Moroccan sweets

Morocan sweets

Chicken tagine tagine

Famed for its tagines, Moroccan cuisine is a mix of North African, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences. The tagine is a traditional clay pot with a distinct pyramid shape that allows steam to disperse and cook the contents. It is also the name given to dishes cooked within it. Once the lid goes on, there is no lifting to add ingredients or to give them a stir, so Moroccan chefs place great emphasis on the way ingredients are placed inside the tagine. Poultry is a popular source of protein in Morocco and is usually accompanied by couscous and flavoured with various spices, including chilli, paprika, cumin and saffron.

Ingredients

• ½bunch coriander, leaves chopped, roots and stems finely chopped
• 4 cm piece ginger, grated
• 2garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tspground cumin
• 2 tbspolive oil
• 4chicken breasts, trimmed
• ¼ tspsaffron threads
• 1large red onion, thinly sliced into rings
• 3large sebago potatoes, thickly sliced
• 3large carrots, thickly sliced on the diagonal
• 60 g(½ cup) pitted green olives 

Instructions

Marinating time 6 hours

Drink match 2011 Serafino Chardonnay, McLaren Vale, SA ($22)

Using a mortar and pestle, grind coriander roots and stems, ginger, garlic, cumin and 1 tsp salt to a fine paste. Add 1 tbsp oil and stir to combine. Transfer to a large bowl. Add chicken and rub all over with paste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours to marinate. Remove chicken from fridge 30 minutes before cooking.

Soak saffron in 125 ml warm water for 10 minutes, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract as much colour as possible. Place remaining 1 tbsp oil in a large tagine or heavy-based pan. Carefully arrange onion, potatoes, carrots and marinated chicken in tagine, then pour over saffron mixture. Cover with lid and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1½ hours or until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender. Stir in olives and serve scattered with coriander leaves.

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Moroccan lamb tagine

Ingredients

• 2 tbspoil
• 1 kg lamb shoulder, diced
• salt and pepper, to season
• 1onion, sliced
• 2 red capsicums, seeded and sliced
• ½ tspground turmeric
• ½ tspground ginger
• 1½ tsp ground cumin 
• 1½ tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsptomato paste
• 1 tbspharissa
• ½ cupraisins
• 400 gcan chopped tomatoes
• 500 mlchicken stock 
• 400 gcan chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Instructions

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Season diced lamb shoulder with salt and pepper. Working in 2 batches, cook lamb for 5 minutes or until browned.

Remove from pan and set aside, then add onion and capsicums to pan. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until softened. Add ground turmeric, ginger, cumin and sweet paprika and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add tomato paste and harissa and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Return lamb to pan.

Add raisins, chopped tomatoes, chicken stock and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook for 2 hours or until lamb is very tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Scatter over coriander sprigs and serve with couscous.

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Moroccan fish tagine

Ingredients

• oil, for cooking
• 1onion, sliced
• 1fennel bulb, sliced
• 1small red chilli, seeded and diced
• 2garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ tspsweet paprika
• pinch of saffron threads
• 4tomatoes, diced
• 2bay leaves
• 250 ml(9 fl oz/1 cup) fish stock or water
• 300 g(10½ oz) small potatoes
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 500 g(1 lb 2 oz) mussels, cleaned
• 500 g(1 lb 2 oz) firm white fish fillets, diced into 2 cm (¾ in) chunks
• 2 tbspchopped coriander (cilantro) leaves

Instructions

Heat a large heavy-based saucepan over medium–high heat. Add a splash of oil then the onion and fennel. Cook for 4–5 minutes, or until softened, stirring often.

Add the chilli, garlic, paprika and saffron, and cook for a further 1–2 minutes, stirring well. Add the tomatoes and cook briefly to soften, then add the bay leaves and stock and bring to the boil.

Add the potatoes, then season with the salt and pepper and cook for 10–15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.

Add the mussels and cook until they all open (discard any that remain closed). Add the fish pieces and allow to cook through.

Check the seasoning and spoon the tagine into a large serving bowl. Top with the coriander and serve with couscous.

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

MOROCCAN Fennel, pumpkin and eggplant tagine with chickpeas

In this Moroccan tagine recipe the vegetables are the hero. First roasted to intensify the flavours, then cooked in the tagine until soft and yielding. A wholesome and satisfying vegetarian dish for 4, or, a perfect vegetarian addition to a shared meal when entertaining.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kgpumpkin, peeled and cut into pieces 5 cm x 3 cm
• 3 smallfennel bulbs, cut into 8
• 2 eggplants, not too large, cut into pieces 5 cm x 3 cm
• ½-¾ cupolive oil (don't try to economise on this, you may need even more)
• 1 dashtabasco sauce 
• sea salt and freshly ground black or white pepper
• 950 ml vegetable stock, either homemade or made with Marigold Bouillon Powder (see Note)
• 1 fat pinch saffron
• 8French shallots, left whole or cut in half depending on size
• 8 garlic cloves, 6 peeled but left whole, the rest finely chopped 
• 2 tbspground cumin
• 2 tbspsweet paprika 
• ½ long red chilli, finely chopped
• 200 gorganic chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled till tender
• 1 handfulparsley 
• 1 handful coriander

 

Instructions

You will need to begin this recipe 1 day ahead.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Baste the pumpkin, fennel and eggplant generously in olive oil, season with tabasco, salt and pepper.  The eggplant and pumpkin can go in the same tray, but ideally the fennel should go in separately as it may take a little longer. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until tender, golden and slightly charred all over.

Meanwhile, bring stock to the boil in a saucepan. Combine 250 ml of hot stock with the saffron and set aside. Heat the rest of the olive oil in a large saucepan. Sauté the shallots on quite a high heat for about 10 minutes, moving the pan about to prevent burning, till they are transparent and a rich gold. Then add the whole garlic cloves and sauté again adding a little stock to prevent them from burning.

Add the cumin and paprika, stirring all the time and another ladle of stock. The spices should start to form a paste with the stock and the shallot's emerging juices. Keep stirring while adding the stock a little at a time, the sauce will become thicker and richer as it absorbs the spices and the shallots collapse and some all but dissolve.

If using a tagine (see Note), transfer this rich and unctuous sauce to it.

Set on a heat diffuser placed on a gentle heat and carefully transfer the roasted vegetables, layering them with the firmer fennel on the bottom, then the pumpkin and finally the eggplant.

Reheat the saffron stock, pour over and gently stir through the chickpeas. It's quite OK for some of the pumpkin and eggplant to break up a little and add to the rich body of the tagine.

Cook gently like this for about 10-15 minutes, adjusting the heat as you see fit, increasing it if the liquid seems at all watery, or decreasing it if seems too thick. You can also add a little more stock to keep the whole thing moving - neither too dry, nor too wet is the way and keep basting the vegetables with what should now be a velvety and full bodied sauce.

Season with salt and pepper. Chop the parsley and coriander and add just before serving to maintain, their lively, herbacious freshness.

Serve with chermoula and fried flour tortillas.

Note

Marigold Bouillon Powder is available from health food stores.

If your tagine is unglazed, it's wise to take the precautionary step of soaking it overnight in the water to make sure it doesn't crack.

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

MOROCCAN Moroccan lamb salad with chargrilled vegetables and couscous

This recipe was prepared at the launch of Measure Up – the Government’s initiative in the fight against obesity – by Zahi Azzi and Aaron Callandar of Kazbah on Darling. It features a number of key ingredients in Moroccan cooking, including coucous, the spice mix ras el hanout, chermoula, pomegranate and spicy harissa.

Ingredients

Lamb

• 500 glamb fillet, trimmed
• 2 tbspras el hanout
• 2 tbspextra virgin olive oil
• 4 cupsbaby spinach
• 1 cupcanned chickpeas
• ½ cupsultanas
• ½ cuppine nuts
• ½ cupfresh pomegranate
• ⅓ cupEuropean-style thick yoghurt

Couscous

• 2 cups(400 g) couscous
• 2 cups(400 ml) liquid (water or carrot juice)
• 2 tbspchermoula
• 2 tbspextra virgin olive oil

Vegetables

• 2med red onions
• 2med eggplants
• 3med zucchinis
• ¼butternut pumpkin
• 2med red capsicums
• 2 tbspextra virgin olive oil

Dressing

• 2 tbsp chermoula
• 2 tsp harissa
• juice of 2-3 lemons
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Marinating time: 1 hour

Rub lamb fillets with ras el hanout and olive oil. Place in a bag to marinate and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Season lamb fillets with salt and pepper just before placing them on the grill and cook to medium rare or as desired.

To make the coucous, couscous in a round heat-resistant bowl. Place liquid in a saucepan with chermoula, olive oil, salt and pepper, bring to the boil then pour over couscous. Combine the hot liquid with the couscous, cover immediately and place on the side for 5- 10 minutes. Uncover couscous and fluff the mixture with a fork to separate all the grains.

To prepare the vegetables, cut onions into rings, eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin into slices, and capsicums into cheeks, then rub with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and grill until cooked, Cut vegetables to desired size.

To make the dressing, combine the ingredients using a fork to mix.

To assemble the salad, place couscous and vegetables in a large mixing bowl; add spinach, chickpeas, sultanas, pine nuts, pomegrante and dressing, and combine. Place into serving bowls, spoon on yoghurt, top with sliced lamb and serve.

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.