Tasting Home Made Food in Morocco Essaouira

Essaouira is definitely the place to dig into some seafood. While exploring Essaouira I tried different restaurants and places to eat, but the best meal I had, was during my stay on AirBnb. A lovely manager of riad, Fatimzahra invited me for home cooked Moroccan fish Tagine dinner.

Tagine is probably most frequently served dish in Morocco. And while in Morocco, one has to try it at least once. During my trips to Morocco I ate many tagines, with beef, dates, figs and when fish tagine invitation came to me I was excited to finally taste the fish version. There are literally endless versions of this Moroccan stew and fish tagine is just one of them.

 

moroccan-fish-tagine-cooking

 

Since she is great cook, no need to mention she did the cooking and I made notes, learned and watched. If you are looking for authentic Moroccan fish tagine recipe, here it is.

 

Moroccan Fish Tagine Recipe

 

Fish tagine recipe essaouira morocco

Ingredients for Fish Tagine:

  • Fish –  skinned fillets cut to mid sized cubes
  • Sweet powdered paprika 2 spoons
  • 1 spoon of cumin powder

 

  • a pinch of black pepper
  • 1 spoon of ginger powder
  • 1 spoon of sea salt

 

  • big bunch of parsley chopped
  • 1 lemon (juice)
  • 2 spoons of olive oil

 

  • 3 minced fresh garlic cloves
  • 1 minced onion
  • 1 zucchini

Caramelised onion mix

  • 3 onions
  • 4 spoons of oil

 

  • 2 spoons of sugar
  • 1 spoon salt
  • 1 spoon cinnamon

 

Marinade the fish with all ingredients (except zucchini) and spices, mix well with hands so the flavors mix as much as possible. In tagine put those slices of zucchini at the bottom of tagine add the fish marinade on the top and voila, time for cooking.

 

fish-tagine-morocco

 

Cooking fish tagine 45 minutes on medium heat. We cooked on gas and it was mandatory to use heat diffuser, that prevents tagine from cracking. Diffuser should also be used if you cook on glass surface. Never put tagine directly to the heat.

 

moroccan tagine cooking recipe

 

While waiting for fish tagine to be cooked, we chopped the rest of the violet onions, we used three medium sized onions. In separate bowl mix chopped onions with 2 big spoons of white sugar, 1 spoon of salt, 1 spoon of cinnamon, 4 spoons of oil and cook slowly until the mixture gets sticky caramelised texture, the onions should be soft and glassy.

When this happens, add half a decilitre of water and continue cooking on weak fire for some more time and add another decilitre of water and cook a little bit more. Cooking time for onions is approximately same as for tagine.

When fish tagine is cooked, add the caramelised onion mix at the top . This gives the meal a sweet, caramel flavour. My host made a mixed salad on the side, some fried potatoes and a plate of olives was served along with Moroccan bread. We could easily invite two more people for this dinner and I am sure we all would have happy tummies.

 

fish tagine recipe morocco

 

If you really want to eat like locals, eat tagine with hand.

The beauty of cooking tagine is that basically you don’t need any recipe. Just be creative with ingredients and improvise according to your taste. Really handy for those who have hard time following recipes (like me!). Culinary night was definitely highlight of my stay in Essaouria.

 

If looking  what else is out ther edo in this coastal town?  Here are Top things to do in Essaouira you should not miss!

 

 

fish tagine dinner essaouira morocco

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Have you been to Morocco – how did you like the food? What was the best dish you ever ate on the trip? Leave a comment!