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Moroccan Fish Tagine (mqualli)

This is a recipe for a classic Moroccan fish mqualli tagine with potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers. Traditionally, the ingredients are layered in a tagine or deep skillet, then cooked over a fire or on the stove. Mqualli is a term which refers to sauces made with ginger, saffron, and oil. Any firm, thick fish can be used—cut up or whole—but slices of conger eel work best because there are fewer bones to deal with at the table. Swordfish, Dorado, large whole whiting and sea bass are other good choices.

15 ingredients12 preparation steps
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Ingredients

  • 2 pounds firm fish, or eel
  • 1 batch chermoula marinade
  • 2 bell peppers, any color
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1 large onion, cut into rings, optional
  • 1 carrot, or celery stalk, cut into thin sticks
  • 2 large potatoes, cut into thin slices
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • Pinch saffron threads, crumbled
  • 2 to 3 tomatoes, seeded and cut into thin slices
  • 1 lemon, cut into thin slices, or 1 preserved lemon, quartered
  • Handful red olives

Preparation

  1. 1Steps to Make It
  2. 2Gather the ingredients.
  3. 3Makechermoula marinade. Reserve and refrigerate half of the chermoula, and mix remaining half with fish.
  4. 4Cover fish and refrigerate, allowing it to marinate for two hours or overnight.
  5. 5Roast peppers, peel and seed them, and cut them into strips. Or, alternatively, slice raw pepper into rings. Set aside.
  6. 6Make the Chermoula and Roast the Peppers
  7. 7Make the Tagine
  8. 8Pour olive oil into atagine, and distribute onion slices across bottom. Criss-cross celery or carrot sticks in center to form a bed for the fish.
  9. 9Mix potato slices with ginger, salt, pepper, turmeric, and saffron, and arrange potatoes around perimeter of tagine. Top potato with tomato slices, then distribute reserved chermoula over vegetables.
  10. 10Add fish and its marinade to center of tagine, and arrange strips of pepper on top of fish in a decorative manner. Garnish tagine with lemon and olives, and sprinkle salt and pepper over all.
  11. 11Cover tagine and cook over low to medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the fish and potatoes are finished. Reduce sauce if necessary until it is quite thick.
  12. 12Serve tagine directly from dish in which it was cooked, withMoroccan breadfor scooping up the fish and sauce.