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Tajine

29/10/2019

5 Comments

 
Picture
A Tajine is a dish named after the pot it's cooked in. Simple,  perhaps.
​

Alice is a Danish friend in Kopenhavn.  She bought the tajine (left) in Morocco a few weeks ago and starting working on it immediately (right).

The dish is of glazed earthenware, has two pieces, attractively decorated. It cooks and works nicely as a serving dish.  It is placed over embers to cook very slowly.  In a modern kitchen, a diffuser needs to be used between the dish and the hotplate, to moderate the temperature  and also to risk not cracking the  dish. Modern ones are made with a heavy cast iron bottom with the  funnel top of earthenware.






A modern tajine - not as romantic but might be easier, cast-iron base and ceramic lid.






Tajines are stews or casseroles or ragouts, whatever.  They are mixtures of meat, lamb, chicken or  fish with vegetables.  They are sometimes just vegetables. They often incorporate fruit, dried or fresh, nuts and honey. The aim can be for a sweet sour balance but they are always aromatic with saffron and or a spice mix, ras el hanout, ​more often than not  (see below).

Popular, traditional or classic combinations might be...
  • Chicken with preserved lemons (see post 6th April, 2018) and green olives (not black, saffron optional)
  • Lamb with prunes and almonds
  • Fish with braised fennel and preserved lemon (saffron optional)
  • Yellow root vegetables with chickpeas, saffron and dried apricots (saffron)
  • Lamb with raisins and honey  
                          
They are beautifully aromatic, sometimes spicy hot, sometimes not. You get the idea.
A Tajine is not a Couscous. You eat a Tajine with bread on the side, not couscous.  You eat couscous with a Couscous (see post 20th Oct. 2017). 

Would you like to cook a Tajine?  Can you prepare a Tagine without a tajine? Do you need a tajine?

Perhaps not...
  • You don't really need one.
  • An earthenware tajine needs careful handling.
  • It's a storage nightmare.
  • If you want to cook in it, it needs a diffuser to protect it from the heat of a modern stove, unless it has a modern cast iron base.
  • It's possible but rare to find a tagine large enough to serve more than four people. They are vey shallow.
  • You can cook the same dish in any  saucepan or casserole (e.g. Staub, Le Creuset etc.).  

Perhaps yes...
  • They are very beautiful, authentically atmospheric, one could even say rather romantic.
  • There's a "wow" when the funnel lid is removed.
  • They tick all the boxes for eating SLOW.
  • Le Creuset (and others) make a modern one with a very useable base.
  • BUT the most important thing is in the funnel.  As it simmers, steam rises and runs back down the funnel as liquid, up and down, up and down, concentrating the flavours, thickening, cohering.  This is the whole point and it works.

​So first, get going with some preserved lemons and some ras el hanout.

(I've made the assumption that you know how to get a stew going.  For a Tajine, start with lots of onion, two at least for a serve of 4 and go from there.  If you'd like a real recipe, just contact me.  I'm happy to oblige.)

Comment below 👇

5 Comments
Pauline
28/10/2019 10:02:54 pm

Good breakdown on tagines...good flavour combinations. I use baharat as it sweeter with the cloves etc.....
Bugger about the girls being collaborators though!

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Cath link
29/10/2019 04:30:56 pm

We don't want to start a religious or cultural war but baharat and ras el hanout are really the same thing. You can of course add more cloves if you wish. Many recipes have nutmeg. Some have fewer spices. I've even seen dried lavender.
The "girls" were more fortunate than most Jews in Paris and who wouldn't try to save one's skin? We might need to see this in the atmosphere of the time.

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Kym
31/10/2019 03:16:57 pm

My first experience of a tagine was in Morocco. Our tour group did a cooking class of preparing and then eating our Chicken Tagine. Very nice, but your point Cath of where to store it has put me off making the next step of purchasing one.
Oh well, I will just have to be content of frequenting a Moroccan restaurant in Adelaide. Any suggestions as to which one to try?

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catherine kerry link
1/11/2019 08:37:48 am

Yes a difficult item but you can make an excellent Tagine in a casserole dish. Trust me Kym, any Tagine you eat in a restaurant will have been prepared in a large casserole, plated up for two and possibly served in a tajine. I like to have coffee and a snack at Le Souk, stall 10, Adelaide Market. Charming Algerian owner who sells small jars of excellent ras el hanout but you might enjoy making your own.

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Tony
10/2/2020 07:28:57 pm

This is my recipe which I make regularly. Basically a bit of all the things I love. It changes from time to time depending on my mood.

RAS EL HANOUT

2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt flakes
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons hot smoky paprika
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons ground pepper
1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
1 ½ teaspoons fennel seeds
1 ½ teaspoons lavender
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
½ teaspoon habanero powder
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon caraway seeds
½ teaspoon aniseed
3 dried bay leaves
Big pinch saffron

Roast seeds then grind them and add the ground ingredients. Sift and grind and sift again until uniform consistency. Makes about 115 g. Lasts me about a year.

I prefer mine to be spicy, but if you prefer, leave out the habanero and use regular sweet paprika.

One of my favourite ways of using this is on a pork chop fried in butter with apple slices also fried in butter and mash potato. Indulgent but YUMMY!



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