Mrouzia
Aperçu
Mrouzia is a Moroccan tagine of lamb cooked slowly with honey, cinnamon, ras el hanout, raisins and almonds until it is deeply sweet, dark and falling off the bone. It is made in the days after Eid al-Adha. That timing is not incidental, it is the whole origin of the dish. At Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, a large quantity of meat becomes available at once, more than a household can eat quickly. Before refrigeration, mrouzia was how it was kept. The heavy seasoning, the quantity of honey and the long cooking all work as preservation, and the dish was made specifically to hold meat that would otherwise spoil. That practical origin is still visible in how it is cooked. It uses fatty cuts, it is cooked for a long time, and it improves after a day or two rather than being served immediately, which is why it is often made ahead. The flavour is at the sweet end of Moroccan cooking, further than most. Ras el hanout carries it, saffron gives its particular perfume, and the balance between honey and spice is what a cook adjusts. Tunisia makes a version, prepared differently. In Morocco it remains firmly attached to Eid, and many households cook it only then.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Mrouzia is traditionally prepared in the days following Eid al-Adha in Morocco, using meat from the ritual sacrifice. Its generous honey and spicing served a preservative function before refrigeration, allowing a large quantity of meat to be kept and eaten over an extended period.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Mix the seasoned meat in a heavy-bottomed pot with the onions, garlic, butter, and cinnamon sticks. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to turn the meat as it browns. Add the 3 cups of water, cover, and bring to a simmer.
- 2
Cook for about 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. Add the raisins (drained), honey, and cinnamon. (If you're planning to cook the almonds in the sauce, add them now as well.) If necessary, add additional water to just cover the raisins.
- 3
Cover the pot and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until the raisins are plump and the sauce is reduced to a thick, syrup-like consistency.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Nympha Nzeribe- Use a fatty cut with bone. Lean meat dries out over the long cooking and the fat is part of the texture.
- Add the honey later rather than at the start. Long cooking with honey from the beginning can turn it bitter as the sugars catch.
- Toast the almonds separately and add them near the end so they keep some bite.
- Make it a day ahead. It genuinely improves, this is a dish designed to sit.
- Taste the balance late. Ras el hanout blends vary a lot, and the honey should be adjusted against the one you have.
Questions fréquentes
When is mrouzia traditionally eaten?
In the days following Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice. The dish exists because that festival produces a large quantity of lamb at once, and before refrigeration mrouzia was the method for preserving it, heavy spicing, a lot of honey, and long cooking all extend how long the meat keeps. Many Moroccan households still cook it only at that time of year.
What is ras el hanout?
It is a Moroccan spice blend whose name means roughly "head of the shop", the best a spice merchant has. There is no fixed formula; blends commonly run to a dozen or more spices including cinnamon, cardamom, mace, nutmeg, rose and pepper. Because blends vary considerably, taste and adjust rather than following quantities exactly.
Can I use beef instead of lamb?
Yes. Lamb is traditional and is what the Eid connection implies, but beef and goat are both used. Whichever you choose, use a fatty cut with the bone in, the long cooking needs the fat and collagen, and a lean cut will come out dry no matter how carefully it is handled.
Is it very sweet?
It is at the sweet end of Moroccan cooking, noticeably sweeter than most tagines, and that is the character of the dish rather than a fault. The honey, raisins and cinnamon are all doing the same job. The savoury side comes from the ras el hanout and the meat itself, and a cook adjusts the honey against the spice blend they have.
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I was skeptical about mixing honey and raisins with 3 pounds of lamb neck o, but this turned out amazingly well. The sauce reduced into a thick syrup after simmer for 30 mins just like you said. E sweet no be small thing! My husband kept dipping bread into the cinnamon and ras el hanout gravy.
Used about 1.3kg of lamb shoulder cut into big chunks. The sauce was a bit too sweet for my family with the full honey amount, but that saffron and ginger smell while it simmered for two hours was lekker. Next time I will reduce the honey just a bit.
Grating the two medium onions really made the gravy so smooth, it dissolved completely during the long cook. Abeg, can I use ground cinnamon if I do not have the two small cinnamon sticks? The meat was so tender after the 2 hours simmer.