This recipe isn’t really a Tagine but it has all the taste of a Moroccan dish. When we first made it we were nervous of the spice quantities and we reduced them from the recipe we started with and ended up with this version. We’re looking for ways to reduce the number of pans (sauce, rice/couscous, ovenproof dish) that you end up using but I think you need to cook up the sauce separately.
Ingredients (for 2)
- White fish (we used Basa) cut into suitable sized chunks;
- 1/2 Onion (chopped);
- 1 garlic clove;
- 1/2 handful parsley leaves;
- 200g chopped tomatoes;
- carrots (thinly sliced);
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin;
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper;
- black pepper;
- pinch of sugar;
- 150ml water.
For the Marinade:
- Coriander leaves;
- pepper;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- 1 tbsp paprika;
- 1/4 tsm cayenne pepper;
- 1/2 tbsp ground cumin;
- 1/4 squeezed lemon;
- Olive Oil
Method
Put all the marinade ingredients into a small food processor and whizz together (make sure there’s enough olive oil to make a reasonable paste).
Put the fish and the marinade into a shallow ovenproof dish, stir the marinade over the fish making sure its all covered. Cover with a lid and put it into the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190C, put the onion, parsley & garlic into the food processor and whizz until finely chopped. Put into a saucepan on a medium heat, add the chopped tomatoes, water, sliced carrots, cumin, cayenne pepper, sugar, bring to the boil then simmer (covered) for about 15 minutes.
When the carrots are cooked, take the fish out of the fridge, pour the sauce over the fish and mix it well. Cover with foil (or the lid) and put it into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked.
While all this is going on cook some rice or couscous to serve it with.
We like our vegetables slightly crunchy so be aware that the carrots might not be soft (if that’s the way you like them) we were thinking we might put the carrots into the food processor with the parsley in future. We served it with brown rice which meant that we started cooking that at the same time as we were making the sauce and kept it warm for a few minutes at the end before serving. If you want, you can serve it with lemon wedges but we didn’t find it necessary.