Tanjia
Tanjia takes its name from the earthenware urn it is cooked in, a squat clay pot with a narrow neck that seals tightly and traps steam inside. The dish is strongly associated with Marrakech and, in particular, with unmarried men, who traditionally had neither a wife nor a full kitchen at home to prepare an elaborate meal for themselves. Instead, a man would fill the urn raw with beef, garlic, preserved lemon and spices, seal it, and drop it off at the neighborhood hammam on his way to work, where the furnace keeper buried it in the hot embers used to heat the bathhouse. By the time he returned hours later, the meat had turned meltingly tender in its own juices, and tanjia earned its reputation as Marrakech's original bachelor's meal, still cooked the same slow way today.
Cooked in a sealed clay urn
All ingredients go raw into a tanjia clay pot, which is sealed with paper and string before cooking begins.
Buried in hammam embers
The sealed urn is traditionally left for hours in the dying coals beneath a neighborhood hammam furnace rather than on a stove.
A bachelor's dish from Marrakech
Tanjia is famously prepared by men, who drop off the sealed pot at the hammam on their way to work and collect it fully cooked.
Preserved lemon and spice depth
Preserved lemon, garlic and a warm spice blend slowly infuse the beef as it cooks untouched for hours.
Ingredients 4 servings
- 1kg beef shank or chuck, cut into large chunks
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 2 tbsp tanjia spice blend (cumin, paprika, ginger, turmeric)
- 1 preserved lemon, quartered
- 2 tbsp smen (aged clarified butter)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp ground saffron or saffron threads
- A few strands of dried beef fat (or extra smen), for richness
- Salt, to taste
How to make it
- 1Place the beef chunks directly into the tanjia clay urn along with the crushed garlic and preserved lemon.
- 2Add the tanjia spice blend, saffron, smen and olive oil, then season with salt.
- 3Pour in just enough water to come partway up the meat, without covering it completely.
- 4Seal the top of the urn tightly with parchment paper and tie it firmly with string.
- 5Bury the sealed urn in the hot embers of a hammam furnace or a low, steady oven, and leave it undisturbed for four to six hours.
- 6Check that the beef has become completely tender and easily shreds with a fork before removing the urn from the heat.
- 7Untie the paper, stir the meat gently into its own rich juices, and serve the tanjia straight from the urn with warm bread.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
