I love kefta. Any time I've gotten them at a restaurant around here though, they're always served dry. And they're usually formed into small patties rather than balls as well. So I thought it was quite interesting that Crocker describes kefta as "minced meat [...] formed into balls and poached in a tangy sauce". I quite enjoyed this version with the sauce. I'd also be interested in trying other versions as well though. I quite like the dry patties that I've tried before, so I'd love to learn how to do those ones too.

Spiced Kefta in Tomato Sauce

Slightly adapted from 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker

Ingredients

Kefta¹

• 450g lean ground beef
• 1/2 c. fresh bread crumbs
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. berbere
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

Tomato Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 fresh red Thai chile, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 375-400mL tinned diced tomatoes
• juice of 1 lemon
• flesh and rind of 1 very small or 1/2 large preserved lemon
• 2 c. frozen chopped spinach

Directions

1. Combine all kefta ingredients and mix well.
2. Form into 2-Tbsp. balls and set on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Kefta can be set aside until sauce is ready or, if not making sauce immediately, place tray in freezer. Once meatballs are frozen, remove from tray and place in a bag in the freezer.
3. Heat oil over medium heat.
4. Add onion and ras el hanout and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add garlic, chile, and ginger paste and cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Add tomatoes, lemon juice, and preserved lemon and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
8. Add spinach and simmer for 5 minutes.
9. Gently nestle keftas into the sauce, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, turning once or twice during cooking.
10. Once keftas are cooked through, serve in the sauce alongside crusty bread and/or rice.

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¹ If you don't feel like making the kefta from scratch, you can simply simmer a ready-made meatball of your choice in the tomato sauce. ^Back

Spiced Honey Lemon Beef Tagine

This tagine sounded really promising. The onions were excellent. But, overall, I found the dish a little bland. A generous dollop of harissa on top perked it up nicely though.

Honey Lemon Beef Tagine

Slightly adapted from 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. pomegranate molasses
• 4 tsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 450g stewing beef
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, cut into eighths
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 c. beef broth
• juice of 1 lemon
• flesh and rind of 1 very small preserved lemon (or 1/2 large preserved lemon), chopped
• 1 very large (or 3 small) parsnips, chopped
• Harissa, to serve

Directions

1. Combine honey, sesame oil, pomegranate molasses, garlic paste, and ras el hanout to make a marinade.
2. Toss beef with marinade, cover, and chill for up to 24 hours.
3. After meat has had at least half and hour to marinate, heat oil over medium heat and add onion and bell pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add broth, lemon juice, and preserved lemon and bring to a boil.
5. Stir in parsnips, beef, and marinade.
6. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour.
7. Serve over couscous with harissa.

This tagine came out quite well. And it seems like it should be reasonably flexible as well. I ended up using tinned cherry tomatoes rather than fresh. Because the recipe was expecting fresh tomatoes, I only put the exact number called for and held back the juice. Next time I think I'd just put the whole tin in, juice and all. I think I'd also up the feta next time and sprinkle it over the whole tagine, rather than just the portobello caps. And while I have no objection to the cannellini/white kidney beans, they didn't have much presence. I think, if you want a mild, unassuming bean that isn't going to stand out, stick with the cannellini beans. If you want something that's going to have a little more chew and be more noticeable, swap them out for some chickpeas.

Mushroom Tagine with Eggplant and Squash

Slightly adapted from 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 227g cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 2 Asian eggplants (long, skinny, and pale purple), peeled and diced
• 1 c. diced squash or pumpkin
• 1 dried cayenne or arbol chile, crumbled (optional)
• 18 fresh cherry tomatoes, halved or 1 (400mL) tin of cherry tomatoes
• 1 (400mL) tin cannellini/white kidney beans or chickpeas/garbanzo beans
• 1 c. chopped kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, or bok choy
• 2 portobello mushroom caps
• 1/4 to 1/2 c. feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, and ras el hanout and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
3. Add butter, cremini mushrooms, eggplant, and squash and cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Add cayenne, tomatoes, and beans.
5. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Stir in kale.
7. Nestle portobello caps into vegetables, gill-side-up.
8. Sprinkle with feta.
9. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
10. Cut portobello caps in half to serve.
11. Serve over rice or couscous with condiments of choice: chermoula, tamarind-date chutney, cilantro-mint chutney, fried onions, etc.

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Variations

Vegan

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 2 Tbsp. margarine
• 227g cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 2 Asian eggplants (long, skinny, and pale purple), peeled and diced
• 1 c. diced squash or pumpkin
• 1 dried cayenne or arbol chile, crumbled (optional)
• 18 fresh cherry tomatoes, halved or 1 (400mL) tin of cherry tomatoes
• 1 (400mL) tin cannellini/white kidney beans or chickpeas/garbanzo beans
• 1 c. chopped kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, or bok choy
• 2 portobello mushroom caps
• 1/4 to 1/2 c. vegan feta

We still have a lot of beef left in the freezer, so I though it'd be nice to try out one of the beef tagine recipes to use up the next bit of squash. I was just planning on doing the two squash tagines, but I may have gone slightly overboard with the squash purchases, so I think there may be a third squash tagine appearing in the near future. Hopefully they're all different enough that we won't get completely sick of squash before we eat it all. Worst case, I guess I parboil and freeze some of it. But, in the meantime... Tagines!

Beef Tagine with Squash and Beets

Slightly adapted from 150 Best Tagine Recipes

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 500g stewing beef, cubed or sliced
• 4 tsp. garlic paste
• 1 fresh Thai chile, chopped¹
• 1-2 slices crystallized ginger², chopped
• 4 medium beets, quartered³
• 2 c. diced squash
• 1 c. beef broth
• 2 oranges, cut into segments⁴
• 2 c. chopped kale or Swiss chard
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro or (flat-leaf) parsley

Directions

1. Add oil to tagine and heat over medium heat.
2. Add onion and ras el hanout and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add beef, garlic paste, chile, and ginger. Stir to coat beef and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Add beets, squash, and broth. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Add oranges and kale/chard, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
6. Check beef for tenderness. If too tough, continue to cook for another few minutes.
7. Garnish with cilantro and serve over couscous.

NB: catalyst didn't care for the orange in this one. TF didn't object to the orange specifically, but felt that it had too much pith which ended up sort of tough and bitter. Personally, I quite liked the orange. But it appears not to have been a hit overall. I'd say I'd leave it out next time but, realistically, I'll probably just pick a different tagine entirely. So, I guess... caveat emptor orange is not for everyone.

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¹ This tagine was tasty, but I didn't find the chile came through at all. Next time I think I'll try to alternative suggested in the cookbook and use 1 dried, crushed cayenne instead. ^Back
2 The original only calls for a single slice of candied ginger. I used two slices because, historically, I have not noticed a very strong ginger presence when using candied ginger in tagines. Even with two slices, I still couldn't really taste the ginger -- and that's with extra gingery ras el hanout! I do find myself wondering if I'm using the right kind of candied ginger. I suppose next time I could try using some stem ginger (the kind the comes in thick syrup). I think the flavour of that ginger tends to be much stronger than that of crystallized ginger. But stem ginger doesn't normally come in slices (at least not that I've seen). It comes as large chunks or knobs. Since the recipes specifies "slices" of candied ginger, I figured it must want crystallized ginger. The tagine still comes out tasty, even without a strong ginger presence. If you really want to be able to taste it though I'd probably suggest either using candied stem ginger or using 1-2 slices of crystallized ginger and a tsp. or so of ginger paste. ^Back
3 I used sliced frozen beets for this. I cut them in half to make them easier to eat. So, rather than having beet quarters, I had halved beet slices. I'm sure quarters would've been fine too, but I actually quite liked the slices. ^Back
4 I decided to slice my oranges (crosswise) and then divide the slices into segments. (I liked the idea of having lots of small pieces of food rather than a few larger ones.) ^Back

Much like garam masala, there's no one canonical version of ras el hanout. It's meant to be a mix of all the best spices the seller has to offer and each merchant will generally have their own blend. This version includes a bit of sea salt, but I think next time I'd leave it out and add salt to the dish separately. That way I know how much salt is going in.

Ras el Hanout

From 150 Best Tagine Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. allspice berries
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 Tbsp. fennel seeds
• 1 (2-3") cinnamon stick, smashed
• 2 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods)
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 3 cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt¹ (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tsp. ground ginger²

Directions

1. Combine allspice, coriander, fennel, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, fenugreek, cloves, and star anise and toast over medium heat, stirring often.
2. When spices are lightly toasted and fragrant, remove from heat immediately and transfer to plate to cool.
3. Once cool, grind to a fine powder.
4. Add salt, turmeric, and ginger and mix well.

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¹ The first time I made this, I made it with the salt. I generally prefer to add the salt separately though. These days I make it without salt and just add in extra salt elsewhere if the recipe is expecting the spice mix to have salt in it. ^Back
2 I totally misread this the first time I made it and put 1 Tbsp. of ground ginger into my mix. Still tasty, and I didn't find the ginger overwhelming, despite having 3x the recommended amount. Perhaps some of the other spices might have come through more if I'd put less ginger though. ^Back

I made this couscous to go with the sweet potato and squash tagine I made the other day. I think it complemented the dish fairly well. The couscous did seem a little dry though. I might add an extra quarter cup of liquid next time. I don't want to make it soggy, but I do enjoy relatively moist couscous. I'm hoping the extra quarter cup of water will be enough to give it a bit of extra moisture without weighing it down too much.

Spiced Almond Couscous

From 150 Best Tagine Recipes

Ingredients

• 1-1 1/4 c. vegetable broth
• 1 c. (whole wheat) couscous
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 slivered almonds
• 2 tsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala

Directions

1. Bring broth to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add couscous. Stir and cover. Set aside for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium heat.
4. Add almonds and garam masala and cook until almonds are lightly browned.
5. Fluff couscous with a fork and stir in almond mixture.

I've mostly been turning to my ATK Complete Vegetarian Cookbook for dinner recipes lately. And I've been pretty happy with that. I suddenly got a craving for Moroccan though, so I figured maybe it was time to bust out the tagine cookbook. Squash is in season and on sale right now and I have sweet potatoes left from the gratin that never got made, so a squash and sweet potato tagine made for a natural choice.

Sweet Potato & Squash Tagine

From 150 Best Tagine Recipes

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 2 c. cubed sweet potato
• 1 c. cubed squash¹
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 c. dried apricots, slivered

Directions

1. Melt butter with oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, and ras el hanout. Cook until onion has softened.
3. Add sweet potato, squash, and orange juice.
4. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 45 minutes, adding more liquid as necessary.
5. Add chickpeas and apricots, cover, and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve over couscous with condiment of choice. (I recommend chermoula, harissa, tamarind-date chutney, or cilantro-mint chutney.)

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Variations

Vegan

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 2 c. cubed sweet potato
• 1 c. cubed squash¹
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 c. dried apricots, slivered

¹ I used a white swan squash for this. I'm sure butternut or delicata would also work well. The recipe also recommends turnip in place of squash. ^Back

Harissa

This is seriously the most delicious thing to come out of my blender. It's probably one of the most delicious things to ever come out of my kitchen! I don't think there is any way I could over-state just how good this harissa tastes. Or even how good it smells!

Make it. Eat it. Love it!

Harissa
From 150 Best Tagine Recipes
12 dried red chile peppers (I used Kashmiri chilies)
3/4 c. boiling water
1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
2 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 c. olive oil

1. Using scissors, cut chilies into strips. Discard stems.
2. Pour boiling water over chilies and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
3. Combine coriander, cumin, fennel, and fenugreek in a small pan and toast over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes. They may pop, but shouldn't smoke or burn.
4. Remove spices from hot pan and place on a plate to cool.
5. Once cool, grind the toasted spices.
6. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic with the salt. (Alternatively, chop in a food processor.)
7. Drain the chilies and mash them with the garlic. (Or chop in the food processor.)
8. Mash in the spices.
9. Gradually pound and mix in oil.

I have neither a food processor nor a large enough mortar to accommodate all the harissa ingredients. Instead, what I did, was follow the recipe up to step 7. Once I got to step 7, I transferred the mashed garlic to my small bullet blender, added the chilies and a couple Tbsp. of oil, and gave it a quick whirl. Then I ground the toasted spices in the empty mortar and added them to the blender as well. Gave it another whirl. After that I alternated ~10-20 seconds of blending with stopping to add another Tbsp. or so of oil until I'd added the lot. I'm sure it would've been easier with a food processor, but I'm happy enough (more-than-happy actually!) with the results I got from the blender.

Update: As you may be able to tell from the photo, we have a molcajete now! So it's now even easier to make harissa. No more stopping and starting the blender; just dump everything into the molcajete and go to town!

Berbere

My understanding of it is that berbere is to Ethiopian food as garam masala is to Indian food. It is a ubiquitous spice blend found in many different dishes and every region, cook, and family probably has their own variation. I've seen many different berbere recipes with all sorts of different ingredients in various proportions. In the past I concocted a sort of recipe gestalt made from a handful of different berbere recipes. More recently though, I've just been using the recipe out of the tagine cookbook.

Berbere

From 150 Best Tagine Recipes

5 dried cayenne peppers

1 Tbsp. black peppercorns

2 tsp. allspice berries

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. cardamom seeds

1 tsp. fenugreek seeds

3 whole cloves

1 (1") piece of cinnamon

1. Using scissors, cut cayenne peppers into small pieces.

2. Combine all ingredients in small pan and toast over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

3. Toast for 3-4 minutes. Spices may pop, but should not smoke or burn.

4. Transfer to plate to cool. (Don't leave in hot pan.)

5. Grind.

Eggplant and Lentil Tagine

This was tasty but didn't blow me away. The eggplant and the lentils were both good, but I think my brain wanted those chunks of eggplant to turn out to be sausage or something similar.

Eggplant and Lentil Tagine
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
2 onions, quartered
1 Tbsp. berbere
3 Asian eggplants, cubed
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 c. chicken broth
500mL cooked lentils (I used French lentils, but brown lentils would probably also work well)
1/2 c. raisins or dates, chopped

1. Heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add onion and berbere and cook for 10 minutes.
2. Add eggplant and garlic, reduce heat to medium low, and cook for 7 minutes.
3. Add broth, lentils, and raisins.
4. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 7-12 minutes.

Fiery Beef Tagine with Vegetables

I think this is my favourite of the tagine recipes we've tried so far. So, so tasty! It has a nice mix of meat and vegetables and includes both bebere and harissa. (For best results, serve with even more harissa as a condiment at the table!)

As with other tagine recipes, the preferred method is to cook it in an actual tagine. Barring that, a Dutch oven is probably the next best option.

Fiery Beef Tagine with Vegetables
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 slice candied ginger, chopped
1 Tbsp. harissa
2 tsp. berbere
1 lb. stewing beef, cubed or sliced
3 tomatoes (preferably roma), quartered
1 preserved lemon, finely chopped
2 c. diced squash
2 c. green peas, fresh or frozen
2 c. Balkan-style yogurt
1/2 c. fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, chopped
extra harissa (optional)

1. Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook for 5-7 minutes.
2. Add ginger, harissa, berbere, and stewing beef and cook for 7-10 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, lemon, and squash.
4. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Add peas and cook, covered, for another 15 minutes.
6. Serve over couscous garnished with yogurt, cilantro, and extra harissa.

Beef Tagine with Peaches and Raisins

I've been on a bit of a tagine kick lately. My brother got us a phenomenal tagine cookbook a few years back and I've made shamefully little use of it so far. Better late than never I suppose!

This tagine is relatively easy to throw together, especially if you already have some chermoula on hand. And it results in lovely, tender beef in a meaty, slightly sweet-and-sour gravy. The sesame seeds make a nice garnish and complement. I think next time I would try adding a few tsp. of popped mustard seeds along with the broth. I am very fond of the mustard-peach flavour combo and think it'd work quite well here.

Beef Tagine with Peaches and Raisins
1 1/2 lbs. stewing beef, cubed or sliced
1/4 c. chermoula
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. warm water
20 threads saffron
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1/2 c. beef broth
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. mustard seeds, popped in 1 Tbsp. of oil (optional)
1/2 c. raisins
4 fresh peaches, sliced (or equivalent frozen)
3 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

1. Toss beef with chermoula and flour. Set aside.
2. Add saffron threads to warm water. Set aside.
3. Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, and cook for 5-7 minutes.
4. Add beef and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes.
5. Add broth, vinegar, mustard seeds and oil (if using), and saffron with its soaking water.
6. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
7. Add raisins and peaches, replace lid, and simmer for another 20 minutes.
8. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Ideally this should be (as the name implies) cooked in a tagine. That said, I think it would work reasonably well in a Dutch oven with a good, tightly-fitting lid.