How To Prepare Moroccan Tajine

A Quick Look at the Moroccan Tagine

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If you own a tagine but have been too intimidated to try using it, don't feel bad. Rest assured there are many Moroccans themselves who have never cooked in them either! The photos on the following pages show step-by-step how easy it is to prepare a fabulous Moroccan stew in this traditional cookware. For general tagine cooking advice, see Tips for Using a Moroccan Tagine.

Shown here are a ceramic tagine and an unglazed clay tagine. Both are quite common in Morocco, but I prefer the unglazed because it adds rustic, earthy flavor and aroma to whatever is being cooked in it. Both types should be ​seasoned before first use. The base of a Moroccan tagine is wide and shallow; the conical lid helps return condensed steam back to the food.

Arrange a Layer of Onions for Your Base

Once seasoned, tagines are quite easy to use. As the first step of making this Berber tagine recipe, I placed a layer of sliced onions across the base of the tagine as a bed for the remaining ingredients. The day I took these photos, I was making both a large and small tagine. Creating a bed of onions will help avoid meat from adhering to the bottom and burning. 

Other recipes might call for chopped onions to be scattered in the tagine, or perhaps celery or carrots will be crisscrossed to make a bed for fragile ingredients, as is the case in a ​​fish tagine. Small bamboo sticks can also be used.

Add the Garlic

Next comes the garlic. Here I used a garlic press, but you could just as easily chop the garlic or, if you like, leave the cloves whole. By adding the garlic with ingredients at the bottom, I'm assured that it will fully cook and meld with the sauce.

Add Olive Oil to the Tagine

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Ample oil is the foundation of a rich sauce in a tagine, so don't be afraid to use the full amount called for in a recipe. Most of my tagine recipes specify 1/4 to 1/3 cup oil; sometimes at home I use even a little bit more to ensure there's ample sauce for my large family to sop up with Moroccan bread. If you do reduce the oil, know that you will end up with less sauce or a watery sauce.

Here I'm adding light olive oil to the tagine. For this particular recipe, it can be added at any time while assembling the tagine. Many Moroccan cooks will use a mix of olive oil and vegetable oil, either because the olive oil is extra virgin and contributes lots of flavor in lesser quantity, or as a matter of frugality, as vegetable oil costs less

Arrange the Meat in the Center

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Meat, poultry or fish is usually arranged in the center of the tagine as shown here. If you're using meat-on-the-bone, place pieces bone side down to reduce risk of scorching the meat. Here I'm using beef. I've piled it up into a mound because I'll be adding lots of vegetables around the perimeter. Sometimes you'll encounter recipes which direct you to brown the meat first. It's really not necessary. If you do decide to brown the meat, it's best done in a separate skillet since a clay or ceramic tagine should not be used over high heat

Mix the Moroccan Spices

This step is not absolutely necessary, but combining your Moroccan spices before using them does allow for more even distribution of seasoning. Here I'm mixing salt, pepper, ginger, paprika, cumin, turmeric, saffron and a little cayenne pepper in a small bowl since I'll be sprinkling the seasoning over ingredients. Sometimes I mix the spices in a large bowl and toss the veggies and meat in the spices to coat everything evenly. Sometimes I sprinkle the spices one-by-one directly into theassembled tagine. There's no right or wrong way

Season the Meat and Onions

Distribute some of the spice mixture over the meat and onions. You can use up to two-thirds of the mixture at this step, concentrating the seasoning on the onions so the spices will meld with the oil and liquids to make a rich, flavorful sauce. The reserved spices will be used to season the vegetables.

Arrange the Vegetables and Season Them

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