When I was growing up I don’t ever remember hating vegetables. I could never relate to those cartoons of kids rejecting them. Thankfully most of my kids feel the same way. Maybe you’d have to ask my mom but I have always really liked them.

Except for onions – don’t ask me about onions. 

But, I wasn’t a fan of cooked vegetables. I grew up eating things right off of the tree and out of my grandpa’s garden. If it was a raw fruit or vegetable I was all for it. Cooked things were a different story.

Cooked peas? Nope.

Cooked spinach? No, thanks I’ll take the leaves please.

As I got older I started to see more and more recipes that roasted vegetables and that intrigued me. It only really took roasting carrots once for me to realize I was completely ok with carrots cooked this way. 

It also led me to try different ways of using roasted vegetables. Sure they make a great side dish but they also are beautiful all on their own. For these I wanted to pay homage to Morocco and did so with the inclusion of a simple ingredient; ras al hanout.

This spice is really not a single spice. It’s a mix of a lot of different flavors. Ras al hanout means “head of the shop” and each spice shop has their own blend so no two will taste the same. Some are sweeter some are spicier so you have to really try and find one you like. Usually this is possible through the smell. 

Some of the spices that are used in a ras al hanout blend are; cardamom, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, dry ginger, chili peppers, coriander seeds, pepper, sweet and hot paprika, and turmeric. But this list is by no means exhaustive. When using this, remember a little bit goes a long way. 

My recipe calls for 2 tsps to be used on 1 pound of carrots but you can reduce that amount if you like yours a little less flavorful. 

This dish would pair great with chicken or beef and I can’t help but think it would make an easy Thanksgiving side dish too.

Charcuterie boards are all over the place lately. Not familiar with this idea?

A charcuterie board is basically a large platter of food that is meant for sharing and snacking. However, most boards that you will see have a lot of meat – a lot of pork to be exact.

This doesn’t work well for a Moroccan inspired board!

First, traditionally there isn’t any pork in Moroccan food – being a Muslim country pork isn’t eaten. Second, unlike Turkey that has other cured meats Morocco doesn’t have this.

The next component is the cheese.

This is also a challenge when it comes to Morocco as there are few cheeses that are regularly eaten. Jben is the most common; most often found in northern Morocco. It’s a soft fresh goat’s milk cheese that is sometimes mixed with cow milk. It doesn’t have a lot of flavor. The closest thing outside of Morocco is ricotta cheese.

The remaining components

What you add next will depend on what you’re going for. Sweet or savory? Crunchy? Fresh? There are so many combinations! Here is how I put together mine.

Meat Component

I kept this very simple. I only included one meat item and that was a harissa honey glazed meatball that I created for this board. You can make them small, use a toothpick to make them easy to pick up.

Cheese Component

I added 4 cheeses to this board because I love cheese. You can use any combination you like but I think having a hard cheese, soft cheese and flavored cheese works well.

1. Gouda cheese. This is not a Moroccan cheese BUT if Moroccans buy any kind of cheese it’s the red ball of gouda or edam cheese.
2. Soft goat cheese. I rolled mine in harissa paste and then crushed almonds. It gave the board a different feel, look and taste.
3. Cubes of cheddar goat cheese. I wanted to add a hard cheese in and found this goat cheese, seemed a perfect fit.
4. Ricotta with honey and pistachios. For this I went with a sweet flavor and it worked well with the ricotta.

Extras to Fill Out the Board

There are SO many options here but this is what I added;

• flavored olives
• hard boiled eggs with cumin on top
• “souk” peanuts (recipe coming)
• stuffed dates
• walnuts
• almonds
• sliced cucumbers
• grapes
• cherry tomatoes
• sliced baguettes
• lentil crackers
• baked chickpeas
• za’atar crackers

This was really just the tip of my brainstorm for what could be included here. Make it your own! Just keep in mind it should be things that are easy to pick up, that aren’t really messy and that the flavors work together.

Then have fun with it!

Harissa is one of the condiments most well known from North Africa. However, it’s not as commonly found as people think.

I can remember having a conversation with a few of the guys that worked at my riad in Tunis, Tunisia about harissa and the perception of spicy food in North Africa. Harissa has always been a sort of “added” pop of heat for dishes. However, they told me that lately younger generations want things that are spicier and spicier. 

So, instead of it being used to add a kick to dishes, it’s now becoming more and more a part of everyday dishes. I can say I have also seen the same thing in Morocco. 

Harissa is likely to be the spiciest condiment added to any food in Morocco. 

What’s the difference between Moroccan harissa and Tunisian harissa?

Not a lot.

The basic steps to make harissa are; a blending of chili peppers with garlic, olive oil and spices to a thick paste. The spices are where things differ. Tunisian harissa often uses caraway seed in addition to the base ingredients. While Moroccan and Algerian harissa use cumin. 

Where is the best place to buy harissa paste?

You can find harissa in most Middle Eastern/Mediterranean markets. If you don’t have one of these options close than I suggest Mina Harissa. You can purchase it online and they truly do great products that are the real thing. 

It’s also worth noting that all harissa is not the same. The harissa you find in Morocco will be different than what it is in Tunisia for example. Sometimes it will come in a tube and be a thick harissa paste while other times it will come in a jar and be more like a harissa sauce. 

For this recipe I wanted to make a glaze that reminded me of the cocktail meatballs seen on Midwestern potluck tables growing up. If you’re not familiar with this then check out the original recipe idea in this post. 

These meatballs have a kick but you can use either a mild or spicy version of harissa paste to get the flavor and feel you’re looking for. 

Not enough harissa for you? I’ve got more harissa recipes too!

Moroccan Harissa Spiked Chili

Harissa Mayonaise

I can remember MarocBaba telling me one of his favorite memories of coming home from school was when his mom or his sisters (he has 6 older sisters) would make a bread stuffed with onions and spices. I also can remember thinking, “oh, that’s nice” but in the back of my mind not really getting what was so special about this. If I’m completely honest, I still don’t LOVE this the way my husband and kids do but I chalk that up to my lifelong hatred of onions.

Yes, I hate onions.

I have tried to make this several times over the course of my marriage and most of the time it has fallen flat on its face. So, I did what I should be doing more of now that we live in Morocco. I enlisted one of my sister-in-laws to teach me. It became obvious right away where I was making my mistakes.

But, the good news is that unlike many Moroccan recipes, the way my sister-in-law makes this is actually easier than what I was attempting to do. Yay!

You could make these to have anytime of day though here they are most popular as a snack after school or during Ramadan on the iftar table. I send pieces of this to school with my kids for a snack or serve it along side a salad for lunch. See, there’s no bad time!

Ingredients

Please note that for the quantities I have used a variety of measures. I have tried to provide both metric and imperial measurements so that you can use whichever is most familiar to you.

For Bread Filling

• 3 purple or yellow onions chopped finely
• 100 grams (appx 1/2 cup) hard beef suet (fat)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 small red hot pepper seeds removed
• 250 grams (1/2 pound) ground beef
• palmful of za’atar or dry thyme

For the Bread

• equal amounts of semolina flour and white flour – we used 2 cups or 250 grams of each.
• 2 1/2 tsp dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• warm water
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

Cooking the Filling

To begin cook the onions and beef suet (fat) until the onions start to get translucent. This should take about 5 minutes to begin cooking down.

Next, add the spices and mix into the onions. Taste the hot pepper before you add the entire thing. You can decide what level of spiciness you want. Chop very finely. You also can leave it out completely, it’s optional. Cook a few more minutes.

Break up the ground beef with your hands and add to the onion mixture in small pieces. Continue cooking while breaking the meat until small pieces until the meat is completely cooked. At the end crush the za’atar/thyme with your hands and add to the meat.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely before stuff. It’s very important that you let the meat cool all the way.

Making the Bread

In a large bowl, combine the semolina and flour as well as the salt. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the sugar and yeast. Slowly pour in warm water and begin mixing the dough.

The dough should feel wet but with kneading it will begin to get less sticky the more you knead. (See video). The dough should be kneaded for at least 5 minutes but the length of time will depend on your flour and altitude.

At the very end, add the vegetable oil and knead into the dough, coating it completely.

Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. Then, divide the dough into evenly sized balls – approximately 8 to 10 balls.

Dust a clean spot with semolina flour and begin to flatten the balls of dough one at a time. Work from the inside to the outside until you’ve created a 6″ or 15cm round.

Add 1 Tbsp plus a little more of the filling to the center of the disc. Gather up each of the edges of the dough until you create a pouch and seal. Shape with your hands to make sure that it is sealed.

Continue with the rest of the balls.

Start again with the first ball you formed and again working from the middle begin to flatten into a disc. This time you want to make them as flat as possible without breaking through the dough and having the inside stuffing come out.

These can be cooked in a skillet on the stovetop over low heat. Because the filling is already cooked you need only cook until the bread is baked. You also can cook them in the oven at 180C/350F until the bread is brown.

This is best eaten hot and almost always served with a glass of Moroccan tea!

To watch the steps a bit more indepth, I also made this video that walks through the process.

What is a Tagine Pot?

You may notice that I am making it a point to specify tagine pot and not just refer to this as a tagine. There is a simple reason for this. The word tagine has two meanings. A tagine refers to the food cooked inside the pot as well as the pot that is used to cook.

Traditionally tagine pots are made out of clay. They can be glazed or unglazed, the finish just depends on what the cook likes better. In Morocco you’ll also see lightweight aluminum tagines. Outside of Morocco there are more companies are making pots out of other materials like cast iron or even steel.

Tagines come in a variety of sizes. There are small cooking tagines that serve 1 or 2 people, medium for a small family and large tagines for 6+ people. If size is a factor the smaller tagines are good but a medium sized tagine pot is a good investment for long-term use.

Choosing the best tagine for cooking has a few factors to consider;

• what will you be cooking?
• how much experience do you have using a tagine?
• how often will you be using your tagine?
• how much money do you want to spend on your tagine cookware?

Cooking in a tagine requires a little bit of experimenting until you understand how yours works. An unglazed clay tagine will cook a lot differently than a cast iron enameled tagine. For beginners who don’t want to spend a lot of time fussing with traditional clay tagines, it makes sense to opt for the glazed versions. These tend to be more expensive however you can use them to cook many different things with or without the lid.

Those who want a more traditional tagine should look for an unglazed clay tagine. These are very easy to purchase in Morocco and make a great item to pick up if you’re visiting and want to bring something home. They also can be purchased abroad which is a good choice if you don’t want to carry the extra weight.

Where Can I Buy a Tagine Pot?

If you would have asked this question even a few years ago your options would have been very limited. But, thankfully Moroccan food is really making waves in the food scene. Today it’s a lot easier to buy tagines!

As mentioned above, if you’re visiting Morocco this is the best place to buy a traditional tagine. You will see two different types of pots. One is painted on the exterior, and one is plain. You can not cook in the decorated tagines.

When you are shopping you should make sure to double check if the pot is able to be put on the stovetop and/or into the oven – this is especially the case when purchasing clay tagines.

If you are buying a tagine in Morocco you’ll also want to be aware that some do contain small levels of lead. The makers of the tagines are becoming aware of this and doing more and more to make sure that their tagines are safe however at the end of the day money becomes a factor. If you’re unsure you can purchase an at home lead test.  You could even bring them along and check before you buy. https://amzn.to/2M8CleX

Best Tagine Comparison Guide

As wonderful as it is that there are now so many tagines on the market, it can be really hard to determine which one is the right one for you. I have chosen some of the top tagines to compare in this post so that you can make the right choice for you.

Large Lead-Free Cooking Tagine Unglazed

Description: This is an unglazed tagine imported from Morocco. It is lead free and 12″ wide.

Best for: Intermediate to Advanced

Safe to Use In: Oven or Stovetop at LOW temperatures

Price Range: under $75

Weight: 6 pounds

Extra Large Glazed Tagine

Description: This is a glazed tagine that is lead free and food safe to both cook and serve in. If cooking on gas or electric stoves it is best to use with a diffuser.

Best for: Beginner to Intermediate Cooks

Safe to Use In: Stovetop at low heat and up to 350F in the oven

Price Range: under $100

Weight: 15 pounds – 13.3″ diameter

Simple Small Tagine

Description: This is a small, glazed tagine imported from Morocco. It measures 8″ wide and is good for 1-2 people.

Best for: Beginner to Intermediate Cooks

Safe to Use In: Oven or Stovetop

Price Range: under $30

Weight: 6 pounds

Emile Henry Tagine

Description: These tagines are made in France and have a 10 year warranty from the manufacturer. They are made from terra cotta and made to be lighter than many other tagines.

Best for: Beginner to Advanced Cooks

Safe to Use In: Oven or Stovetop or BBQ Grill

Price Range: under $150 (some under $100!) 

Weight: 8.2 pounds

Le Creuset Moroccan Tagine

Description: Made with an enamel interior, cast iron base and stoneware lid this tagine combines the traditional cooking methods of the tagine with the properties Le Creuset cookware is known for. It also has a lifetime warranty for anyone who is cautious about purchasing a tagine in fear of it cracking.

Best for: Beginner to Advanced Cooks

Safe to Use In: Oven or Stovetop

Price Range: under $250

Weight: 7.2 pounds

This tagine has a higher price point however the lifetime warranty means you won’t need to purchase another one ever!

Clay Coyote Tagine

Description: An all-purpose tagine made from culinary grade ceramic. Material is safe for oven, stovetop, microwave and dishwasher. Each tagine is handmade in the USA. 

Best for: Beginner to Advanced Cooks

Safe to Use In: Oven and stovetop. Can also be used in microwave .

Price Range: under $200

Weight: 11 pounds

Cooks Standard Steel Tagine

Description: This tagine model comes both with and without handles but the handled version is a great option for more stability. Materials are stainless steel with an aluminum core that makes cooking time faster. Includes a tempered glass lid and is dishwasher safe for easy cleanup.

Best for: Beginner to Intermediate Cooks

Safe to Use In: Induction compatible; Works on gas, electric, glass, ceramic, halogen heat as well as oven safe up to 500F.

Price Range: under $150

Weight: 10 pounds

How to Use a Tagine

If this is the first tagine you will be buying then you may need a few pointers on how to make the best use of it. When getting started it will depend on the tagine you choose.

For clay tagines you should always season/prime it to begin with. This may sound like an arduous process but if you want to keep your tagine from cracking it is very important. Not only does it strengthen the clay from cracking but can help remove some of the clay taste that comes naturally.

1. Soak the lid and the base of the tagine in water for a minimum of 2 hours.
2.  Drain the water and air dry the tagine. For an unglazed tagine, rub the entire vessel (interior and exterior) of the lid and base with olive oil.
3. Put the pieces into a cold oven and turn the heat to 150C/300F for 2 hours.
4. Turn off the oven, and leave the tagine to cool.
5. Wash the cooled tagine by hand, and coat the interior again with olive oil before storing or using.

Why is this important?  

Clay and ceramic tagines will crack when put on high heat. They also can easily crack if put on any heat with nothing in the vessel so you should always take care to never do this. You should always use the lowest burner setting on a stove top and the oven unless you have chosen a tagine that specifically states it has a higher temperature point.

Heat Diffusers for Tagine Pots

A good way to protect your terra cotta tagine is to use a heat diffuser. This is a really inexpensive, simple instrument that you can purchase. To use you just put the diffuser between the stovetop heat source and your tagine.

Really, that’s it! I’ve found that for those who are afraid of cracking their tagine this is an easy way to ease into using them. You still need to keep the temperature low but it does add an extra layer of protection.

Tagine Cookbooks

Once you’ve gotten your tagine and prepared it, it’s time to start cooking! There are countless tagine recipes out there so where should you start? You can browse my site for several different recipes. There are also a few cookbooks that I really love and think you will too.

Paula Wolfert was my first teacher when it came to Moroccan food. I poured through her cookbooks and have made so many of her recipes. This cookbook is the last Moroccan cookbook she put out. Not only is it full of great recipes but beautiful pictures as well.

Author Kitty Morse grew up in Casablanca and shares her recipes in this book. The recipes are step by step and easy to replicate outside of Morocco. This is a really good choice for someone just starting out with Moroccan cooking and wanting a bit of hand holding along the way.

My Moroccan Kitchen

Yes, this is my cookbook! It’s a digital cookbook and includes 30+ Moroccan recipes, many of which have been converted for those suffering with allergies like celiac disease. There’s really something for everyone in this book.

Once you start cooking with a tagine you will discover how easy it really is. I highly recommend investing in a piece that you can have for several years. Even though it may seem like another piece of cookware it has so many uses!