Morrocan style tagine with couscous- recipe

As per Twittering earlier this week, I made a rather tasty tagine for dinner on Monday. As a kid with a Tunisian dad, growing up, we ate a LOT of stews and kilos of couscous in my family. As my culinary knowledge (and the unavoidable ‘waistline’ gag) has expanded, I’ve learned that the Tunisian stews are great, but I have to be honest, the Morrocan versions excite my palate a lot more. More fruit and flavours, whereas the Tunisian version tends to be a little more ‘functional’. Think less fruit and almonds, more turnip, carrots and chickpeas.

Whilst no means an expert, it’s one of these things that’s pretty hard to go wrong with, if you have a basic flavour intention and a kitchen cupboards full of goodies. The chicken or lamb versions of tagine are a bit lighter, and often use preserved lemons. This week, I’d picked up a pack of organic beef stewing steak from the shops, so decided to go down that route. The recipe below is what went into this particular pot, but I’ve also added a list of ingredients at the end that can be added in, or used to substitute something else. It’s pretty flexible stuff, and the slow cooking rarely allows for anything other than a super-tasty pot of stew to be the end result!

Prep Time – around 10/15 minutes

Cooking time – around 2.5 hours

Heat the oven to 190c to start with, then down to 140c after half an hour’s cooking time

Makes enough for 4 people

3 medium onions, thinly sliced

2 peppers, sliced

1 large fennel bulb (without the root) and the tops, thinly chopped length ways

1 large carrot, cut into discs

300g beef stewing steak (or diced leg of lamb) floured and seasoned with some salt and pepper

2 tins chopped tomatoes

50g flaked almonds, toasted

15or so dried apricots, cut into halves

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped to use as garnish when serving

Spices for flavour and seasoning – many shops have already mixed ‘Morroccan seasoning’ or you can pestle and mortar a heaped teaspoon each of ground coriander, chillies, black pepper, sea salt, dried rose petals, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Feel free to get creative – you’ll find your own favourite combo of flavours.

2 tablespoons of rose water

A couple of crushed garlic cloves

Olive oil

In a non-stick pan, heat the olive oil and soften up the onions.

Then add in the fennel , peppers and carrots.

Season with the spices, and cook for around ten minutes and transfer to a tagine pot (or you can use a regular casserole dish, as long as it’s quite deep)

Back in the non-stick pan, soften up the crushed garlic, and then add in the remaining spice mix and the beef.

On medium heat, cook for around five minutes, until it’s started to brown.

Transfer the beef into the tagine pot, and then sprinkle on the almonds, apricots, and add the 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and the rose water.

Put into the oven and cook for 30 mins at 190c, and then turn down to 150c for the remaining cooking time (at least another 90 minutes) .

Check every half hour to mix the ingredients around. If it looks like things are too dry, add in some stock.

Pour the dry couscous into a large flat bowl (allow around 100g per person)

Put a sprinkle of sea salt and a large knob of butter on top, then cover with freshly boiled water.

The water should cover all of the grain by around an extra 1cm.

Mix with a fork and then put a clean tea towel over the top for around 4 minutes.

Once the water’s absorbed, mix it up with a fork (much like rice ‘fluffing’!) to make sure the grains are separated.

To make it extra tasty, in a pan, heat up some olive oil and a small knob of butter, and add the couscous. Fry it for a couple of minutes , allowing the edges of the grains to ‘toast up’ a little bit. The smell is fantastic!

Serve a good sized plate of couscous with the stew, and garnish with some chopped coriander.

Pumpkin or butternut squash , cut into small cubes

Chunks of courgette

Sweet potatoes cubed

Preserved lemons (whole for flavour, or chopped for more texture)

Chopped dates

Chopped prunes

Pitted olives

Sub the tinned tomatoes for fresh whole cherry or plum tomatoes , however you might need to add in some stock during the cooking time if it looks like things are too dry.