Roast (3 medium eggplant or 8 medium green peppers) on open flame until black, maybe ten minutes – can do on stovetop or in oven, but it will make the taste slightly different.
When cool enough to touch, remove the black and chop/dice the eggplant or pepper.
Grate half as many tomatoes as you have eggplant or pepper.
Peeling tomato beforehand is optional (Moroccans do so).
Peel and grate 3 garlic cloves.
Coat skillet with olive oil, about 4 Tbsp. Add tomatoes and garlic and start to stir over medium flame.
While cooking, add 1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
Stir for a few minutes, and then add the eggplant or pepper.
Add a handful of parsley.
Add 2 Tbsp tomato paste if desired.
Stir for a few minutes more and then serve hot, cold or at room temperature.
We also learned the basic spice mixture that goes into any tagine – our lunch was sheep and prune tagine.
You cut the meat into small slices for even cooking and then add 1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves
½ cup or so of olive oil
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp ginger
2 tsp yellow spice (I think it is yellow saffron but we couldn’t translate or tell by taste)
3 Tbsp parsley
2 tsp black pepper
While the tagine is cooking, add another onion.
And add water as it cooks to keep the tagine from drying out – lots of water (somehow I didn’t witness this though).
Meanwhile, the prunes (or quince, or whatever is being added) are being cooked with water (and in the case of the prunes – which were also soaked overnight - sugar) in a pressure cooker; they get added to the tagine at the end as a topping. It takes a while to stew – maybe an hour./p>
Recipe from Sharon Keld
