The best Morrocan Beef Tajine ever!

This week we are traveling in our kitchen! ✈️🍲
Although we are staying home, we’ll be going straight to Morocco with this week’s recipe: Beef Tajine with prunes and dates – a sweet, savory, and fragrant stew that will transport your senses.

The first time we traveled with our kids to an exotic destination, Ainhoa and I were a bit worried about how they would react (they were only 5, 6, and 7 at the time). We went to Marrakech and… OMG! They loved it! Especially the food. They fell in love with the spices, the mixture of sweet and sour, and all those honey-dipped desserts (not me… I’m allergic to honey 😅).

We stayed in a little riad close to the Medina, and the owners were so nice that, seeing the kids’ enthusiasm, they introduced us to Fatima – the chef. She showed us how to prepare this delicious tajine, and we’ve been making it ever since.

Beef Tajine with Prunes and Dates (serves 5)

800 g (1.75 lbs) beef for stewing (shank or shin)
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Fresh ginger (or 1 tsp powdered)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp cumin
Salt to taste
2–3 tbsp olive oil
200 g (7 oz) pitted prunes
8–10 pitted dates
2 tbsp honey (not for me…😂)
500 ml (2 cups) beef stock or water

Preparation
1️⃣ Brown the beef – Heat the oil in a large pot or tajine and brown the meat. Remove and set aside.
2️⃣ Flavor base – In the same pot, sauté onions and garlic until golden. Add turmeric, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, and ginger. Stir for 1 minute.
3️⃣ Cook slowly – Return the beef, cover with stock, season with salt, cover, and cook over low heat for 1.5–2 hours (40 min in a pressure cooker).
4️⃣ Sweet touch – In a small pan, add 2–3 tbsp of the cooking broth, the prunes, dates, and honey. Simmer for 10 minutes until glossy and syrupy.
5️⃣ Combine – Add the fruits and syrup to the meat, simmer together for 5 more minutes.
6️⃣ Serve – Plate the beef with its thick sauce, if you want, you can top with almonds and sesame seeds. Serve with Moroccan bread or couscous.
Tips:

Slow cooking = richer flavor.
Add saffron to the broth for an even more authentic touch.
This dish is even better the next day!

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Hello everybody and welcome to this new Sunday cooking class. Hi, this is Ainoa and this is Fran. Welcome home everybody. So happy you’re here and well today we are going to travel with our cooking. Yeah, we’re going to travel in time and we’re going to travel. Yes, in time. So I would say the very first escapade we did with the kids out of Spain, it was to Morocco. And how old were the kids? I mean, Lucas was like five. That was super little and we went to Marrakesh and the kids fell in love with Morocco. I mean, we all we love Morocco and the kids were like blown away. The and a lot of people says the food it’s strange or it’s different, but for us being Mediterranean, it’s a very Mediterranean food. So, what today we’re going to do, it is a dish that we learned how to do it, how to make it 20 years ago. We’ve done it on and on and on on maybe not so much. Maybe about 15 or 12. No, no, more. I mean, if Lucas was five, four, 15. Okay. 15 years ago. And we’ve been doing it for ever in this house because we love it. I mean, we really, really love it. We went to Riyad uh and the lady the cook she was w she was great and she loved the kids because the kids would try everything and she was like come into the kitchen and she show us all of these dishes. It was amazing. So the kids they love this dish and that’s what we’re going to be doing. Yeah. So we go record we are recording it for them. Right. So, we’re going to make a beef tajin with uh without tajin with a zajin because we don’t have one. Uh with prune uh how it called prunes uh prons pruns prs and plum plum plums plums and dates and a lot of spices. So, I hope you understood. So, it’s not an easy recipe. You just have to follow. It’s not complicated. You just have to follow the steps. It’s easy. You just have to It takes time. So, it’s not going to be a short. Okay. Right. Okay. Shall we? Let’s go. Bamos. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go, my friends. Let’s see. Decoration of the day. Yes, we have our little Moroccan heritage things. Well, that box we bought in Morocco. And these styles, they’re Arabic style, although they’re from Sevilla. We love these are handmade in Sevilla. They are hand painted. So I love them. There are the old style tiles that you can find in the Alhhamra that mass heritage that we do have in Spain. So look at this kitchen. It’s like wow overwhelming. Obviously we have had to do some things before because if not it’s going to take us forever. No. But yeah. So what we need? You’re going to need some meat. This is a beef. Okay. And uh you’re going to need chopped onions, garlic. We have some vegetable broth, but you can do it with meat broth as well. And then you’re going to need a lot of spices. Well, you have garlic, you have cinnamon, you have turmeric. Turmeric, you have ginger, you have black pepper, you have cumin. Cumin. And we put the Spanish part, which is the saffron. Okay. Then later, you’re going to need the sauce that’s going to come from all of that. And you’re going to need some uh plums. Uh this is dry plums and dates. All of them without bones. Obviously, olive oil and salt. And as you can see, a lot of pots. A lot of pots. Okay. So, let’s start. Okay. So, what we’re going to do is add some olive oil to the pan. Not much because I’ll be adding a little later. Yeah. Bit a bit later. Okay. So, let’s wait for it to, you know, go a bit hot because I think let me put this down. So, the thing is that um I’ll show you what I’m doing so you know while this this um heats up. So, what I did was put the dates and the plums right in in a pot or in a pan and then I added some juice from the meat. Whenever we do everything, it needs about 40 minutes. You can do the slow cooking. It takes about an hour and a half. And yes, it’s much much better if you slow cook. And that meat that we’re going to do here with the vegetable broth and the all the spices, it’s going to turn out to have some liquid. That liquid, you put it with the dates and the plants and you cook it and then you put it. We’ll do it later. Okay. So, no, you want to put higher. Yeah. So should have heated it up. Not a big deal. Okay. So this is beef for a stew because I don’t know what cat um so you don’t have the lights behind you. I don’t know what cat you can get in your place but just ask the butcher for um meat for a stew. And as you can see it has to be cut in big pieces. Once they cook they will shrink. Okay. So this shrink a lot and they they like get like uh in in small pieces. Hold on. So they they go very small. So whatever. Okay. I think this is fine. Right. So the thing here is that the only thing that we are going to do okay is um somehow like make it golden and that’s and that’s it. So you just I think it’s called you seal it. Okay. You seal the meat and you let all the juices come out. And there we go. So that’s what you’re going to do. Now you’re going to put some salt. Yeah. You’re going to put some salt. When I cook, I use this gray salt, which is raw sea salt. At home we have I think we have told you a thousand million different types of salt. Yeah, we do. We have him salt, we have sea raw salt, we have refined salt, we have uh how do you call that? Maldon salt. We’ve got salt with flavors like pepperantino. We’ve got uh with time with everything. Okay. So um now this is the maybe boring part of uh cooking. Wow. It is good. Okay. So as you can see I mean this is a very really I mean it seems to be more complicated than it is but really it’s very very easy. I mean the kids they have asked us mom dad we need to know how to do this because they love it. And now that they’re in college, it’s like the recipe that they want us to cook, can cook, can cook cuz I know and I was like, give it a break. So, so it takes a while, but um you don’t have a two in Morocco, do you? No, we don’t. I mean, what would you think, guys, if we prepare for 2027 uh to Morocco, 2027, 28? Because it that needs a little bit more time. Yeah. B of research and make it special and because Morocco really is an amazing wait okay here we go we’re back something happened yeah I don’t know what happened so yes uh we are and Lucia is very much andia maybe and it’s easier anyway but yes Morocco could be a we love I mean I love Morocco I mean today we have all of these bright colors for Morocco It’s I know it’s it’s a different culture. It’s beautiful. It is Mediterranean. So for us it’s very homey. I scoutic and I don’t know. But you know the food for us is very it’s very easy because in fact it’s just the same thing we have but combined in a bit of a different way. Um in Pum we are cooking a tajin today. Tajin is the is the pot that a stew is made in. And in fact, it’s very similar to traditional uh clay uh pots to cook pots. Oh yeah. So, so yeah, I mean it’s very very homey normal food for us. What can we say? So, you know what I need? I need Let me get that. Right. Good. One of these. Sorry, I got this in my hand. Let me put it back. Fine. So, what I’m going to do is get it out. Let me turn the camera around. There we go. So, so you see it’s a bit brown. I don’t want it super cooked. Just sealing it. And you put it on a side. You put it on the side. But the thing is that in that pan now you have all the flavors of the meat and you don’t clean that. You cook. No. No. No. From there. You don’t clean this. Absolutely not. Yeah. You can um roast it a little bit if you want, but as this is a live show, I don’t want to, you know, take too much time. You absolutely need these juices that have been caramelized, right? So, what for? We are going to add a bit more olive oil. So, you see that it seems that it’s burnt, but it’s not. No, it’s not. Okay. So, I would say like four tablespoons of um olive oil. olive oil. I think we have one large I would say two two onions cuz it was a very large onion. So what you need to do is need to start simmering is needs to start getting ready. Okay. Right. So we are going to I don’t know why I’m using this today instead of a a wooden one. Okay. Now, here goes the garlic. Hold it. The garlic press is super important. Super super important. Um, yeah. Okay. So, there you go. You have the garlic in there. And well, I use it all. And then we need I we need some salt, right? Yeah. Okay. So you have the basic garlic and onion into it and you add extra bit of salt. So let’s say that you put you rectify it afterwards. So you don’t need to wait. So you let it get a bit golden. And one of the things I love is suddenly you put the cinnamon stick on it and the onion, the garlic and the cinnamon. Just the three things. It smells So yummy. So good. Yummy. Okay. So, is it time for the spices to come in? No, not yet. But yeah, give me just a minute. In fact, we you don’t need to make it very going to get a wooden one because this makes a lot of noise. I always say we need a smell vision. A smell. Yeah, a smell would be perfect for all these cooking glasses because this is so so good. Smells like especially this one with so many spices and so many things. It’s like incredible. So, this is not very golden, but let me see if I can So, you would need to reduce it a bit more. Okay. Mhm. So, I would give it five more minutes. Wow. Right. Yeah. But we don’t have so much time. So, we’re going to start. We are going to just uh somehow put this down and we are going to add the spices. All the quantities of the spices are going to be on. Okay. Right. So, you have the pepper. The pepper. Yeah. The cumin. The turmeric. Turmeric. It sticks. But turmeric is terrible because now your fingers are going to be orange. Yeah, my fingers are going to be orange. And then the ginger. This is fresh ginger. But uh put it on. And the cinnamon. And we want to um cook it for a little bit. Okay. Just one minute I would say. Right. So So you see um now is when all the flavors are coming out. Yeah. And uh um I’m going to put the safer because I want to control the first the amount and then I wanted to toast it a little bit. So, as you can see, you put everything on a side and you put the saffron aside. Okay. Why? Because uh what you need to do is for it to be roasted. Okay. So, just a little bit. I mean, I want to toast it a little bit so that it gives out more flavor. Right. That’s all. But now that it’s okay. And the saffron has a very interesting flavor. What I’m going to do now is um add the broth. Oh, it smells so good. And um remember that at home you can just golden them the the onion a bit more. A little bit more. Yes. Get the juices of the meat inside. Right. And okay, let’s bring this up. Let’s bring this up. Let me put temperature up. And uh we are going to use a pressure cooker. So the thing here is that you close your pressure cooker. Push put it up and then wait for it to Okay. So now we’re going to get this all the way up to 40 uh to start, you know, when it when it comes up, you put it to medium heat and then go for 40 minutes. Right. So what I’m going to do is the plums. Yes. Sorry, the the dates, the plums, and some juice from the meat that you will get from your pot in 40 minutes. that is going to have a lot of juice and you need to get part of it for you. Okay. And and you make like some kind of a compot. So you mix the dates the dates and with the plants with the sauce and then you cook it for about 10 minutes. So this has been cooking for 10 minutes and you added your fruit your sweetness sweet part into uh the meat. Okay. Right. And then you let it come together for another 10 minutes. Right. There we go. And and that’s it. By the way, the cinnamon stick is still on. Now it’s I’ll leave it. But then I will not use it or maybe I would get the ginger out when we serve it. Right. So, and then the thing here is that it’s good. If it’s got too little sauce, you you add some water that you cook it and let it stay overnight because the stew is always better. Sorry. When it’s overnight, right? Yeah. I mean, the stews overnight are much much much better. 100,000 million times much better. Much better. Okay. So, then it would come out something like this. And then imagine that it was overnight and again to serve a little. So it’s up to you. We use very often couscous, but you can also have pita bread, pita bread. You can use rice, right? And then serve it. Um, see it’s already up. Okay. So we are going to put it to four. So medium temperature now and then 40 minutes. 40 minutes. If you use a normal pan, I would say an hour and a half, an hour and a half, an hour and 40 minutes. So, it is very tender. And if you’re going to do it without a pressure cooker, we recommend you to do it slow. Okay. Yeah. Slow. Yeah. It’s a slow dish. Yeah. But at home, we have done the fast version. We have learned how to do it. Yeah. Because we don’t want to have you here for No. And at home, I mean, If we have time, we do it in slow normal cooking. But 90% chances it’s going to be fast because we just, you know, pin go. They were always running. And this is how this delicious dish is going to look like in no time for you all. And then you put like a little side of pita bread or rice, rice or couscous. Super good. I love with couscous. She’s like Anyway, as you can see, it has been a little bit more complicated, but it’s just follow the steps, okay? You just need to easy. I mean, really not too too complicated and really delicious. Oh, one more thing. Uh, Fatima, which was the lady who showed us how to cook all these, she told us that she would put a little bit of like two tablespoons now of honey. But I am extremely allergic to honey. So, no honey. The thing about this is you get the sweetness from the dates and the plants and the honey. Not in my case honey, but also with the bitterness and the meat and all. So, it’s sweet and sour. So, it’s like super good. I’m a bit concerned with this too. Let me put it down. Oh, okay. Okay. So, thank you. Send us your pictures. Thank you so much for being this week with us. It’s been a great pleasure welcome you all home. We love you. Take care. Remember to subscribe to our newsletter. You get everything, all of information about tours and maybe Morocco. Who knows? Otherwise, everybody, we love you. Have a wonderful, wonderful week. See you next week. Okay. Bye, amigos.