Seven Tagines in Seven Days: A Culinary Trip Through Morocco

“Everyone say ‘tagine’!”

“Tagine!”

The singsong chants are a common refrain whenever our delightful Intrepid leader Mohamed snaps a photo of our tour group. The call and response instead of “cheese” gets us grinning for the camera and tagine, the quintessential Moroccan dish, has a similar effect as I travel across the North African country. Over the week spent here, I ate it seven times. And I’m not mad about it.

The hearty, fragrant stew is named for the earthenware vessel it’s cooked in. And it’s everywhere – from coastal Casablanca and bustling Marrakesh to the holy mountain town of Moulay Idris and the remote truck-stop diners near the Sahara. It’s cooked in locals’ homes and in restaurants, in many different forms, usually accompanied by round khobz bread to mop it up. Tourists like me (and the small tour group I’m travelling with) most often come across chicken with preserved lemon and green olives; kefta and egg in tomato sauce; and fall-apart lamb with sticky prunes. It’s characterised by its extra tender meat (or veggies), thanks to the conical lid that traps moisture in.

“When people hear tagine they think it’s a monotonous way of cooking and all the same ingredients, but there are a lot of tagines and several recipes,” says local guide Abdella, who ushers us through the labyrinthine medina (old town) of Marrakesh, and past several stalls selling the earthenware pots. They’re a constant presence during my week-long stay as part of Intrepid’s Classic Morocco tour. Here are all the tagines I ate over seven days.

Right after landing in Morocco, Broadsheet photographer Kate Shanasy and I checked into our hotel then immediately ventured out to find lunch. After a short stroll through the medina, past packed delis and piles of watermelons, we land at a nondescript spot with a line-up of tagines out the front.

Circular, dense khobz bread and a small bowl of earthy brown lentils hit the table first. Then out come our tagines: chunks of soft potato with peas, green olives and translucent onion in one; small pieces of chicken hidden under green beans, carrot, raisins and more potato in the other. It’s a restorative meal after 26 hours of plane and airport food.

We walk back towards our hotel to meet our small tour group for the first time, stopping on the way to sample a baby apricot from a local vendor, who kindly washes it first. The tiny stone fruit packs a punch – it’s genuinely one of the most flavourful apricots I’ve ever had. Morocco, we’re off to a good start.

We’re not long in Casablanca before we hit the road to the holy town of Moulay Idris. After a short stroll through winding, pastel-coloured streets, we reach our destination: a home-cooked lunch by local woman Fatima and her son Ahmed. We start with spiced green olives and shakshuka (a zesty tomato salsa with green capsicum) before a large tagine makes its way to the centre of the table, brimming with bubbling tomato sauce, meatballs, eggs and spices.

We rip some khobz apart to wipe the plate clean, then out comes more food: tender hunks of slow-cooked chicken and the fluffiest homemade couscous topped with carrot, zucchini, broad beans, chickpeas, cabbage and turnips. Friday is couscous day in Morocco, Mohamed tells us. It’s Tuesday, but we’re not complaining. We end on orange slices sprinkled with cinnamon and mint tea – the latter customary after every meal.

After one day without tagine (instead last night we were treated to chicken pastilla: a flaky, fragrant pastry parcel), I’m ready for another. We pull into a truck stop near the Sahara so both we and our bus can refuel. The on-site restaurant serves grilled meats, salads, soups and pizzas, but I know what I’m ordering.

This place does a goat tagine, which I’m yet to see on a menu, available by the quarter, half or whole kilo; Kate and I share a half kilo. We almost ordered another round, though, because this tagine – in a nondescript roadside diner in a dusty rural village near the desert – was maybe the best of the trip. The goat was unctuous and melt-in-your-mouth tender with crispy bits at the bottom, and cooked with carrot, potato and fragrant spices.

As we were quickly getting used to, a Moroccan meal is never just one dish. The waiter slapped down some green olives with a spicy harissa sauce, a cold salsa of tomato, peppers and olive oil, and rounds of bread to soak up all the juices. We pile back onto the bus towards the Sahara, sated and fortified for our sunset camel ride.

We’ve arrived at our hotel in Tinghir, the home town of our Intrepid tour leader Mohamed, and he’s excited to show off his part of the world. The area, which sits alongside a lush palm tree oasis, is most famous for the Todra Gorge: a massive trench that rises more than 300 metres to form one of the most dramatic and spectacular natural sights in Morocco. Later this afternoon we’ll hike through the fertile valley, a green ribbon of palm groves and plantations of fruit trees. But first it’s lunchtime at the hotel, where Mohamed recommends we order a traditional Amazigh (Berber) omelette. It turns out to be another tagine, a little like frittata, with tomatoes, eggs, onion and spices.

It’s another hotel meal tonight, following an afternoon exploring the Unesco World Heritage Site Ait-Ben-Haddou, the filming location for Gladiator and Game of Thrones. Mohamed has ordered ahead for us, and two tagines hit the table: one with chicken pieces, preserved lemon and olives in a bright yellow broth, and a vegetarian number with tender green beans, zucchini, olives and bright red peppers. Our group recaps the past few days over dinner and a few giggles before a round of fresh, flavourful fruit for dessert.

You might think I’d be tagine-d out after a week of this, but it’s our last day in Morocco before I return to a largely tagine-less life, so I’m not about to stop now. We’ve arrived in Marrakech, our final destination before we go our separate ways, and Mohamed leads our group through the famously frenetic public square, Jemaa el-Fna – past snake charmers and orange juice vendors – to Restaurant Chaabi, one of the few places around here frequented by locals.

My table of four decides to share couscous with vegetables, a meatball tagine (which arrives with an omelette on top), and the local specialty: tangia. Like tagine, it’s both the name of the dish – a slow-cooked lamb stew with preserved lemon and aromatics – and the vessel it’s
cooked in.

We finish everything on our plates, eager to taste every last bit of Morocco before we bid it – and each other – farewell.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Intrepid Travel. Intrepid’s Classic Morocco tour is a fully guided eight-day trip that includes all transport and accommodation. Starting in Casablanca and finishing in Marrakesh, it takes in city and country – including the Sahara Desert and ancient ruins.