Finally, mussel tajine.
November 11, 2010
And it was worth the wait.
My host mom, Naima, told me once a long time ago that she really likes tajine of will (hard to say quite right, pronounced like “wheel” with a strong stress on the l). I resolved to find will and bring it to her so she could show me just how delicious this tajine might be. And of course, her being the amazing cook she is, she showed me, all right. Mmm…
Honestly, I have no idea exactly what will is… but it looks to be mussels of some sort. It took me what feels like probably a year to find the will at the market and find a good day to buy it and bring it home. Yesterday was the day. Unfortunately I got home a little too late to cook it up for dinner. On the plus side, the ladies of my old neighborhood were having yet another outdoor party. This time it was a soup party, mmm mmm mmm. So good. Given the evening soup party, will was moved to the lunch menu for today.
That turned out to be perfect because my host dad and host aunt were gone to Tiznit for the day. Just the two of us for lunch! I love hanging out with my host mom, and with just the two of us we could eat as much as we wanted.
Which was potentially a lot, as I bought an entire kilogram of will. That’s 2.2 pounds of shell-less mussels. Talk about a lot of food. I’m not sure if we ended up cooking all of it, but we cooked a lot today. And it was all amazing. I didn’t manage to take a picture of the finished tajine, so I’ll just put the recipe here.
Will (Mussel) Tajine
- mussels (without the shells)
- onion
- potato
- sweet potato
- tomato
- cilantro
- garlic cloves, 3-4
- lemon slices, 2-3
- salt
- pepper
- fake saffron
- paprika
- vegetable oil
Cut onion into the bottom of the tajine, add salt, pepper, paprika, fake saffron, and vegetable oil. Set on high heat while you wash the mussels to remove any sand. Chop cilantro and add to tajine. Slice garlic cloves and add to tajine. Add mussels, mix well with onion and spices. Cover and let cook for a few minutes while you chop potatoes. Uncover tajine, add potato chunks, and slice tomato into tajine. Place lemon slices on top of the mountain of food. Replace cover, cook for an hour or more, checking occasionally to add water if necessary. Leave a spoon under the tajine lid to make sure the water doesn’t boil over.
