Creative Tagine Cooking: Delicious Dishes Beyond Traditional Stews

Tagine is a traditional Moroccan clay or ceramic cooking vessel used to make rich, slow-cooked stews. But what else can you cook in a tagine besides Moroccan food? Well, you can use a tagine to cook a variety of dishes from other cultures, such as Mediterranean vegetable stew, lamb or beef stew with peas and artichokes, shrimp in tomato sauce, and even a Moroccan meatball tagine. You can also use a Dutch oven or slow cooker to make tagine-style dishes if you don't own a traditional tagine. So, whether you're looking to experiment with new flavours or just want to get creative with your cookware, a tagine can be a versatile addition to your kitchen.

Meat, poultry or fish

Tagine cooking is a method that involves layering aromatics, meat, and vegetables, along with spices, oil, and water. Meat, poultry, or fish are usually arranged in the centre of the tagine. If you're using meat on the bone, place the pieces bone-side-down to reduce the risk of scorching the meat.

For a lamb tagine, you can arrange the meat into a mound in the centre so you can add lots of vegetables around the perimeter. Lamb tagines can be cooked with green olives and lemon, or with prunes, or with butternut squash and apricots.

Chicken tagines are also popular. You can cook chicken with preserved lemons and olives, or chicken with saffron, or chicken with apricot, or chicken with artichoke hearts and peas.

Beef tagines are also an option. You can cook beef with vegetables, or with butternut squash and apricots.

Fish is also wonderful in a tagine. You can cook fish with potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers.

Vegetables

You can also include pulses and other dry goods, such as chickpeas, lentils, or beans. These help turn what can seem like a light side dish into a more satisfying main event.

When it comes to preparation, you can pan-roast each vegetable individually to get some colour on them before simmering. This helps to get the most flavour out of each vegetable. You can also add aromatics and fruit, such as onions, garlic, prunes, preserved lemons, or dried apricots.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Cinnamon
• Saffron
• Turmeric
• Vegetables of choice (e.g. winter squash, sweet potato, baby turnips, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini, apricots)
• Vegetable stock
• Prunes
• Preserved lemon
• Butter
• Almonds
• Honey
• Green olives
• Chickpeas
• Coriander

Instructions:

• Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan and fry the onions until soft and translucent.
• Stir in the garlic and spices and cook for a few minutes until fragrant.
• Add your chosen vegetables and stir in the vegetable stock.
• Add the prunes and preserved lemon, bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
• Meanwhile, fry the almonds in butter until golden and set aside.
• Once the vegetables are tender, stir in the honey, olives, and chickpeas. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
• Finally, roughly chop the coriander and scatter over the top, along with the almonds. Serve with couscous or rice.

Spices, oil and water

The amount of oil used in a tagine recipe is also important. Ample oil is the foundation of a rich sauce, so most recipes specify between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of oil. Moroccan cooks often use a mix of olive oil and vegetable oil. If you reduce the amount of oil, you will end up with less sauce or a watery sauce.

Tagines require very little water as the conical lid allows steam to circulate and condense, dripping back onto the ingredients and keeping them moist. However, it is important to add some water or broth to the tagine to help the food stay moist. The amount of water added will depend on the type of meat used and the cooking time. For a large lamb or beef tagine with vegetables, 2 to 2 1/2 cups of water is usually sufficient, while a chicken tagine with a shorter cooking time may only need half that amount.

Bread to serve

The type of bread served with a tagine depends on the region and the dish it accompanies. In Morocco, the dish is often served with Moroccan bread, which is used to scoop up the sauce, vegetables, and meat. Flatbread is also commonly served with tagines, either at room temperature or warmed so that it is pliable. Pita bread works nicely and can also be warmed and kept wrapped in a clean cloth to retain heat.

In France, where the tagine has become a staple at dinner parties, the dish is often served with bread for dipping in the sauce. This can be any type of flatbread, such as pita, or French bread such as baguettes.

In addition to bread, tagines are often served with couscous, polenta, or rice. In Morocco, French fries are frequently served with tagines and may even be placed on top of the meat.

Tagine cookware

When cooking with a tagine, it is important to bring it to room temperature before placing it on a heat source to avoid cracking. Tagines are typically used to cook meat, poultry, or fish with vegetables and spices. The food is layered in the pot, starting with a base layer of sliced onions to prevent the meat from sticking and burning. Garlic, meat, and spices are then added, followed by ample oil to create a rich sauce. The tagine is then placed in the oven or on a stovetop over low to medium-low heat, allowing the ingredients to slowly cook and develop a stew-like consistency.

Tagines are known for their blend of sweet and savoury flavours, with spices such as ginger, cinnamon, clove, saffron, turmeric, coriander, paprika, and cumin. Dried fruits like apricots, prunes, and raisins are also commonly added to the dish. The unique shape of the tagine promotes steam circulation, allowing the food to cook with very little water, making it ideal for cooking in areas where water is scarce.

Tagines are not only used for cooking but also for serving. It is traditional to gather around and eat directly from the tagine, using Moroccan bread to scoop up the food. Tagines are a communal and flavourful way to enjoy a meal, perfect for sharing at dinner parties.

Frequently asked questions