Why We Love Braising (and Tagines)

An ode to this North African stew and its most inspiring cheerleader, food writer Paula Wolfert

Issue 07: From Dana’s kitchen

One of the things I love most about cooking with kids is introducing them to techniques used all around the world, and watching them get excited about cultures through food. Take braising, for example, the slow-cook method behind everything from American pot roast to Mexican carnitas to French Coq au Vin. It’s a great technique for this time of year, when our cravings straddle winter and spring and nothing hits the spot like a comforting, stewy, spice-laden braise. 

A recipe we use to teach braising at The Dynamite Shop has long been in heavy rotation on my family dinner table: tagine, the North African stew that’s often served with couscous (a universal kid favorite) in a conical-topped clay pot of the same name.

The first time I tried it, twenty some odd years ago on a trip to Morocco, was one of those eye-opening food moments I’ll never forget. I was visiting my friend Driss’s family outside of Fez and his mother made a special meal to welcome my husband, Lindsay, and I: she brought a huge, beautifully-painted clay tagine to the table, lifted the lid, and unleashed a whoosh of fragrant spice-laced steam into the room. The stew inside was seasoned with nutmeg, cardamom and dried fruits like apricots and prunes, and was studded with carrots, squash, and the most succulent, fall-off-the-bone chicken. I swear, I’d never tasted anything that delicious.

Over the course of that trip, I tried tagines every chance I could get. Some were seasoned with preserved lemons and olives, others stewed with tomatoes and cumin-y lamb-beef meatballs. I learned that tagines hailed from Berber traditions – the indigenous people who predated Arabs in North Africa – and that the vessel was designed to facilitate braising. The conical lid captures steam and lets the condensation drip back onto the ingredients, keeping them moist as they cook in the oven. 

When I got home from that trip, I went on tagine kick and sought out all the Moroccan cooking intel I could find. I discovered the great Marrakech-born chef Mourad Lalou, who had recently opened his first restaurant in San Francisco (watch him making a tagine here).

My research led me to the writing and recipes of Paula Wolfert. Paula is one of the most influential food writers of our time: she traveled the world with a genuine curiosity about food and spent most of her time in home cook kitchens across North Africa. Her first book, Couscous and Other Good Food, came out in 1973, an era when you couldn’t easily find things like couscous in American grocery stores; the fact that we now can is largely because of her work.

Paula is now in her eighties, and has become an activist for Alzheimer’s research, a disease she was diagnosed with nearly a decade ago. I’m so inspired by how she uses cooking as a way of dealing with the disease… and of remembering.

I strongly recommend picking up the book Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life, written by Emily Kaiser Thelin, who was Paula’s editor at Food & Wine magazine; the book features some of Paula’s most beloved recipes and interviews with her that explore the intersection of food and memory. Watch this video about the Kickstarter campaign that made the book happen and to see the amazing Paula in action.

Paula has dozens of tagines in her books, and this one is inspired by my years of making many of them. Don’t worry, you don’t need a tagine vessel to make it: you can replicate the braising effects in a Dutch oven. In fact, my friend Driss’s mother used a pressure cooker, which is common across North Africa, and transfered the stew to a decorative tagine for serving; there are also lots of Instant Pot recipes for tagine, like this one from the fantastic food writer Sarah di Gregorio. That said, if you want to try making a tagine in a tagine, there are lots of options, from chic pottery vessels to enameled cast iron versions from Le Creuset.

This recipe is a great one for playing the spice guessing game with kids: can they tell which is cumin and which is ginger? Can they guess which spice is made from the seeds of the cilantro plant we use to garnish it with before serving? (It’s coriander!) 

Making couscous is also a fun job for kids: have them measure it out and pour the tiny grains of semolina into boiling water. (You may want to show them this video of Lahlou making couscous the traditional Moroccan way in a steamer called a couscoussier.)

This Spiced Vegetable Tagine with Couscous is one of our go-to meals for dinners with friends: we mound the fluffy couscous into the biggest bowl we have and pour the stew over top. When we bring it to the table, there are ooh and ahhs as everyone starts diving in, and I’m reminded of Driss’s family and the warm memory of that welcoming meal years ago.

Spiced Vegetable Tagine with Couscous
Serves 4-6

3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2-3 medium cloves)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander 
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or a few cinnamon sticks) 
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (or substitute 1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces (about 1/2 inch)
1 pound yellow squash or zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch half moons
1 can (14 -15 ounces) diced or whole peeled tomatoes
1 quart (4 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
1 can (14 -15 ounces) chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots and/or prunes
2 cups fine couscous (for gluten-free, substitute quinoa cooked according to package instructions)
1/4 cup chopped fresh leafy herbs (such as cilantro, parsley and/or mint), for garnish
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. 

In a large lidded Dutch oven or other oven-safe heavy bottomed pot at least 12-inches in diameter heat the oil over medium. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until aromatic, a minute more. Stir in the cumin, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper; stir to coat the onions in the spices. Stir in the tomato paste until fully combined, then add the sweet potatoes and squash. 

When the vegetables start to soften, about five minutes, add the tomatoes (if using whole peeled tomatoes, crush them into pieces with your fingers as you add them) and stock and bring to a simmer. 

Once simmering, add the chickpeas, raisins, apricots and/or prunes. Shut off the heat, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook, covered, for 25-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. 

While the tagine is in the oven, cook the couscous. In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the couscous. Cover the pan and let the couscous absorb the water for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff the couscous with a fork.

Serve the tagine over the couscous (remove cinnamon sticks, if using) and garnish with the chopped herbs and toasted almonds.