While I was in Morocco recently I was hoping to learn to cook new amazing dishes but our food was cooked for us by a cook who didn’t speak any English so I didn’t learn much. Since I got back I wanted to put more Moroccan and moorish dishes on the blog, so along with my Moro cookbooks which I adore and a new book I bought, Orange Blossom and Honey by John Gregory-Smith from which I am learning new recipes that he bought back from Morocco I hope to enthuse you as much as possible with the fragrant flavours from the souks.
This potato tagine is delicious with couscous ,salad and roast meat if you eat meat.
I also like a dollop of garlic infused Greek yogurt on top, but you could use soya yogurt if you prefer.

Recipe

Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 kg of Maris Piper potatoes peeled and halved or quartered depending on size
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 red onion finely sliced
Two red peppers deseeded and cut into strips
3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
4 tomatoes finely chopped
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of paprika (I used sweet smoked paprika)
500 ml of vegetable stock (I used Kallø organic French onion stock cubes)
1 red chilli
2 teaspoons of harissa (I buy a ready-made pot from Sainsbury’s)
Juice of half a lemon
Small handful of finely chopped coriander leaves
10 g of flaked almonds
Salt and pepper to taste

How:
Put the potatoes into a pan of salted boiling water.
Parboil for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat half the oil in a large pan over a high heat and add the onions and peppers. Stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes to soften.
I change the recipe here by letting them caramelise a bit more, so I cook them till they are getting brownish, but that’s up to you. Add the garlic and mix well. Chuck in the tomatoes, season well and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes until they have broken down.
Next, add the tomato purée and spices to the pan and mix well.
Pour over the stock and mix together. Add the potatoes and chilli.
The stock should cover the potatoes by about three quarters. However, reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 to 35 minutes until the potatoes are soft but not mushy and check the seasoning, you may need more salt at this stage. Increase the heat to medium and cook for a few minutes longer to thicken the sauce so that it clings to the potatoes.
Mix the harissa with the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice.
Scatter the coriander and almonds over the cooked tagine and serve with the harissa oil.
I like to serve this with a big bowl of couscous infused with saffron and a green salad.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl