Tajine

Tajine

The tagine is the traditional dish par excellence of Morocco, It must be said that this magic word is evacuator of the perfumes of Maghreb, it is always an invitation to escape to travel. It takes its name from the typical glazed earthenware utensil in which it is slowly cooked with charcoal.

Cooked with a basic element (beef, lamb, poultry or fish), This rustic stew is complemented according to mood or market, tagine is a boon for any cook with a little talent and imagination. It can be prepared with all kinds of ingredients, the turn of hand remaining about always the same.

Each Moroccan cook has his recipe, variations around a stew of meat or fish accompanied by vegetables or even dried fruits.... We must be careful to perfume the whole; Spices and herbs remain the elements that give the tagine that taste that differentiates it from an ordinary stew. There is the everyday tagine, economical and modest, but always tasty, and the festive tagine, sophisticated and dazzling.

Tagine is a mysterious dish that subtly combines oriental spices, salty and sweet. Coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, niora... gently lift the preparations.

But they also owe their flavour to the use of garlic, parsley, lemon and olive oils. Sweet sour cooking, with dates, apricots, raisins or prunes, toasted almonds or honey, are particularly delicious.

Tagine is a simple dish whose success depends mainly on the way it is cooked: it must be slow so that meat or fish, vegetables and spices interweave their fragrances.

It is important that the sauce becomes as condensed as possible to enhance the flavours.

The Koran prohibiting the consumption of alcohol, Moroccans accompany the tagines with fresh drinks: mineral water, fruit juice, sodas... Finally, don't forget that a traditional Moroccan meal cannot end without a coffee served in a glass or a delicious sweet tea flavoured with fresh mint.