Tajine el Bey
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Tajine el Bey is a Tunisian tajine, and the first thing to understand is that a Tunisian tajine is not a Moroccan one. The Moroccan tajine is a slow-cooked stew named after the conical earthenware pot it is cooked in. The Tunisian tajine is something else entirely: a baked dish closer to a thick omelette or an Italian frittata, built on eggs and cheese with meat and vegetables folded through, cooked in the oven and cut into squares or diamonds to serve. The two share a name and almost nothing else. Tajine el Bey is the refined version. It is assembled in three separate layers, meat, spinach, and a ricotta-style cheese, each mixed and cooked apart before being brought together, which gives a cross-section of distinct bands rather than a uniform bake. It is then cut into diamonds and presented the way baklawa el Bey, the tricolour almond pastry, is presented. The name and the colours are the point. Bey was the title of the ruler of Tunis under Ottoman suzerainty, and the red and green of the finished dish are the Bey's colours. It is a dish designed to be looked at as well as eaten, which is why it belongs at the elegant end of Tunisian cooking despite being straightforward to make. The texture is its other distinction, soft and yielding rather than set firm.
AFN Heritage Note
The Tunisian tajine is a baked egg and cheese dish, unrelated to the Moroccan stew of the same name beyond the shared word. Tajine el Bey takes its name from the Bey of Tunis, the ruler under Ottoman suzerainty, and its red and green layers reproduce the Bey's colours.
Ingredients
For the meat layer
For the spinach layer
For the ricotta layer
For the mold
For the decor
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
For the meat layer
- 2
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and brown the onions for a few minutes.
- 3
Add the ground meat and garlic and stir well.
- 4
Add the cumin and the tabel. Add salt, black pepper and mix well.
- 5
Cook the meat over medium heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring regularly.
- 6
Remove the meat from the heat and let it cool for 15 minutes.
- 7
Add the grated cheese and eggs and mix well.
- 8
Gently mix this preparation to obtain a smooth and even layer.
- 9
Preheat the oven to 350F (180˚C).
- 10
Butter a baking dish and pour all the ground meat mixture.
- 11
Using a spatula, even out the surface.
- 12
Bake for 10 minutes. The surface must harden a little.
- 13
For the spinach layer
- 14
In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Sauté the spinach, stirring regularly until all the liquid is reduced.
- 15
Let cool completely then add the egg yolks, the whole eggs, and the tabel.
- 16
Season with salt, pepper and stir well.
- 17
Pour the spinach stuffing in the oven dish, on top of the meat layer, then sprinkle with grated cheese.
- 18
Bake for 10 minutes.
- 19
For the ricotta layer
- 20
Mix the ricotta, grated cheese, and egg whites.
- 21
Add the ricotta mixture to the spinach layer and bake again for 10 minutes.
- 22
Let cool and cut small diamond-shaped slices.
- 23
Sprinkle each with crushed nuts or pistachios or a mixture of both.
Africook’s Notes
- Cook and cool the three mixtures separately before assembling. Layering them warm makes them bleed into one another and lose the bands.
- Drain the spinach hard. Wet spinach releases water into the bake and stops it setting cleanly.
- Do not overbake. It should be just set and still soft, a firm, dry tajine has gone too far.
- Let it cool before cutting. Diamonds cut cleanly from a cooled bake and tear from a hot one.
- Ricotta can be replaced by a similar fresh cheese, but drain whatever you use.
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