Henna Lamp & Tagines/Tajines

I found a new store last week that was amazing, guess what is was?!! MOROCCAN. I have never seen such a neat store before. HIS website: http://www.living-morocco-online.com/ They had everything that I had been looking for, including many tajines to choose from. (Tajines cook your food at low temperatures, resulting in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce, people also spell them with a "G" TAGINE).

I also found HENNA LAMPS, I got this one below...and I decorative tajine to keep garlic in. I have my eye on many more things, but I must wait! Check out his website for all things Morocco.

Silver Decorative Tajine

I used my tajine on Sunday and I did a little research for all that want one. I didn't know you had to prep it before you used it, so here is the directions below.

___________

In order to use your cooking tagine and get optimum taste from your recipes, it is highly recommended if not, mandatory that it is seasoned before initial use. Please follow these simple instructions below for maximum results:

The new tagine needs to be first submerged in water for at least 1 hour.

(My tajine being submerged in H2O)

Rub the inside of the base and lid with olive oil.

CHECK

Put into a cold oven and set temperature at 350 F and leave for 1.5 to 2 hours.
This process will strengthen your tagine and insure addition of a distinct flavor that tagine lovers seek at every use.

Poor oven needs cleaned, YIKES (CHECK)

Now it was ready for use..here was my recipe below

Naima’s Chicken Tagine RECIPE

3 medium carrots, peeled and cored (if core is bitter) and sliced in half lengthwise (I didn't have them so I used onions, and just layered them in the bottom like this...



½ Chicken, in pieces
1 large peeled potato, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
1 large green bell pepper, cut in chunks
1 medium red onion, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 medium tomatoes, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsps ground ginger
½ tsp ground pepper
2 tsps paprika
Dash of yellow food colorant powder, or a few strands crushed saffron
½ cube or 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
Handful of pitted green olives
6 -8 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup of water

It's READY for the oven

Splash 4 tbsp of oil on the bottom of the tagine. Layer your ingredients evenly in the tagine, starting with carrots, then going in order they are written. The carrots must be on the bottom, and the chicken pieces should be on top of the carrots, not touching the bottom of the tagine (When the carrots start to burn, they add delicious flavor and protect the rest of the ingredients – but if anything else burns, that’s not going to taste very good.) When you get to the spices and salt, sprinkle them evenly overtop the vegetables. Spread your olives on top, then drizzle the olive oil allover. If water is needed, add it now. Close your tagine and cook until your vegetables are tender, on a very low heat. This may take up to an hour – make sure you have liquid in the tagine or it will burn – and watch out for too much liquid, or it will bubble over.Once it’s cooked, turn off the heat and drizzle the rest of your olive oil on top. Let the tagine rest for about 10 minutes to cool off, and enjoy!

DONE, it was very good! It didn't cook long and the chicken was so moist. I'm trying a vegetable recipe next, I will let you know how it turns out. I recommend everyone owning one! They also make great servers.