Tagine Cookbook: Top 100 delicious Seafood Tagine and Couscous Recipes for You and Your Family to Relish

By Waseem Kader Ahmed

If you want to start cooking with seafood, are looking for exotic recipes, or simply want to reduce the cooking time, this book is the perfect option. It will introduce you to a world of seafood tagine recipes.

An extremely important part of traditional Moroccan cuisine is tagine. It's been a part of their culture for hundreds

• Language: English
• Publisher: Waseem Kader Ahmed
• Release date: Jul 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088226483

Book preview

Introduction

If you want to start cooking with seafood, are looking for exotic recipes, or simply want to reduce the cooking time, this book is the perfect option. It will introduce you to a world of seafood tagine recipes.

An extremely important part of traditional Moroccan cuisine is tagine. It's been a part of their culture for hundreds of years. The word tagine itself has two different meanings. The first one refers to a typical North African traditional cookware made of ceramic or clay. It is a shallow, circular dish that's used for cooking and serving. A distinct part of it is its rounded cone or a dome-like lid. The second meaning of this word refers to a stew-like dish that’s slow-cooked in the above-mentioned traditional cookware. It is usually a mixture of meat, seafood, poultry, and vegetables or fruits. The origin of the tagine is believed to trace back to the 18th century when Harun al Rashid ruled the Islamic empire. Another equally popular theory about its origin is the influence of the Roman Empire on Moroccan cooking. Regardless of where the tagine came from, it is an incredible piece of kitchen equipment. In fact, all kitchens should have a tagine! 

There are two important parts to all the recipes given in this book. The first is they include seafood and the second is they are all cooked in a tagine. This is one cooking equipment that no kitchen should ever be without. It is one of the most incredible ways to cook a variety of meals without requiring any other pans or pots. You can use a tagine not just to cook but serve too. Understanding the benefits of both these concepts will make it abundantly clear why you should be using these recipes.

Seafood is one of the healthiest food groups you can consume. They are not only loaded with essential nutrients such as vitamin D and protein but have heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids too. All the benefits they offer are backed by years of scientific research. Seafood is a high-quality protein filled with a variety of minerals, vitamins, iodine, and Omega-3 fatty acids. A combination of these essential nutrients automatically fulfills your body’s nutritional needs. It is known to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Consuming seafood regularly, especially naturally fatty fish, improves your heart health and cardiovascular functioning. The Omega-3 fatty acids present in them are crucial for the growth and development of your body. They also promote cognitive functioning and reduce the risk of age-related neurodegenerative ailments. 

Seafood is also known to improve your energy levels, regulate your mental health, and reduce the risk of developing mood-related disorders such as depression or even anxiety. Since they are an excellent source of vitamin D, they support and strengthen your bones. It also reduces the risk of autoimmunity disorders such as type-1 diabetes. A leading cause of vision impairment and blindness is usually age-related macular degeneration. Regular consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids reduces the risk of such ailments and strengthens eye health. They are also known to promote your quality of sleep at night. Apart from all these benefits, cooking seafood is incredibly simple. Unlike other animal proteins, seafood hardly takes any time to cook. So, if you've been thinking about adding seafood to your diet, going through these benefits is certainly bound to change how you feel about it. Improve your overall health, wellbeing, and fitness by increasing your seafood consumption.

The second and equally important part of these recipes is understanding why you should be cooking with a tagine. Tagine recipes are incredibly easy to throw together. All the ingredients need to be placed in this brilliant cooking vessel and that's about it. Forget about cleaning more than one dish when you are cooking a flavorful meal. Instead, a tagine does it all. The meals cooked in it have a unique earthy flavor, unlike regular pans or pots. This, in turn, brings freshness to any dish you cook and gives it an exotic feel. As mentioned, you can not only cook in it but also serve your dishes. Tagine cooking has been around for centuries and it instantly offers a rich cultural and traditional feel to different dishes. This is the perfect kitchen equipment for slow cooking. When cooking in a tagine, you can rest easy knowing that all the different nutrients and flavors of the ingredients are sealed within the pot and are not let out.

Well, these are reasons enough to start adding seafood to your daily meals and cooking with a tagine. Now, the next part is to look for recipes. The good news is you need not spend hours on the Internet searching for recipes that satisfy both these conditions. This book will act as your guide every step of the way. Also, all the recipes given in this book are incredibly simple. Following the step-by-step instructions will ensure you get brilliant results every single time. Why don't you serve your friends or family a wonderful seafood tagine the next time you host a dinner party? This is surely bound to win your guests over. Not just others, but once you get into the groove of cooking with a tagine, you will not want to go back to regular pots and pans!

Before you start cooking with a tagine, ensure that you season it. This increases the material integrity of the cooking pot. Also, never expose the tagine to high-heat and opt for low or medium-heat to cook. This reduced heat exposure seals in the flavors while ensuring the ingredients don’t burn, and the tagine retains the goodness and flavors of the ingredients.

This book will introduce you to a variety of seafood tagine recipes. These recipes are inspired by Moroccan, Tunisian, and Middle Eastern cuisine., and are bursting with flavors as well as nutrition. Forget about compromising on flavor to get the required nutrients or health. Instead, you simply need to change your method of cooking. So, once you start utilizing the different recipes in this book, you are improving your cooking game and ensuring your body gets its daily dose of nutrients. Cooking has never been this easy or simple before. You need to find a recipe that makes your mouth water, gather the necessary ingredients, and follow the incredibly simple steps. If you follow these recipes, you will get brilliant results every single time. Don’t hesitate to explore different flavor combinations and do not stifle your creative juices. Instead, go ahead and have fun with these seafood tagine recipes. 

It's not just the time spent in the kitchen that’s minimized, but the cleaning is reduced as well. After all, you don’t need any other pots and pans other than the tagine itself. If you are excited to jump into this flavorful world of seafood tagines, there is no time like the present to get started! These recipes will leave you wanting more!

Chapter 1

Tagine Fish Stew Recipes

South Sea Islands Fish and Sweet Potato Stew

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large clove garlic, peeled, finely chopped

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

½ can (from a 14.1 ounce can) chopped tomatoes

3 ounces shrimp or prawns

½ lb. fresh hake fish, chopped into chunks

½ lb. sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into cubes

½ red chili, minced

½ inch fresh ginger, peeled, grated

½ can (from a 14.1 ounce can) coconut milk

Pepper to taste

Finely chopped fresh cilantro to garnish

Flaked dried coconut to garnish

Few cashews, halved, to garnish

Salt to taste

Directions:

Pour oil into the tagine, and layer the onions over the bottom.

Sprinkle ginger, garlic, and chili.

Combine the cumin, coriander, and turmeric in a bowl.

Spread the sweet potatoes over the onions, and sprinkle the spice mixture over the top.

Pour coconut milk over the ingredients in the tagine.

Next, spread the tomatoes over the sweet potatoes. Close the lid and place the tagine over medium-low heat. Let it cook for about 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are fork-tender.

Sprinkle the hake and shrimp over the tomatoes and press them in gently.

Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking covered until the fish is cooked.

Stir the stew. Serve over couscous or rice in bowls. Garnish with cilantro flaked coconut and cashews and serve.

Sicilian Seafood Stew

Serves: 2 – 3

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ medium red bell pepper, deseeded, finely diced

2 small carrots, finely diced

½ celery stalk, finely diced

½ large onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups