Recipe: The perfect Moroccan chicken tagine

While traveling through Morocco, it’s inevitable that you will enjoy a meal cooked in a tagine. 

Although tagine is the name of the earthenware pot that is used to cook stews in the oven or stovetop, it’s also the name of the most traditional meal eaten in Morocco. People are gathered around enjoying it with bread to soak up all the flavourful juices, plus you can make it with any meat, fish or just vegetables.

While staying at a local riad in Marrakech, I got to cook with the hotel staff and if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty well!

Here’s the recipe that was given to me:

Chicken Tagine

Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup of olive oil
• 3 onions
• 1 kilo of meat or fish (your choice)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp of paprika
• 1 tsp of ginger powder
• ½ tsp of saffron
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Bunch of parsley
• ½ lemon preserve
• 6 potatoes cut in quarters
• 5 carrots cut lengthwise and then halved
• 2 parsnips diced
• 1 cup of green olives
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 cups green peas
• 1 tsp cumin

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Heat oil in tagine on the stove, then add meat, onions, spices and cook in oven for 30 mins.
3. Add garlic, parsley, lemon preserve, and vegetables, with ½ cup of water and cook in oven until vegetables are almost done. 
4. Add green olives, tomatoes, green peas, and cumin and cook for another 30 mins.
5. Serve with some Moroccan bread (Khobz)!