You may recall at Maison MK we made Lamb Tajine, our guests Kevin and Barb with whom we are traveling down memory lane don’t care for Lamb; fortunately, the recipe deck from Maison MK included the same Tajine except using beef! Perfect. We decided to cook the dish the same way that we did at Maison MK, in a pressure cooker and only present in the Tajine.
Beef Tajine
Ingredients:
- 1 kg stewing beef in large cubes
- 50 g almonds with skins on.
- 50 g prunes
- 1 tbsp honey
- pinch of cinnamon
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp 5 spices (a Moroccan blend our Chef gave us as a gift)
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 large pinch saffron
- 1 tsp turmeric (for colour)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbsp oil
- 2-4 cups of water
Directions:
- Add the pitted prunes to a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 8-10 minutes (this is to soften the prunes and not disintegrate them!)
- Strain the prunes and return to heat, add the honey and cook until the prunes are glazed and all of the water has evaporated. Set aside.
- Add the almonds to a small saucepan and cover with water. Boil for 3 minutes. Strain and cool immediately with cold water. Remove skins; the skins should come off very easily. Our Chef deep fried the almonds but we roasted them in a 375°F oven for 5-10 minutes.
- In a very hot pressure cooker with a bit of oil, brown the meat on all sides, set aside.
- Add a bit more of the oil and cook the onions until a little brown. Turn down the heat and add the garlic and stir until you can smell it. Return the beef to the pan.
- Add the ginger, saffron and turmeric and 1 cup of water. Stir well. Put the pressure cooker lid on and cook on a medium level flame for 10 minutes.
- Give the meat a stir and add 1-2 cups of water and cook with the pressure cooker lid on for another 40 minutes. Check to see how the meat is, after about 40 minutes it should be tender enough that you don’t need a knife to cut it. There should be enough ‘gravy’ to serve with the meat.
- Add salt and cinnamon and stir well. Stir in the cilantro and parsley. Serve in a tajine with couscous.
The beef turned out incredibly well, falling apart, no need for a knife! How do you like the tip of the hat to the 1970’s propping? What is that in the background? A bedspread? or is it curtains? Not sure either — I was just having a little fun!
This is the tajine that Hayat gave us as a gift!
Thanks also for giving us a link to a version of the 5-spice powder!
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Thanks, Eva, for letting me know you had posted this recipe – I want to try it – FOR SURE!! However, I’ll give it a try in my new (and, so far, unused) tangine!
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Thanks Cecile, we got our tangine in Morocco and it was such a lovely gesture from our hotel manager. I had mentioned to her that I was hoping to buy one but wanted a reputable vendor so I asked for her advise. She asked me a few questions about what I was looking for and she said she would get back to me. A while later she calls up to our room and asks if she may come up, so I assumed she was going to bring me an address where I can buy a tanginess (one without lead in the glaze) but instead, she surprised me with one as a gift! I couldn’t believe it. What a lovely and generous thing to do. I have never, ever met such kind, generous and genuine people anywhere else in the world. And the interesting thing is that you are discouraged on tipping so money was not their motivation, just genuine kindness. Isn’t that wonderful in this cruel, greedy world we live in?
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What a lovely story!! It makes a person feel better about the world! Within the last few years I’ve had two very sweet experiences with motel owners. One was a lovely Chinese couple who owned a motel not too far from Quebec City – they gave me some Chinese cookies they’d made. The other, and more recent, took place when I was visiting the Berkshire Mountains – those owners came from India and they also went inside their living area and came back carrying some Indian treats they’d made! But – someone buying you a tangine is simply amazing – thanks so much for sharing this uplifting story!!
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It’s just wonderful to know that there are good people out there.
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Hi Eva! What a symphony of flavors. I used to think mixing meats and fruits was weird when I was younger–even raisins in a chicken salad–but I’ve grown to like the combination, especially through the little Moroccan cooking I’ve tried. I didn’t realize the pot was a tagine either. So nice to know that you are a source for all of these delicious Moroccan recipes!
– Michael
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Thanks Michael. A really excellent source for authentic Moroccan is http://www.cookingwithalia.com/
Combining the sweet with savory is something I too have learned to love.
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That sounds and looks seriously awesome! A Tagine is in my wishlist too….someday soon! 🙂
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Thanks Manju! It’s lovely, absolutely.
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My wife and I love cooking with our tajines but for some reason rarely do. After reading this recipe I know that I’ve got to get them out of the closet now. 🙂
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So cool Jed! Looking forward to seeing your posts about it!
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I have never cooked with prunes before but your recipe and picture is really tempting me to
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Thank you kindly Sawsan, they added the sweetness this dish was needing!
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Oh yay! I love that you used your gift tajine, that’s so cool. This beef dish sounds really delicious with the sweet, spice, savory and almond mixture.
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Thanks Betsey; I sent Hayat some photos of the dish in use, I can hardly wait to hear back from her!
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You know I never cook with prunes and I keep seeing these wonderful recipes. Love the tajine too.
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Thanks Greg. The prunes are really wonderful to cook with; years ago I made a roast loin of pork from Martha Stewart’s Mom that had prunes and it was delicious!
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So that’s the tajine? It really is a beauty, Eva, and what a nice gift! A fitting serving dish for this great recipe.
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Thanks John. Apparently one can actually cook in this tajine, Hayat said that you have to soak it for about 10 hours prior to cooking in it. Also, the traditional method is not in the oven, but on the stove top on a really low flame. I will try it one day, I just didn’t have time to soak it for the dinner party on the weekend!
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5 spices is the bomb! This beef tajine looks amazing and I love the addition of the nice crunch factor with the almonds and the chewiness with the prunes! Just beautiful ! Awesome!
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Thank you Jessica, I had not heard of Moroccan five spice before, so it was a nice surprise from Chef Omar; we’ve always loved the Chinese 5-spice and the Indian Garam and Meat Masalas so the Moroccan version will be a nice addition to our repertoire. I also find it interesting that the Moroccans combine a little science into the food, that the beef would be difficult to digest and they add the prunes and almonds as fibre to help with the process. Very cool.
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That is a gorgeous dish! That was so nice of them to give it to you. And the presentation looks fantastic. What a different way to cook beef. I like it. 🙂 It looks so rich and comforting.
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Thanks Kristy, I can honestly say we have never met just generous people in all of our travels. The dish will certainly bring back some very fond memories of our trip. to Morocco.
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Oooh, I love “5 spices” – they sell it in France, which isn’t surprising because we have a lot of north African immigrants here because of the colonies. It’s just amazing… if you were interested I could look at the jar when I get home to see what was inside it so people could try and make their own. Definitely gives a beautiful flavour to a dish. I keep meaning to get myself a tajine, but typically it’s one of these things which will have to wait until I have more kitchen space available one day!
Many Swedish people aren’t too keen on lamb either. A common phrase you might hear is (translated): “it tastes like cardigan”, which is hilarious for me because the word for wool cardigan in Swedish is “Kofta”, which of course is a middle-eastern meatball thing in English 😀
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That would be amazing, Charles, thanks. I would like to caveat that each family would have their own version, like garam masala in India, or Chinese five spice blend! Please do let me know what’s on the label!
It’s funny you should say that the Swedes think lamb tastes weird; I usually don’t eat lamb because it has a bit of a ‘smell’ and a very unusual taste, but recently I was at a foodie event and they served lamb popsicles (these are just a rack of lamb cut into single bones with the bones Frenched) and they were incredible, no weird smell/taste. I heard that the lamb they served was New Zealand lamb; they must feed Ontario lamb something unusual to give it that weird gamey smell and taste. Anyway, Moroccan lamb tasted more like our pork, no weird smell or taste. I doubt I would make this dish with lamb from Ontario.
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It would be really helpful to know what was in “five spices” (Then we could fake it). What’s your best guess?
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Hi Sharyn, these mixes are usually personal to each family and highly guarded. I have two versions from Morocco, and they have entirely different colourings. The Moroccans use a lot of cinnamon, ginger, cumin, paprika, black pepper so it’s likely a combo of those. I’ve also heard of a 35 spice blend, can’t even guess about it! I found this on Epicurious, it’s a good starting point:
http://m.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Moroccan-Spice-Blend-109356
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Thanks, Eva.
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