Tagine de Kefta Mkaouara (طاجين كفتة مكورة)

The meatballs must be small. That is the gesture that decides the dish. Roll the kefta no bigger than a walnut, and each one cooks gently in the tomato sauce, taking in cumin, paprika, garlic, and the good fat from the meat. Make them too large and the center stays dull while the sauce over-reduces around them.

This is weeknight tagine, not ceremony. You set the tomatoes to cook down until their sharpness softens and the oil begins to shine at the edges, then you tuck the kefta into that red sauce and let the pot finish itself. Some houses crack eggs over the top at the end. This version is the everyday eggless one, all tomato and meat, made to be scooped with round khobz.

Use ripe tomatoes when the market gives them to you, heavy and smelling of sun. In winter, use good canned tomatoes without shame. No gesture rescues a tired tomato. Cook what the market actually handed you, then bring the tagine to the center of the table. Une table, c'est une porte qu'on laisse ouverte, a table is a door you leave open.