Over the past years I discovered more and more of the North African cuisine for myself. The Food culture from countries such as Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria is actually quite common in Europe. I have witnessed a spur and a liking towards Tajines, Tabbouleh and the like. Especially, France is boasting with a fair amount of North African establishment and even local family celebrations follow the same. The cuisine was happily added to the french way of life and soon it was as common as Croissants and Baguettes. I grew up with the influence of North African food and I see myself fortunate for that. The cuisine is vibrant, addictive and unique in it’s ways. It reminds us of family and enjoying a meal together, of a comfortable home and a fiesta between friends.
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I remember, that my mum didn’t own a Tajine cooking ware for some time, it was added much later to our household, but Couscous and sweat spicy meat recipes with nuts and dried prunes were prepared anyway in a regular basis. Some of you out there might be wondering what Tajine means or what it is. Tajine or also Tagine, is a earthenware pot but also a particular dish that is slow cooked in the traditional cooking utensil. The pot consists of 2 parts, a flat base rounded at the corners where the dish cooks and a dome shaped cover that sits on the lower part while cooking. The specially shaped cover serves to circulate the condensation down in the cooking process. Here, pure physics is doing an excellent job cooking the meat extremely tender inside.
There are a couple of different Tajine types, in fact Moroccan and Tunisian Tajines are known to be two totally different dishes. Since i have little knowledge of the Tunisian Tajine, I ll focus more towards the Moroccan Tajine dish. I have tried Mutton Tajine, Veg Tajine and Chicken Tajine in the past. My favorite and most people’s choice is the chicken Tajine. You can further cook a Fish, prune or even orange Tajine. Some Fusion cooking even suggests Osso Buco style Tajine!
How to eat a Tajine correctly? A question we all ask ourselves…
To do it the traditional way, move the Tajine clay pot into the center of a lower table surrounded by small seats. The cover is removed and everyone around the table starts to directly dip with three fingers into the warm dish. The index finger holds a piece of flat bread and the thumb pushes the food onto the bread before eating it all. The other fingers shouldn’t touch the dish!
Some months back I had mentioned in the Moroccan Tea experience, that the people follow the traditional preparation of Moroccan dishes and beverages in detail. The way certain cooking is done, is thought through, involves techniques and all this benefits the quality of a dish. Old wisdoms were preserved over time and were passed over to the generations.
Today, I present you our Moroccan family connection’s chicken Tajine recipe that will tickle your taste buds and take your food experience on a other level. The flavor principles here are acquired with some of the typical North African ingredients such as Prunes, Almonds and pickled lemons and further with seasoning such as Paprika powder and Cinnamon. I say, everybody should try a Tajine once and even buy one of those clay pots, because they come quite handy for other food preparations as well.
- 1 Chicken - cut into 6 pieces
- Olive Oil
- 2 Big Onion - sliced
- 5 Garlic Cloves - chopped
- ½ Tsp Ginger - chopped
- 2 Tomatoes - quartered
- 350 g Potato - roughly diced
- 2 small Carrots - sliced
- 4 Salt Pickled Lemons - roughly sliced (if not available add 2 Tsp Lemon juice instead)
- 150 g Almonds
- Handful Green Peas
- 2 Bay leafs
- 150 g dried Prunes
- 150 g presoaked Raisins
- ½ Tsp Turmeric Powder
- ½ Tsp Cinnamon Powder
- pinch Salt
- pinch Pepper
- 1½ Tbs Honey
- Start by parting the Chicken into 6 pieces and rinse the meat. Prepare all the Vegetables as mentioned above and keep aside. Take out the pickled Lemons and slice them roughly, keep aside.
- Place the Chicken with some Olive oil in a frying pan and fry the meat for 2-3 minutes on one side first. Turn the Chicken pieces to the other side and cover the meat with Onion, Garlic and Ginger pieces. Continue to fry on slow heat for 5 minutes.
- Now add to the pan the Tomato pieces, Potato, Carrot and Pickled Lemons. Stir fry for a minute and leave it to cook for a further 5 minutes.
- In the meanwhile blanch the Almonds to get rid of the skin, if not presoaked over night.
- Back to the pan. Add in the Green Peas and Bay leafs, cook for an other 3 minutes on slow heat.
- Keep the Tajine dish at the side, it should be kept warm. Take out the Chicken pieces and place into the Tajine.
- Continue to cook the veggies in the pan and throw in the Prunes, Raisins, Almonds, Turmeric Powder, Cinnamon Powder, Salt and Pepper. Stir fry for a minute and cook for another 3 minutes.
- At this point, you have to take out all the pan content and shift it to the Tajine. Add in the Honey and mix it all well.
- Close the cover of the Tajine and let it cook on slow flame for at least 1 h 45 min. Open it in between once just to mix the content carefully again and close it back.
- Serve hot with Flat bread, Couscous or Rice.
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I have never tried North African food before but sure have seen tv programs, esp on how to use the Tajine. I like all the ingredients you have used into the recipe, esp the spices and if I make this home, everyone will go gaga.
It reminds me a bit of Indian food. Mostly because of the spices such as Turmeric and Cinnamon. You really should try the recipe, I bet you will get addicted to it!
Nice recipe! As a former Casablancaise, I would love to know about your family’s connection to Moroccan cuisine. Actually, a tagine is a one-dish meal, no need for anything else to serve with it, except bread. My Moroccan cookbooks contain dozens of recipes for sweet or savory tagines of meat, fish, fowl, and vegetables. You can substitute a slow cooker for the tagine dish. Bismillah and bon appetit,
Hi there!
A couple of my 20+ cousins are living with Moroccan descendants in France, so family festivities are always colorful and multi cultural. =) Yeah for sure its a one dish meal, but I for once enjoy it with Couscous and there are others as well. Oh I would love to learn new Tajine recipes, its too good! Thanks for your tips, they will come handy! 😉
What a lovely dish, and it takes me right back to our vacation in Morocco last November where we ate many a Tajine dishes. We even learned to cook chicken tajine and lamb tajine at two different cooking schools! And our beautiful hotel manager was kind enough to gift us with a lovely traditional tajine. We have used it often, but we eat with cutlery!
hehe… We eat it with cutlery in Europe too. But if I had a tajine in Goa, I d eat it with some flat bread/with the hands. Its always weird to eat with hands in Europe. Everyone looks at me like I was mad when I try to do that. In India its totally normal.
Lucky you! I d love to visit this mysterious country one day. Everyone is telling me tales of Marakesh. I bet you learned some really good tricks there, cooking tajines. =)
lovely pictures and post
I’ve wanted a tajine for ages… I just adore all the wonderful things you can do with them. Such vibrant, colourful dishes. Sadly it’s going to have to be one of those things that waits until I buy a house one day – don’t really have the space for it right now, haha 🙂
Yeah I know what you mean, I am kind of facing the same problem. The tajin in this picture is my mothers, she got it from her sisters, who has 4 big tajine eaters in her house. She needed a bigger one so she gave my mum that one, otherwise there is no way to get a tajine in Austria where we live.
I bought my mom a gorgeous tagine for Christmas one year…it sits in my parents’ dining room, but I don’t think it’s ever been used! I may need to “borrow” it for a test run…what a delectable recipe 🙂
Ah such a pity! They do look very pretty though. The one in my picture is very simple, but the traditional ones are painted and so gorgeous. Have fun “borrowing” your parents Tajine! 😉
Your tagine looks simply decadent and delicious my friend, one of the best north African dishes 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
From the Land Down Under: I personally have loved N African cuisine for many years: and I have never owned a proper taginier! Cook it very naturally 2-3 x/week! This is a lovely recipe: thank you! May I possibly suggest that the Tunisian varieties of the dish may be the most delicate and satisfying of all. After all, Berber and Persian cooking styles are now regarded as the most ‘artistic’ in any form of world cooking. Personally, I’m learning Ethiopian ways every week [may I suggest Burmese as second choice?!] and that is not so far affoot 😀 !
I am keen to learn more about African cuisine as well, there are for sure many dishes out there that I dont know yet, especially form central Africa. You seem to have a good knowledge around African food Eha. =)
A beautiful tajine! So scrumptious looking. That is a speciality I adore (I love Moroccan food).
Cheers,
Rosa
As always, another tasty dish & interesting post. I find the tagine style of cooking very interesting, but haven’t been brave enough to try it yet 🙂
What a great recipe and post Helene! I love that this is your family’s recipe. North Afriacan cuisine is so delicious and I’m always interested in trying new recipes. Thanks for sharing:)
This looks like a wholesome and delicious dish. I have a Moroccan neighbor from who I am asking for this recipe. Now I shall just try yours.
Looks so good!
just looks amazing. SO flavorful and I love how comforting it sounds
I’ve never had Tajine before but saw on blogs maybe a few times (3-4 times). I’ve never known how to eat it too, so it was fun to read. I have a lot to learn about North African recipes, and I saw tajine in a Japanese kitchen store the other day. I should go back to get it! Thanks for sharing this special recipe Helene!
Hubby and I finally bought a tajine a few months back. We are always looking for recipes, and we love creating fun new recipes in our fun new toy:-) Your recipe sounds wonderful as the temperature starts to cool off, perfect comfort food:-) Hugs, Terra
My husband and I have had several tajine dishes in the past year and absolutely love them. It’s definitely a dish I want to add to our kitchen someday. This looks delicious!
I’ve never made anything in a Tajiine but I have eaten food made in one and it was delicious! I love this dish! I bet the raisins and prunes create such a sweet and tasty sauce. So Good!
Every time I go to a home ware store I stand there and look at tagine. I can not decide whether I should buy or not. After looking at your step by step recipe I think I should buy one. It looks delicious!
I’ve always wanted to try tajine! You make it look so easy, Helene 🙂