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Our best tagine recipes

Kefta tagine with herbs, spices and lemon

What makes something a tagine? Well, it depends on what you’re talking about. The term ‘tagine’ (or ‘tajine’) refers to a North African conical clay pot and a North African slow-cooked stew with a characteristic blend of sweet and savoury spices.

Tagines are common in countries such as Algeria and Morocco, but they have become increasingly popular the world over – and, yes, we’re still talking about both kinds of tagines.

While the elongated cone-shaped tagine pot may look striking, the benefits of its design go beyond aesthetic appeal. The wide, shallow base combined with the tall conical lid causes steam to rise into the cone, condense, and trickle down into the dish. The result: an incredibly tender and aromatic stew. Plus, you can use it on the stove and in the oven, much like a Dutch oven. Handy.

Don’t have one? You can still make a tagine – and our best tagine (and tagine-inspired) recipes prove it. From a chicken tagine served with couscous and a speedy Moroccan tagine recipe to Neil Perry’s spring vegetable tagine and a hearty lamb tagine for winter, these tagines aren’t defined by their cookware.

Neil Perry and Richard Purdue’s globe artichoke and broad bean tagine

Tagine of baby squid with red pepper and tomato

Braised Moroccan-style pumpkin and lamb neck

Chicken and lemon tagine with cracked green olives

Tagine-cooked Berber omelette

Stewed eggplant and chickpeas with minted couscous

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Moroccan Fish Tagine

June 24, 2020 by Sarah 32 Comments

Fish fillets poached in a spicy tomato sauce and an abundance of vegetables and chickpeas. My Moroccan Fish Tagine is the perfect topping for couscous, and it's done in 30 minutes! Delicious and healthy doesn't get any better!

Bring On The Tagine!

We're breaking out the tagine; let's create this ultra-healthy, ultra-luxe fish tagine recipe. It's exactly what to serve when you want to impress new in-laws, work friends, or just basically anyone .

Studded with loads of white fish, rainbow peppers, and a lightly spiced tomato sauce, this Moroccan fish tagine recipe feels—and tastes—exceedingly fancy with zero fuss.

It's a tradition in my house, and I know it'll find a happy home in yours, too!

What is a Tagine?

A tagine is a conical earthenware pot, and the dish prepared in the tagine pot shares the same name as its cooking vessel. It's kind of funny how that worked out. Moroccans kept it simple; let's just call everything to do with this pot a tagine.

The tagine pot is wide and shallow; its cover has a conical shape and creates a seal on the base. Together, the two pieces make a kind of clay oven that was traditionally placed on an open fire for cooking.

Both a tagine and a Dutch oven cook food in a similar manner. The cone-like design permits steam to ascend and then condense, subsequently returning into the container. Therefore, this acts as a natural and continuous basting of the food being cooked. Perfectly moist and buttery meats with little to no fuss. Yes, please!

Traditionally tagines were made of earthenware and were not glazed.

Nowadays, however, tagines are made of different types of materials, glazed and elegantly decorated. As a result, you can purchase different types of tagines; some of them are for cooking, and others for serving ⏤ the highly decorated tagines are usually for serving.

When purchasing a tagine, you have to decide whether you want to use it for serving food or cooking.

Moroccan Fish Tagine Recipe Ingredients

A quick trip to the grocery store gives you all the goods to make what promises to be the best fish tagine you've ever tasted. Take a screenshot of this list, and you're good to go:

• Fish: any white flesh firm fish will work with this recipe.
• Produce: onions; yellow, red, orange, green bell peppers; and tomatoes. Also, there's a whole head of garlic! And one bunch of cilantro. That's it. Our tagine is definitely a veggie-heavy dish.
• Pantry & spice rack: cumin, crushed coriander seeds, turmeric, smoked paprika, bouillon powder and pepper. Two heaping spoons of harissa and a can of chickpeas.

How to Get this On Your Table in 30 Minutes !

That's right! 30 minutes of cooking, and you're done. Dinner is served, and you're on your way to becoming a Moroccan chef.

Most important step! Warm up your Tagine/Dutch oven. It's essential to heat your tagine before you start cooking.

• Warm-up your Tagine/Dutch oven. It's essential to heat your tagine before you start cooking.
• Start with your onions & peppers. Start with the onions and add the peppers as soon as the onions become soft.
• Then spices, tomatoes, & garlic . Coat the peppers with the spices and add the tomatoes and garlic.
• Toss in the chickpeas and water . This is where the real magic starts; simmer for 10 minutes. Then taste the sauce.
• Cilantro & frozen fish is a must! Don't thaw your fish; add it to the tagine well still frozen; you want all that yummy juice from the fish to add to the liquid of the tagine. NOTE: If cilantro tastes like soap to you, swap it for parsley.

Serve . Couscous or bread, it's your choice, that is, of course, if you want to keep the Moroccan theme going.

What to Serve with a Moroccan Fish Tagine

When you make this tagine, it's the star of the mealtime show, precisely as it should be. Still, there are a few things I've found that complement the meal in true Moroccan fashion:

• Briny olives & pickles. Keep it Moroccan and opt for big green olives and pickled vegetables. The briny flavours are a nice compliment to the meal.
• Loaves of sourdough bread. Place them in the middle of the table and tear off chunks as you eat. Dip, drench and finally sweep it across a seemingly empty bowl to sop up every last drop of this delicious tagine.
• Simple side salad. Consider serving the salad after the meal as a bright palate-cleanser. Try fresh anise with a little lemon or a simple herb salad with a little splash of vinegar and salt.

Frequently Asked Questions.

Unfortunately, you can't substitute fish in a fish tagine and still end up having fish tagine, haha! However, this dish is so yummy, and with the chickpeas, it can make a pretty tasty vegan tagine.

You don't have to have a tagine to make this dish. You can use an 8 qt Dutch oven, a braiser or a large sauté pan. The most important thing to remember is to have a large flat bottom. If you use a 6 qt pot, you'll end up with too much liquid and, to be honest, a complete mess in a pot.

Parsley is a great swap for cilantro. I know this herb has an awful taste for some people, but if it doesn't taste like soap to you, it's a must-have in the recipe.

Harissa is a North African condiment made from cayenne peppers, olive oil, garlic and spices. Different brands have different levels of heat. I love the traditional harissa from Tunisia or Libya, it is the hottest version. If you have harissa from these countries, you may want to reduce the amount of harissa in this recipe for the sake of your tongue. Check the ingredients label; it will give you an idea of how hot it's going to be. Mild harissa will often have a mix of bell peppers in the ingredients.

Yes. I would recommend choosing canned whole tomatoes for easy measurement conversions. If you're using chopped tomatoes, you'll need about 5oz (½ cup) of tomatoes. If you have leftover tomatoes, try making my marinara sauce .

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Fish fillets poached in a spicy tomato sauce, an abundance of vegetables and chickpeas. This Moroccan Fish Tagine is the perfect topping for couscous and it is done in 30 minutes! Delicious and healthy doesn't get any better!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 4 bell peppers (red, yellow, orange & green) sliced
• 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds, lightly crushed
• ¼ teaspoon chilli pepper/cayenne (optional)
• 1 medium tomato, skinned and diced
• 1 head of garlic, finely diced
• 1-2 tablespoon harissa
• 1 small can of chickpeas (approximately 1 cup)
• 1 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon bouillon powder
• 1 bunch of cilantro, washed, dried and roughly chopped
• 4 frozen cod fillet (or any firm white fish.)
• A pinch of freshly ground pepper
• salt (only if needed)

Instructions

• Heat the tagine. Set the tagine on a low heat until warm; once the tagine is warm, increase the heat to a medium-high. If you're not using a tagine pot, skip the warm-up on low and heat your pot at medium-high.
• Sauté onions & peppers.  Coat the tagine with a generous amount of olive oil (about 2 tablespoon or more). Add in the onions, sauté until translucence, then add the bell peppers. Cover the tagine and cook for 3 minutes.
• Add spices, tomatoes, garlic & harissa. Once the bell peppers have begun to soften, add in the spices and stir to coat the peppers and bloom the flavours. Add the tomatoes and garlic. Cover the tagine and simmer for 3-4 minutes ⏤ if the tomatoes are really dry, add 2 tablespoon of water from your water cup.
• Toss in the chickpeas, bouillon powder, & water. Open the lid, add the chickpeas and bouillon powder and give everything a good stir. Pour the water over the mixture and cover the tagine for 10 minutes.
• Time for cilantro & fish. Remove the lid and taste the sauce; you may wish to adjust the salt at this point. I don't usually add any salt to the dish since the bouillon powder is pretty salty already, but it's a good time to check. Stir in the cilantro, then place the fish on top of the sauce. Cover the tagine, and simmer for 7 minutes.
• Braise, Simmer & Cover. Now the fish has been cooking for 7 minutes and is becoming soft. Scoop some of the sauce on top of the fish and move the chickpeas to the side so the fish can be submerged into the sauce. Cover and continue cooking for 4 minutes
• Serve and enjoy.

When selecting your harissa make sure to check the ingredient list. Some brands of harissa are very mild and others are very hot. I used Mina Brand when creating this recipe, they're mild compared to Tunisian and Libyan brands.

If you hate cilantro and it tastes like soap, swap it for parsley.

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Nutrition Information:

Serving size:, did you make this recipe.

Please leave a comment on the blog or share your delicious photo with us on Instagram. Tag @deliciously.mediterranean and hashtag it #deliciouslymediterranean

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Reader Interactions

August 09, 2020 at 3:01 am

Oh my goodness, this recipe takes me right back to Marrakesh!

September 22, 2020 at 2:22 am

Wow!! Yum this sounds good and I enjoyed reading about the tagine for cooking also. There is so many flavours packed into this dish, I am loving each of them! Thanks for a great healthy, recipe.

veenaazmanov

October 17, 2020 at 3:08 am

Delicious and a comfort meal for sure. All the yummy flavors infused in this dish. Fish is one of my favorite meal too.

Andrea Metlika

December 07, 2020 at 12:35 am

We love Moroccan food. This fish tagine looks fabulous! Now to find a tagine to cook it in.

December 07, 2020 at 12:37 am

Thank you ♥️! If you're looking for a great tagine, there's a link in the recipe card to the same tagine I used for this recipe.

Nart at Cooking with Nart

December 07, 2020 at 1:31 am

I don't usually eat fish but I made this dish for my dad and tried it too and wow, it was so good! So flavorful and my dad loved it 🙂

December 07, 2020 at 1:34 am

I'm happy to hear from you both enjoyed it! ♥️

Carl Williams

April 07, 2021 at 12:40 am

Do you use tagine pot directly on gas burner or are you using electric range top. I’m afraid to crack or break my tagine pot. Also, what kind of boullion; chicken, vegetable? Thanks

April 07, 2021 at 12:53 am

I used my Tagine pot on an electric range. However, the Emile Henri tagine can be use on gas, electric and on induction with an induction disk. If you have the same tagine as me then I wouldn’t worry. Keep in mind when using a tagine on the stove you must heat it first on a low heat and then increase the heat once warmed. If you have a good quality tagine it should be able to handle the heat, but if you have decorative tagine you CANNOT cook with it. As for the bouillon I used a vegetable bouillon powder. I have a quick video on my Instagram in the highlights with the steps of this video.

Kathy Lance

February 22, 2022 at 1:27 pm

I had to make a few adjustments because my husband can't eat spicy food. I reduced the amount of harissa and garlic but added some preserved lemons. Despite the changes, it was delicious.

February 27, 2022 at 9:24 am

I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe, and those adaptions sound great!

May 15, 2022 at 3:49 pm

Cooking now. I added olives, and my fish is flounder, as I couldn't get cod (and the flounder was on sale, woot!). I wish I had checked your blog while I was still at the store. I didn't expect them to have the same brand harissa (I didn't think they'd have harissa at all), and I bought the mild. Should have got the spicy, for sure! But it'll be yummy anyway. (I fell in love with harissa when Trader Joe's used to sell sardines in harissa. We don't have a TJ's near us, so I only got it once! Awesome on the much-made-fun-of avocado toast.) Thank you for the recipe!

May 22, 2022 at 10:23 am

I'm so glad you loved the recipe, and the adaptions worked for you. I recommend the Mina Harissa due to its availability in American supermarkets; many of the brands I love aren't easily accessible for most people.

August 10, 2022 at 5:13 pm

This is an NYT Cooking recipe. At least credit your source.

August 10, 2022 at 5:16 pm

It’s possible they have a similar recipe it’s a classic fish tagine from North Africa.

January 25, 2023 at 5:50 am

Sounds absolutely delicious. I’m wanting to prep ahead for visitors. Can. Freeze this dish?

January 28, 2023 at 8:51 pm

I wouldn’t recommend freezing this recipe however it’s delicious the following day when stored in the fridge.

January 28, 2023 at 8:38 pm

This recipe was delicious! I did alter it a bit, adding orange and white carrots and just a bit of preserved lemon to add a funky fermented flavor.

January 28, 2023 at 8:56 pm

Those additions sound great! A citrus & carrot tagine is prefect for the winter. I might just have to give this a try too.

March 05, 2023 at 7:42 am

This looks wonderful, and I'm going to make it. My question is regarding the fish, do you defrost the fish first or put it into the tagine still frozen?

March 05, 2023 at 7:44 am

You can put it straight into the pot frozen, I actually recommend it.

March 05, 2023 at 10:02 pm

Thank you for your quick response.

May 06, 2023 at 4:08 pm

This recipe is amazing, delicious and easy.

May 23, 2023 at 12:29 am

Hi this recipes can serve with?

May 24, 2023 at 12:29 am

Hi Grace, you can serve this with a simple side salad with lemon & olive oil and of course some fresh bread. You can even serve this along side some couscous. I hope you enjoy.

June 19, 2023 at 9:59 pm

What does ""one tomato" equal in canned tomatoes, and, if using canned, when would that be added?

June 28, 2023 at 7:48 am

Great questions you've got there! So, to answer your first question, "one tomato" is roughly equivalent to about ½ cup of canned tomatoes. However, as always, feel free to adjust according to your taste preferences!

Now, if you're using canned tomatoes, you would typically add them after sautéing the onions and garlic. Just gently pour those delicious tomatoes into the mix, and let them simmer and mingle with the other ingredients for a while. Your dish will be bursting with flavour in no time!

Oh, and guess what? Thanks to your wonderful question, the blog post has been updated to include your question in the Q&A section. You're a star for asking such a helpful question. I'm sure other reader also will also benefit from the update!

If you need any more guidance or have any other culinary curiosities, just shout out. I'm here to help you rock those recipes like a pro! Happy cooking! 🎉🍳

KATHERINE NOWOTNY

January 10, 2024 at 4:29 pm

So, you can put the tagine directly on a gas stove? I have the one you suggested.

January 14, 2024 at 9:00 pm

Hi katherine, it's fine to use a tagine on a gas stove, however you must use a heat diffuser and warm up the tagine on the lowest flame before cooking.

January 30, 2024 at 10:07 pm

My tagine is 2 quarts and looks very much like the one in your picture. When discussing substitutions, you say that a 6 quart Dutch oven is too small. I’m confused. Can I use my 2 quart tagine? BTW—the recipe looks great.

February 01, 2024 at 8:40 pm

You should be fine with a 2 qt tagine. The reason I don't recommend using a 6qt Dutch oven is the surface area of the pot is too small and won't allow proper evaporation of the liquid. I hope you enjoy the recipe.

February 06, 2024 at 10:05 am

Is it really one HEAD of garlic? It sounds like a lot.

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How to cook the perfect vegetable tagine – recipe

How to make the most succulent vegetarian version of this quintessential Moroccan stew

T he idea of there being a single perfect formula for vegetable tagine is as absurd as there being just one way to make a good chicken casserole. A tagine is simply the name of the cooking pot in which the stews are traditionally made, rather than the name of a specific recipe (though these days, I’m assured, a saucepan or pressure cooker are more common in Moroccan homes).

And, as Nargisse Benkabbou explains in her book Casablanca, there are four popular styles , regardless of whether the main ingredient is goat , sardines or artichokes . These are mqualli cooked with olive oil, turmeric, ginger and saffron; mhammer made with butter, cumin and paprika; mchermel cooked with chermoula, a zingy herb paste; and one made with tomato, cumin and paprika. Each, Benkabbou says, “can be customised with seasonal vegetables, dried fruit, preserved lemons, olives and nuts”.

Which you go for, and what you choose to add to it, depends on both season and taste; as we’re still firmly in early spring, culinarily speaking at least, I’ve avoided recipes calling for broad beans and summer squash and focused instead on the hearty, starchy, winter carbs still keeping well in cold stores – winter squash and potatoes, turnips and carrots, along with pulses and other dry goods. That said, the recipe below is versatile and can be adapted to suit the circumstance. As Sally Butcher of Peckham’s Persepholis writes in her book of the same name:

“The making of a good tagine is a state of mind, rather than a culinary art. Once you have grasped the basic principles of seasoning, balance and contrast, the opportunity is there to have fun creating your own. Have a play.”

The vegetables

As suggested above, this is a dish that will happily adapt to just about anything you fancy throwing at it: Rawia Bishara has a recipe for cauliflower tahini tagine in her book Levant, Kerstin Rogers goes for carrot, pepper and lentil in V is for Vegan , Bethany Kehdy has broad beans, peas and fennel in the Jewelled Kitchen … and so on. Having decided to concentrate on winter vegetables, however, I try squash in Alice Hart’s recipe from The New Vegetarian , potato in one from John Gregory-Smith’s Orange Blossom & Honey , sweet potato and carrots from Anna Jones , potato, parsnip, turnip and celeriac from Benkabbou , and turnip and carrot from Butcher’s book Veggiestan .

All, I can confirm, are good candidates for the tagine treatment, even parsnips, much as I dislike them – whatever you go for, though, aim for a range of textures and flavours. Some sweetness, in the form of squash or sweet potato, is often welcome, and I’m going to balance that with the slight bitterness and more robust texture of turnips. Both are best in bite-sized pieces, as most recipes recommend; Hart’s 5cm chunks are a bit unwieldy, and take for ever to cook through. I also wouldn’t bother to peel the turnips, unless they’re huge.

Jones bulks out her stew with chickpeas, while Hart uses “inauthentic” puy lentils; both help turn what can seem like a light side dish into a satisfying main event. Chickpeas feel a better fit, though they make for a less pretty result, the deep green of the puy setting off the vivid orange of the squash to quite beautiful effect.

The aromatics and fruit

Some sort of onion seems to be mandatory in these tagines – Butcher keeps her shallots whole, but I prefer to cut my onions thinly and allow them to melt down into the sauce, where their savoury flavour is most welcome. If you’d like the dish to be even sweeter, consider, like Gregory-Smith, going for red onions, especially if you choose to eschew the fruit. I like Butcher and Benkabbou’s prunes, however; along with the customary honey, they give the dish an intensity of flavour that makes the contrast with Hart’s salty preserved lemons particularly pleasing, though if you’re not a fan, you could also use dates or Jones’ dried apricots.

Instead of adding them to the dish as it’s cooking, Benkabbou boils the fruit up with some of the gravy, a spoonful of honey and a cinnamon stick to make a thick, intensely sweet sauce that she then pours over the top of the tagine. If you’re serving the tagine in smaller, more elegant quantities, as a side dish perhaps, or simply prefer less sauce, then this is a good way to go.

Gregory-Smith and Jones are the only ones to opt for a tomato base, which works particularly well with the starchy blandness of potatoes, but less so, to my and my testers’ minds, with sweeter vegetables and dried fruit; a simple vegetable stock allows them to shine.

Cinnamon, ginger and saffron are the most popular spices, with Gregory-Smith, Hart and Butcher adding earthy cumin, Benkabbou vivid turmeric and Jones zesty coriander. Paprika is also common in tomato-based sauces. I’ll be sticking to the classic mqualli combination of ginger, saffron and turmeric, but adding cinnamon, too, because it works so well with the prunes.

The topping

Jones makes a deliciously punchy “herb smash” to go with her tagine, while Gregory-Smith mixes up harissa, lemon juice and oil to serve alongside his; both are excellent accompaniments. Keeping things simpler, I’m sold on the combination of Hart’s salty green olives with sweet prunes, while her buttery blanched almonds bring some much-needed crunch. A final scattering of coriander leaves isn’t just for show: the clean flavour seems to lift the entire dish. Serve with bread for dipping, and plenty of harissa.

Perfect vegetable tagine

Prep 15 min Cook 1 hr Serves 6

2 tbsp olive oil 2 large onions , peeled and thinly sliced 4 garlic cloves , peeled and thinly sliced 1½ tsp ground ginger 1 tsp turmeric powder 1 cinnamon stick ¼ tsp saffron threads 600g winter squash or sweet potato , peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces 400g baby turnips , quartered or halved if on the large side 500ml vegetable stock 300g soft prunes 1 preserved lemon , skin only, finely chopped 1 tbsp butter 50g blanched almonds 2 tbsp honey 50g green olives , pitted 1 x 400g tin chickpeas , drained 1 small bunch fresh coriander Harissa , to serve

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan for which you have a lid over a medium heat, then fry the onions until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and spices, and cook for another couple of minutes, until you can smell the spices.

Add the squash and turnips, then stir in the vegetable stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to clean it.

Add the prunes and preserved lemon skin, bring to a simmer, then cover. Turn the heat right down and leave to simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.

Meanwhile, fry the almonds in the butter until golden, then set aside. Stir the honey, olives and chickpeas into the pan, taste and season if necessary, then roughly chop the coriander and scatter over the top along with the almonds.

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• North African food and drink
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Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Raisins, Almonds, and Honey

Active Time

Mrouzia is a dish traditionally made after the celebration of Aid el Kebir ("Feast of the Slaughter of the Lamb"), an occasion when, historically, a family would have large amounts of meat on hand. In the days before refrigeration, the lamb was cooked in copious amounts of fat and spices to preserve it. Don't worry — this version has much less butter and less intense spicing than the original.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 3 hr

Ingredients

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Preparation

Whisk together ras-el-hanout , salt, pepper, ginger, saffron, and 1 cup water in a 5-quart heavy pot. Stir in lamb, remaining 2 cups water, onion, garlic, cinnamon sticks, and butter and simmer, covered, until lamb is just tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Stir in raisins, almonds, honey, and ground cinnamon and simmer, covered, until meat is very tender, about 30 minutes more.

Uncover pot and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until stew is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes more.

• Tagine can be made 1 day ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered.

*Available at specialty foods shops and Kalustyan's (800-352-3451).

How would you rate Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Raisins, Almonds, and Honey?

Leave a Review

Reviews (66)

I cooked this in my one pot, seared the lamb first then set it for meats. I used lamb shoulder blade chops and followed the suggestions and put very little honey into this as the raisins and spices are already sweet. I also opted to just top meat mixture with sliced toasted almonds......FABULOUS !!!!

caseytravel

Marathon, FL

Delicious, but make 2 changes: brown the meat ahead of time to deepen the flavor, and reduce the amount of honey! Everyone is right -- the recipe is much too sweet as written (I neglected to look at the reviews before making the dish so added the full amount called for). I would start with several tbsps and add more if you want. I would also reduce the amounts of nuts and raisins to 3/4 to 1 cup each.

Manhattan Beach, CA

This is an outstanding recipe and a crowd pleaser. I made my own ras-el-hanout - it's simply a mixture of spices, very easy to make (you can find a recipe at http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/ras_el_hanout_recipe.htm). I don't like my tagines very sweet, so I put a third less honey in and only used a cup of raisins. I thought there were too many almonds - if I make it again I would only use half of what's called for. But it is delicious and fail-proof. If you use lamb shoulder and cook it over very low heat (until the end when you let some of the liquid boil off), you cant mess it up, it will turn out succulent. I highly recommend!

New York City

I substituted beef broth for the water. EXCELLENT!

I was a little hesitant about making this recipe when I saw the requirement for 'ras-el-hanout'. I shouldn't have worried as there are lots of recipes for simply combining the necessary spices. Perhaps the recipe could have mentioned that this can be made up fairly easily. Notwithstanding this, the tagine was superb and definitely enhanced by the suggestions of previous reviewers, especially cutting back on the honey but keeping a lot of connective tissue in the lamb. I've now made this twice, with rice and couscous. Both were agreeable accompaniments and the meals were enjoyed by our guests.

Dunfermline, Scotland

This is my second review of this dish, which I love. But in making this recipe most recently, I used lamb shoulder rather than leg of lamb, and it made a huge difference. The extra (I hate to say it) fat and connective tissue in the shoulder cut gave the lamb much more tenderness and made the whole dish even more flavorful than using leg of lamb. I think for any kind of stew, you need to use a cut of meat that has a lot of connective tissue and enough fat so that the meat will be able to sustain long cooking times without drying out and becoming too tough. I'll be making this dish again tomorrow, and look forward to another great meal!

Fantastic recipe! It tasted awfully close to a tagine I had in Morrocco. I made just a few changes...browned the lamb, added cardamom and cut down on the amount of almonds.

A smashing success! Given the sweetness of the raisins, I followed the advice of the other reviewers and reduced the honey (I was making a half recipe--my clay pot is a bit smallish and there's just the two of us at my house), I used a very scant tablespoon. I also only used a dab of butter since the meat provided plenty of fat content. All in all, a fabulous dish we will certainly make again soon!

Seattle, WA

This is such a delicious tajine!! I made it for 25 people, and it was a winner, everyone raved about it!!

This was a delicious dish. I recommend making it at least one day ahead. I didn't know what "ras-el-hanout" was, but I looked it up and it is a spice combination which includes cardamom, clove, cinnamon, ground chili peppers, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, peppercorn, and turmeric. So I combined any of these spices I happened to have around. I would recommend several modifications. Cut the amount of butter by half. Instead of water, use beef broth, but then reduced the salt by half. I also added some ground red pepper (you'll have to do this by taste--some like it hotter than others). The sweetness of the dish needed to be counterbalanced by the heat of the pepper in my opinion. The dish was a bit runny. I would dredge the lamb pieces (I used leg of lamb instead of shoulder) in flour before cooking. When reheating, things might get too runny again, in which case, just add a bit of flour mixed with water to the mixture. I served the dish with couscous. I also served a cucumber salad in which I peeled and diced the cucumbers (removing all seeds), added chopped green onions, chopped parsley, and a combination of Greek yogurt and plain yogurt. It was a hit. I loved being able to make everyting ahead of time. Enjoy!

I made this soon after a trip to Morocco with a newly acquired Tangine pot. Not only did the recipee come out wonderfully but it was as good as the majority of tangine dishes we ate had in there (although certainly not all). I find that the recipee works equally well with chicken thighs.

Philadelphia

Made it for a group and they loved it. I had made tagines before that were too sweet, so I took the advice previous reviewers and did not add honey. It was just sweet enough. I did not have the ras-el-hanout; I look forward to trying it again with it. I also cooked it for a longer period... But my friends are still talking about it, so it must have been good.

Excellent, excellent flavor. A few notes on where I went off the ranch: I didn't have the on hand, so I chased down a recipe for it here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Ras-El-Hanout-87818 And added a few things--a teaspoon of hot curry powder, and a teaspoon of hot paprika. Instead of stirring the spices into water--I mixed it into flour, deedged the lamb cubes in the flour/spice mix and then browned the meat in oil. In lieu of water, I used organic chicken broth--and substituted dried apricots for the raisins. My dinner guests all declared it to be the best lamb they'd even eaten--and all stepped off into the night happily holding a small tupperware to-go portion.

This was excellent. I prepared it pretty much as described, except that I already had a top quality Moroccan rub mixture which I used instead of the spices in the recipe. Also I let it simmer about one additional hour uncovered and found that this made a big difference, allowing the color and flavors to deepen.

Easy to make and very satisfying to eat and serve. I was glad to have taken the advice to use less honey as the raisins are already sweet, and to quarter the almonds. The ras el hanout was difficult to source so I used a good quality mild curry and it turned out fine.

Tokyo, Japan

Our best tagine recipes

W hat makes something a tagine? Well, it depends on what you're talking about. The term 'tagine' (or 'tajine') refers to a North African conical clay pot and a North African slow-cooked stew with a characteristic blend of sweet and savoury spices.

Tagines are common in countries such as Algeria and Morocco, but they have become increasingly popular the world over - and, yes, we're still talking about both kinds of tagines.

While the elongated cone-shaped tagine pot may look striking, the benefits of its design go beyond aesthetic appeal. The wide, shallow base combined with the tall conical lid causes steam to rise into the cone, condense, and trickle down into the dish. The result: an incredibly tender and aromatic stew. Plus, you can use it on the stove and in the oven, much like a Dutch oven. Handy.

Don't have one? You can still make a tagine - and our best tagine (and tagine-inspired) recipes prove it. From a chicken tagine served with couscous and a speedy Moroccan tagine recipe to Neil Perry's spring vegetable tagine and a hearty lamb tagine for winter, these tagines aren't defined by their cookware.

Inspiring ideas for delicious home cooking

Moroccan Lamb Tagine (Tajine)

Moroccan flavours have always been elusive but loved by me. I truly can’t remember my first experience tasting Moroccan food. I absolutely love the flavours in Moroccan dishes and the style of cooking. I love how layered the flavours are too. There’s usually an element of sweetness, some spice, a bit it tangy and salt as well in their dishes. That is as far as I go describing the flavours because I still am quite unversed when it comes to the complexity of the dishes and the flavours and the variations of these depending on the region of Morocco. I have tried several simplified recipes to a basic Moroccan Tajine/tagine (stew) and the flavours have always lacked something, and I knew that it is because you really can’t get those complex flavours by cheating this dish.

A real eye opener to that was when one of Deborah’s ( Rainydaybites ) Cookbook challenges included any one of Paula Wolfert’s (amazing food writer and author of at least 9 cookbooks) cookbooks. I chose The Food Of Morocco as my choice because i wanted to learn more about Moroccan food and more importantly it was the only book I could buy and download. If I order any books they literally take months to come and even weeks still through Amazon Prime and would cost triple the price because of Customs Tax. Anyways her writing and photography are beautiful and I wish I had the actual book - it would be a great coffee table book just for the amazing food and street photography of Morocco.

I realised through that book that really any cheat recipe for a traditional tagine is truly cheating you out of experiencing Moroccan food. That truly was discouraging not because I shy away from a challenge but more so because I can’t get half the ingredients here to even make a proper ras el hanout and of course I don’t own a traditional clay tagine, so I was on a mission to try to find a recipe that still uses traditional flavours but ones that I could easily find here and I would have to settle with using my heavy bottom Dutch oven in place of a traditional clay tagine.

I did this with the help of thekitchn and also Melanie from NaturallyNutricious and a few other recipes I had made in the past. I love the outcome. The meat is so flavourful from the very deliciously spiced up marinade. The meat is then cooked with the very same spice combinations and then simmers away slowly in the oven (covered in my clay pot aka Dutch oven) until tender. You end up with a very aromatic stew that has some brininess from the olives, some earthiness from the chickpeas, some sweetness from the dried apricot and is so satisfying. My husband loves stew. He is a stew man and this is one of his favourites. He couldn’t get enough and either could I.

It is quite simple to whip up with very little prep work and the lemony couscous is the perfect accompaniment. The toppings add so much to the dish as well and who doesn’t like a fresh herb garnish? It’s the perfect meal for the weekend – kind of a low and slow food and great for company. And for those of us who have yet to experience Morocco, it gives us a little taste of it without even leaving our home.

Ingredients

For the marinade

• 1-1½ lbs of diced lamb loin or stewing pieces boneless or bone in
• 1 red onion finely chopped or grated
• 2 cloves of garlic grated
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 pinch of ground turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp of salt

For the stew

• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 carrot peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 inch piece of ginger peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 can of chopped or crushed tomatoes
• 1 heaping tbsp of tomatoes paste
• 1 cup of beef broth
• ⅓ cup of green pitted olives
• 1 can of chickpeas

For the lemon herbed couscous

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups couscous
• ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ cup chopped chives or green onion
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2½ cups chicken broth, heated to boiling
• Juice of one lemon

For the toppings and garnishes

• Greek yoghurt
• Fresh mint chopped
• Fresh parsley chopped
• Dried apricots chopped

Place your meat in a large sealable bag or a bowl and toss well with all the marinade ingredients. Allow to marinate for at least a few hours and even better if it’s overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F

In a large Dutch oven or heavy bottom oven safe pot heat oil to medium high and add the meat in batches and brown on all sides then remove and set aside

Reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped onion and carrot and sauté for a few minutes.

Then add the garlic and ginger and sauté for a minute until fragrant and then add the rest of the spices. Mix everything well.

Add the broth and allow to simmer for a few minutes while you scrape the bottom of the pot loosening all the brown bits and flavours.

Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer for another few minutes and then add the meat back to the pot and give everything a good stir. Bring back up to a good simmer, put the lid on and place into the oven and cook for 1 to 1½ hours or until meat is tender.

Remove from oven and stir in the chicken peas and olives and if the stew is not to the thickness you want it to be put it back into the oven with the lid off and cook off the liquid for another 15-20 minutes or put it back on the stove top burner on medium high and cook until reduced to the preferred thickness.

In the meantime make the couscous. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Add the dry couscous, the parsley, chives, lemon zest, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for one minute, until well combined.

Add the boiling chicken broth and the lemon juice, stir, cover and remove from heat. Let the mixture sit, covered, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the couscous is tender and all the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork and serve with the tagine with all the fixings.

Cooking with Nigella

The recipes of Nigella Lawson.

Lamb and Date Tagine

This is a lovely and luscious stew – sweet and rich – just right for a cozy supper.

3-4 tbs. goose fat or olive oil 2 onions, peeled and chopped 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. ground turmeric 1 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. ground allspice 2 lbs. cubed lamb shoulder 1 cup soft, dried, pitted dates 1 cup pomegranate juice 1 cup water 2 tsp. sea salt flakes

Warm the goose fat or oil in a large, shallow pan that has a lid. Add the onion and cook gently over a low heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, cumin and allspice.

Turn up the heat and add the meat, turning it patiently in the pan so that it sears evenly. Drop in the dates, pour in the pomegranate juice and water, then add the salt and bring to a bubble.

Lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer for 2 hours. Alternatively, you can cook it for 2 hours in the oven at 300°F.

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Vegetable tagine with harissa yoghurt

This Moroccan-style vegetarian stew is packed with pumpkin, eggplants and zucchini along with fragrant spices and chickpeas for a hearty meal.

Looking for more vegetarian stews and casseroles?

Ingredients

Vegetable tagine.

You could use a mix of any vegetable in this tagine such as sweet potato, parsnip or beans. We used 240g (7½oz) baby zucchini in this recipe. Note

Trusted by home cooks for 90 years, The Australian Women’s Weekly’s Test Kitchen and cookbooks hold a singular place in shaping home cooking within the Australian culinary landscape. Today, the AWW Test Kitchen in Sydney is a thriving hub for food content, connected to two bustling photographic studios where a talented team of Australia’s best recipe developers, art directors, editors and photographers create our world class food content. Our recipes are thoroughly tested and tasted and given the Test Kitchen tick of approval, guaranteeing you’ll get great results in your home kitchen.

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Moscow Muled

Best blackberry moscow mule recipes.

Mar 05, 2020

In this post, we reveal the best Blackberry Moscow Mule recipes on the internet! We also describe the origin and history of the Blackberry Mule so that you can fully appreciate the cocktail. Let's dive right in!

Introduction

When you think of cocktails, there are usually a couple of different places your mind can go: the sugary, overpriced, watered-down drink you paid an embarrassing amount of money for at the nearest semi-swanky nighttime establishment, or the tasty-but-sloppy concoction your friend threw together in their blender. Of course, there are varying degrees of quality within those categories: some overpriced bar cocktails can taste like a slice of heaven, and your friend could be surprisingly adept at mixing drinks together. But, by and large, those appear to be the most common experiences for a lot of cocktail enthusiasts out in the wild: weak, expensive, convoluted, sub-par.

Why is that? Why do so many cocktails fall so short of the Platonic ideal of what a delicious cocktail should be? Well, there are a number of potential reasons, chief among them being the fact that a lot of cocktail recipes appear to be in a constant battle to come up with the most complicated recipe, throwing together a huge amount of ingredients that may or may not actually gel together as a whole. Nothing worse than a cocktail that tastes like it’s being pulled in ten different directions at the same time. Add to this the bar’s need to make a profit (which affects the price and the quality of ingredients) and the home mixologist’s innate need to show off to their friends by putting together the most elaborate drink (which affects the structural integrity) and what you end up with is often a less than ideal cocktail experience.

But then there are some drinks that are so beautifully perfect in their simplicity that it’s hard to mess them up; where the ingredients list is very brief and each element interacts perfectly with each other. Stone-cold classics of the alcoholic-beverage tradition. We’re talking about iconic drinks that have stood the test of time over the years, and whose simplicity has actually served as the ideal springboard for creativity in coming up with new twists on the original recipe. And, in this particular case, a drink that has traditionally been consumed in its own iconic container: a copper mug. That’s right; we’re talking about the venerable Moscow Mule .

You’re probably familiar with the classic Moscow Mule by now -- if not, you’ve likely seen them at gatherings or in pop culture, in their eye-catching presentation. It is an extremely straightforward and delicious cocktail that is just about impossible to get wrong, containing three main ingredients. And because these ingredients complement each other so perfectly, the Moscow Mule has become the drink of choice for a lot of amateur mixologists who want to impress their guests without navigating long and complicated recipes. A Moscow Mule is as refreshing as it is easy to make, containing ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice. But there’s more to the Mule than that.

You see, Moscow Mules kicked off a bit of a trend; as the popularity of the drink spread across the land, so did regional variants start popping up. Because the original recipe is so straightforward, there’s a lot of room for creativity and playing around with different flavors and textures, giving way to a whole new world of options. Most of these variations did one simple thing: swap out the spirit for a different one. So, for instance, a Mexican Mule would be a Moscow Mule with the vodka replaced by tequila, a Kentucky Mule would be a Moscow Mule using Kentucky bourbon, and so on and so forth. But some variations of the Moscow Mule did something different instead of swapping out ingredients: they added something to the mix.

The Blackberry Moscow Mule

Enter the Blackberry Moscow Mule, one of our favorite variations of this cocktail. Can you guess what is different about this version of the Mule? That’s right: it adds a whole other layer of flavor and texture by incorporating blackberries. This extremely refreshing and delightfully sweet drink makes for a fantastic summer companion, especially out in the sun with some friends. The kick of the ginger beer, the brightness of the lime juice, and the slight tartness of the blackberries all work together to make this drink a unique experience.

And though it sounds very simple from the description above, there are actually a few different ways to make the Blackberry Moscow Mule. Let’s talk about some of them, and what our personal choice is for the best Blackberry Moscow Mule recipe.

Classic Blackberry Moscow Mule Recipe

Let’s start with the most traditional Blackberry Moscow Mule recipe, which, as you might expect, is also the most straightforward one. This is the basic Moscow Mule recipe with the added element of the blackberries.

Ingredients:

• 4 large, plump blackberries, or 8 smaller ones
• 6 ounces ginger beer
• 1.5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 ounces vodka

Instructions:

• Place a glass (or, preferably, the traditional Moscow Mule copper mug !) in the freezer until it’s frosty.
• In a different glass, muddle the blackberries. Feel free to add in a small sprig of mint for some extra brightness.
• Add in the ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice.
• Strain the liquid into the frosty mug or glass. 
• Garnish with more blackberries, mint, and lime.

This cocktail is best served ice cold, which is why we chill our mug before mixing. The best thing about a cocktail this simple is that it’s very easy to customize, meaning that, if you like it a bit stronger, all you have to do is adjust the alcohol levels accordingly. Similarly, if you’re a big fan of blackberries, feel free to add more!

Mint is not an obligatory ingredient here -- your Blackberry Moscow Mule will be delicious without it. But we have found that adding in a small sprig of mint really kicks the whole mixture up a notch, adding a touch of herbal brightness to the mix of flavors and textures you’re putting together. Of course, some people aren’t fans of mint in their cocktails, so feel free to leave it out altogether.

The recipe above uses fresh muddled blackberries which are mixed with the rest of the ingredients and strained into the icy copper mug. This will get you the smoothest version of the drink, since you’re leaving out all the solids. But if you’re the kind of person who likes to have a little chewy treat at the bottom of their drink, you could also muddle the blackberries in the mug itself and pour the rest of the ingredients into it.

To do this, simply place the blackberries and lime juice in the bottom of your ice-cold copper mug. Then squash the berries to release their juice. Add the vodka and ginger beer on top of that, and stir to combine. That’s it!

This saves you the step of straining the mixture, and also takes full advantage of the texture that the blackberries bring to the Blackberry Moscow Mule. On top of that, you get to eat the blackberries at the bottom of the mug once you’re done with the drink.

Moscow Mule with Blackberry Syrup Recipe

Some Blackberry Moscow Mule recipes go the extra mile to really bring the blackberry flavor forward by incorporating other elements. For example, some recipes call for making your own homemade blackberry syrup to add to the mix. If you like your drink a little sweeter than most and you want to make the cocktail’s blackberry flavor significantly more intense, this could be the best version of the Blackberry Moscow Mule for you.

So, how would we go about making that syrup?

• 2.5 cups water
• 1.5 cup sugar
• 2 cups blackberries
• Put water, sugar, and blackberries over medium-high heat, bring them to a boil.
• Reduce heat and let simmer 10 minutes. 
• Remove from heat and mash berries. Make sure to mash thoroughly so as to get as much syrup out as you can. 
• Allow to cool 20 minutes. Bottle up and store until ready to use.

If you go this route, you end up with a more concentrated blackberry flavor that is also considerably sweeter due to the added sugar. To put the cocktail together:

• Combine room-temperature blackberry syrup and vodka. Make sure neither of them are chilled, as the syrup won’t incorporate as well if either is cold. Add in the lime juice. 
• Once incorporated, pour the mixture over ice into a copper mule mug. 
• Top with ginger beer and lime juice. Fresh blackberry garnish optional.

This version of the drink makes for an entirely different experience. It’s very sweet and definitely loses some of its breezy refreshing qualities, while also being a little more intense and perhaps even more festive. We can see these drinks working well in different contexts, or perhaps even different seasons of the year; while the original recipe is a summery, outdoors drink, we definitely envision the version that incorporates syrup as more of an indoor party drink, perhaps even suited for a holiday gathering in the winter.

Whichever version you choose to go with, the Blackberry Moscow Mule is a delicious twist on the classic cocktail that you’re going to love. And with a recipe this simple, it’s near impossible to mess up!

Did You Enjoy This Article?

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, you might also like the following articles:  Best London Mule Recipes and  Best Montana Mule Recipe

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Moscow Mule Copper Mug

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