Pork Tagine With Couscous

What are Tagine Spices? Moroccan Bliss.

Tajine is both the name of unique pottery used in Northern Africa and the food cooked with it. The term also applies to the special spices that make these dishes so flavourful and colourful.

Tajines are a Moroccan speciality, and they make the most of both land and sea products that, together with vegetables and couscous, become authentic culinary masterpieces. There was a time when making tajine at home was nearly impossible, but the right spices can help you get there. Spice Master’s Tajine Spices are the very essence of these popular North African meals.

Cooking with tajine changes you — you’re intimately connected to your deepest roots, since tajines are the ultimate comfort food; they taste like home, no matter where you’re from. Let’s explore what makes tajines so unique and how to cook them at home with authentic tajine spices.

The History of the Tajines

The history of tajines is complicated. This type of food goes back to the time of Harun al-Rashid, the fifth Abbasid Caliph, the “Rightly Guided” ruler, who dominated a considerable portion of the Islamic territory between 786 and 809. This means tajines have been around for over one thousand years! In fact, the dish is featured in the famous One Thousand and One Nights, an extraordinary piece of Arab literature.

Statues shaped like tajine pots are not uncommon in Morocco, as the cherished dish and the pottery used to make it are at the heart of the country’s culture. The pottery itself is a collector's item; the pots are cooked in rustic ovens and hand-painted — they’re artisan pieces that make cooking so much fun!

Pottery in Northern Africa goes back for thousands, if not millions of years, making tajines an ancient dish. It’s easy to see why there are so many variations of a traditional tajine, but one thing remains unchanged — the spices used to give life to such historical concoctions. Let’s talk about using tajine spices at home to give out meals with a unique Moroccan feel. Tajine spices are more versatile than you think!

How to use Tajine Spices?

Tajine spices combine perfumed, spicy, smoky and fresh flavours. Paprika and chilli flakes play an essential role since, although not entirely spicy, tajines always carry warm, heated flavours.

More familiar flavours from cinnamon and ginger give tajines a comfy taste, making them taste like home. You can use tajine spices to flavour any tajine-inspired dish, whether based on beef, pork, chicken or seafood. Vegetarian tajines also exist, benefiting from the vibrant spice combination.

Tajine spices also give stir-fries a unique Mediterranean taste, allowing you to create fusion food at home. Even a thick steak can benefit from a tajine dry rub, as the paprika and the earthy spices elevate grilled food with colour and aromatics. Tajine spices, though, are best when cooking authentic tajine, and although you don’t need a tajine clay pot, you’ll be happy to get yourself one.

What Goes Into Tajine Spices?

Tajine spices are a unique blend of spicy and fragrant elements. Moroccan food is all about presentation, so the colour of the food is paramount. Many ingredients in our tajine spice blend play more than one role — they give flavour, aroma and colour to the food.

1. Chilli Flakes

Chilli flakes in a tajine spice blend never dominate, but they add vibrancy, colour and texture to the meals. Hot peppers arrived in Morocco with the European traders, who found this particular ingredient in the New World.

1. Ginger

Ginger originated in Southeast Asia, but it was a commodity during the spice trade across the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Ginger is not widely used in Arab cuisines, but it found its place in Morocco, where its fragrant scents became ideal for countering spicy flavours in traditional tajines.

1. Smoked Paprika

Paprika is made by grounding smoked red bell peppers native to America. However, paprika became prevalent in Spain, a stone's throw away from Morocco, right across the Mediterranean sea.

1. Paprika

Sweet paprika is less smoky than regular paprika, and it adds a sweet flavour and a vibrant red colour to hearty stews, including tajines.

1. Cumin

Cumin seeds have been used as a spice for thousands of years. They enhance the natural sweetness in food, especially in veggies, and tajines well use a wide variety of vegetables.

1. Coriander

Coriander seeds are savoury and herbal, fragrant and floral. Coriander is a critical ingredient in curries and other flavourful stews and sauces, and it contributes to tajines, giving them an eastern feel.

1. Celery Salt

A great flavour enhancer to elevate any dish and other spices in the blend. We use celery salt instead of plain salt for the fragrant and savoury celery seeds contributing to the mix.

1. Cracked Black Pepper

Pungent and a bit spicy, black pepper adds flavour depth to tajines, especially if made with beef or lamb. Black pepper is universal and brings any dish home with its familiar flavour.

1. Cinnamon

Cinnamon is often used for sweet recipes, but it has a place in savoury concoctions as well. In tajines, cinnamon helps stress the sweetness in peppers and other vegetables while adding aromatic warmth to the preparation.

1. Turmeric

This colourful rhizome is said to have medicinal properties, but it’s worth adding it to food for its flavour and colour alone. Turmeric was introduced to Morocco by the Arabs in the seventh century.

There’s More Than One Tajine

Sliced beef, poultry, fish, vegetables and fruit. Everything tastes better when cooked Moroccan style. The combination of flavours — sweet and spicy, savoury and fatty, makes the country’s food immensely popular worldwide.

And although getting the authentic flavours of a tajine in Morocco is no easy feat, the right spices will take you to the North African country and back with every bite. Enjoy Moroccan food at home and prepare it for friends and family. Spice Master’s Tajine Spices are quite a way to spice up your cooking.