chicken tagine
A tagine is a two-piece, conical-shaped earthenware clay pot used in Berber cuisine. The tagine’s design is extremely clever and useful. The steam trapped in the fluted cone on top of the covered pot condenses as it cooks over a heat source, initially hot charcoal, and drops moisture back down to the stewing dish. Only a small portion of water is required to cook the dish. The ingredients tenderize and caramelize evenly, and the natural flavors come through.
Harun al Rashid, a leader of the Islamic caliphate in the late 8th century, is often cited as the tagine’s inventor. According to historians, the tagine was mentioned in a compilation of tales from the 9th century called One Thousand and One Nights.
According to some food historians, the Roman Empire, which used portable ovens with a shape resembling the tagine, had an even greater impact on the development of the tagine.
The tagine was primarily utilized by North African nomads who cooked over an open fire. They could use less desirable and tougher meat to make a tasty stew because the tagine tenderizes it.
Moroccan Tagines are traditionally made of clay. The Tagine can also be glazed and painted. It can also go untreated. For cooking, you’ll need a simple Tagine. The patterns aren’t required. If you have the chance to find a genuine Moroccan Tagine, soak it in water overnight.
You lower the chance of cracking in this manner. Your Tagines will taste better every time because unglazed cookware absorbs spices and oils. A very thick and sturdy bottom is a must-have when selecting a tagine. It will unavoidably crack if not. Over blazing coals, Moroccans have traditionally prepared their Tagines. It is favorable to have a flame-spreader if your stove is gas. Use a Tagine with a thick bottom and extreme caution if you have a glass-ceramic stove.
What to do when you cook a Tagine?
Stewing mainly, whether it’s chicken, meat, fish, or vegetables.
Small bits of meat are braise-cooked at a barely perceptible boil. Sometimes the meat is first crisp-fried before being braised. Stew differs from other dishes in that it is typically served with a sauce created from the cooking liquid. Water, broth, or even wine may be used as the liquid.
The liquid’s ability to swiftly and evenly disperse heat is a benefit. Its temperature is simple to modify to the cook’s preferences, and it can pick up the flavor and transfer it, producing a sauce. However, unlike oil, liquid cannot reach a temperature high enough to impart to meat the flavor and aroma of roasted meat. That is why meat is frequently roasted before stewing. This process prevents the meat from being overcooked.
One Tagine, unlimited options!
Usually, the more expensive and challenging cuts of beef are used. These meats will melt on your tongue after a lengthy stew. Lamb can sit about all day in a tagine. You hardly have to exert any effort at all! Put the lamb, spices, and liquid in a tagine in the morning, and cook over very low heat all day, and remember, cooking the perfect tagine is much about patience and trusting the slow cooking process. The best cuts for this are lamb necks or shanks. Add your choice of herbs, spices, veggies, or olives 30 minutes before the cooking is finished.
Fish should only be cooked for 40 minutes at most, while chicken should only be cooked for about an hour and a half and sometimes just one hour.
Preserved lemons are the secret to making any tagine the perfect tagine. Lemons that have been salted are still another essential component in many Tagine recipes. These lemons are essentially leavened in a salt solution. Spices are occasionally added to the solution. Although we don’t think any of this is genuinely luxurious, it makes the whole difference and will add extra taste to your dish; spices are not required. Lemons are pretty simple to prepare at home. The month-long wait before using homemade products is their main drawback. These lemons combine well with chicken and olives tagines, slow-cooked meat tagine with caramelized onions, and much more…
Before diving into some of the best Moroccan Tagine dishes, let’s keep looking at this amazing culinary tool to really appreciate and understand its mechanism, therefore mastering the cooking of an authentic Moroccan tagine.
Because of its peculiar cover, we receive steam condensation, which makes whatever you cook extremely delicate and juicy. The truth is that we always cook things on a very low heat with the lid closed. As a result, the steam saturated with spices will rise, condense, and then steam up again. The dome of an authentic tagine has a hole through which extra steam must be let out to keep a balanced cooking process. If not, it will attempt to escape through the opening between the base and the lid, which is improper. The dish will thoroughly absorb the tastes of the herbs and spices, turning out to be very delicate and aromatic.
Depending on what we are cooking, we will receive juicy meat or fish at the same time as a sauce that is thick and syrup-like in flavor. The meat will also be very tender. It takes at least two hours for the meat in the tagine to cook thoroughly. Vegetables, fish, and poultry don’t require such a lengthy simmering. However, they also develop a unique texture and flavor in the tagine and become highly delectable. The juiciness of tagine is due to the way it retains moisture. Thanks to the steam cooking, the heat is cooked from the top, through the tagine’s base, and from the bottom.
How to properly use a tagine?
Here’s a proper guide step by step to using a tagine.
Season your tagine: Before using a tagine, it should be seasoned to strengthen and seal it and, if it is un-glazed, to get rid of the taste of raw clay. In order to season, immerse the base and lid in water for two hours. Dry the tagine before applying olive oil to the bottom, lid, and interior of each. Set your preheated oven to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit and place the cookware inside. Turn off the oven after two hours of baking to allow the tagine to cool completely inside. Before using, wash the tagine and give it one more olive oil brushing.
Make the base layer: Putting a layer of vegetables across the bottom of the pot to create a cushion for the remaining ingredients is the first step in making a tagine. When cooking, a layer of finely chopped celery, carrots, or onions will prevent the meat from burning on the bottom and sticking. For flavor, the foundation can be flavored with chopped or whole garlic cloves.
Add olive oil: To get a rich and smooth sauce to your tagine, you must add enough olive oil. Most tagine dishes require at least ¼ cup or two 3 big tablespoons. The olive oil soaked up really well with your ingredients and adds an extra flavor.
Add your fish, poultry or meat: Make sure to add meat, chicken, or fish to the center. Around the meat, arrange the vegetables. Leave space for additional veggies to be added around the perimeter and arrange in a mound in the center.
Season with spices: To create a thick, aromatic sauce, liberally sprinkle spices over the meat and vegetables. Cardamom, clove, cinnamon, ground coriander, cumin, paprika, mace, nutmeg, peppercorn, ground ginger, rosemary, ras-el-hanout, which is a very flavorful Morrocan spice, and ground turmeric are among the spices that go well in tagine recipes.
Garnishing your tagine: Making a tagine requires a lot of presentation. Strips of bell peppers, olives, or preserved lemon can be used to enhance color. Fresh herbs like parsley, oregano, or cilantro should be added in knotted bundles.
Add water or broth: Adding liquid to the tagine, such as water or chicken broth, keeps the meal wet while it cooks. For a small tagine and a large tagine, carefully pour 1 ½ cups of water or chicken stock into the side of the tagine. Adapt as necessary in accordance with the recipe; because some dishes require more water or broth, some tagine dishes may also require adding water throughout the cooking process.
Cook the tagine: To prevent the tagine from cracking, avoid using high heat. Put it above the heat source rather than right on it (a diffuser is needed for electric stove tops). Set your tagine over a medium to low heat and let it simmer for a while. Fish and chicken take less time to prepare than beef and lamb; however, cooking times can vary.
Keep checking your liquid: Keep verifying the cooking liquid level after one or two hours. Add a further 1/4 cup of liquid if the mixture has already begun to thicken.
You are ready to serve your tagine: Tagines can make a lovely serving dish. Tagine is typically served as a communal dish, with Moroccan bread used to shovel up the meat, veggies, and sauce. Be sure to give the tagine 15 minutes to rest before serving.
Here are some tagine recipes to spice up your repertoire:
Lamb Tagine with Apricot & Almond Couscous:
Ingredients
- 400 g diced stewing lamb,
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon honey
- sea salt
- 2 red onions
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 eggplant (aubergine)
- ½ bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 fresh red chili
- olive oil
- 1 x 400 g tin plum tomatoes
- 1 x 400 g tin of chickpeas
- 40 g dried apricots
- 40 g black olives (stone in)
- 40 g flaked almonds
- 1 pinch of saffron
- 200 g couscous
- 1 lemon
The preparation:
Mix thoroughly before adding the honey, sea salt, and black pepper to the meat. Peel the onions, roughly chop them, slice the garlic very thinly, and cut the aubergine into 2 cm parts. Chop the parsley, stems, and all, coarsely before deseeding and chopping the chili.
In a medium nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, sear the lamb for about 2 minutes, tossing frequently, or until browned. Cook until softened and barely browned, about 15 minutes. Keep on increasing the heat to high throughout and add an additional lug of oil, along with the aubergine, onions, garlic, chili, and most of the parsley.
When the lamb is tender, simmer for one and a half hours after bringing it to a boil. One can of water and the tomatoes, broken up with a spoon, should be added. Add the apricots, roughly tearing them in half, after which add the chickpeas, liquids, and all. Olives are de-stoned, added after which the seasoning is tasted.
Place a small pot over high heat just before the tagine is ready. Now on to the toppings, add your flaked almonds, and make sure to toast them for at least 2 minutes or until golden. Then, transfer it to a small bowl. Put the lid back on the heat, add 300 ml of cold water and the saffron, and bring to a boil. When your dish is finished, remove the lid and stir in gently your couscous. Leave for five minutes to swell. Toss the couscous with a fork, then add the almonds, apricots, and lemon juice. The remaining apricots should be thinly sliced. Finish by scattering the reserved parsley over the top and grating some lemon zest before serving with the tagine.
Chicken Tagine With Olives and Preserved Lemons:
Ingredients:
- 5 finely chopped cloves of garlic
- ¼teaspoon of saffron
- ½teaspoon grounded ginger
- 1teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½teaspoon ground cumin
- ½teaspoon turmeric
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1chicken, cut into 8 to 10 pieces
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 thin sliced onions
- cinnamon
- 8calamata olives pitted and halved
- 8cracked green olives pitted and halved
- preserved lemons (from one to three lemons)
- 1cup chicken stock
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
The preparation:
Combine turmeric, cumin, paprika, saffron, ginger, and garlic in a dish. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt if the chicken is not kosher. As desired, add pepper. Combine ingredients, rub over chicken, cover, chill, and marinate for 3 to 4 hours.
In a big skillet, heat the oil. Brown the chicken all over after adding it. Transfer to a plate. Add the onions to the skillet and cook for about 15 minutes, or until they are just beginning to brown. If using a tagine, transfer to it instead of leaving it in the skillet, including the cinnamon stick.
Chicken over onions and a scattering of olives. Remove the pulp from the lemons, then slice the skin into strips. Sprinkle over the chicken. Combine lemon juice and stock. Add to the chicken.
Cover the skillet or tagine. Cook for about 30 minutes at low heat, or until chicken is cooked through. Add some parsley, olives, and some pieces of preserved lemons on top, you can even add some french fries and then serve.
Morrocan shakshuka:
The meal known as shakshuka originated in a nation that has long had a love affair with tomatoes and eggs. It is now highly popular in North Africa and the Middle East.
Although we just refer to the Moroccan version of shakshuka as “kefta and egg tagine” in Morocco and include kefta meatballs, isn’t the name “shakshuka” just too adorable?
Shakshuka is that it is simple to make yet flavorful. The poached eggs are the best part of it. Always in awe of how smooth and creamy these turn out, the thick tomato sauce plays a role in the flavor.
All you need is basically 3 elements to complete this recipe: Kefta (minced meat), a rich tomato sauce, and eggs.
Create little meatballs out of the kefta (2.5 cm in diameter), cover them, and store them in the refrigerator.
- Stir the remaining ingredients, excluding the eggs, in a sizable frying pan (or deep skillet), over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered with a lid. Allow simmering for about 25 minutes or until a thick sauce forms.
- Add the kefta to the sauce and cover for about 7 minutes. This tenderizes the meat to cook it all the way, soaking up all the goodness and flavors in the sauce.
- Crack in your eggs. Make sure to cook them a medium way so that the white is properly cooked, but most importantly, when you cut into that yolk, it should be very smooth and runny.
Top off your kefta tagine with freshly chopped coriander and serve with toasted bread immediately.
Tagine is a subject of national pride throughout Morocco, from roadside meals to snack booths in the cities to the most opulent tourist eateries. It’s a never-ending adventure to approach any eatery with the distinctive cones stacked on the fire. What’s cooking down there? A waiter arrives to put a stop to the surprise as soon as someone makes a weird motion. The cone is lifted with a flick of his wrist, revealing the cooking feast below.
