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Tagine Makfoul au Poulet (طاجين مكفول)
Created by Chef Zohra
Chicken tucked under careful rings of onion and tomato, cooked tight in the northern way until the vegetables melt into a cinnamon-scented sauce made for torn khobz and a full table.
Everything here turns on the lid. Makfoul means closed, and in this northern tagine the chicken waits underneath while onions and tomatoes are laid over it in rings, neat as a roof. You don't stir. You let the vegetables collapse slowly and baste the meat from above, because their own juices are the sauce.
Keep the heat low enough that the pot murmurs, not spits. Cinnamon gives a warm breath, saffron colors the chicken and the onion, and a little ginger and pepper keep the sweetness from becoming heavy. When the tomatoes have slumped and the oil shines at the edge, you open the tagine and know you've held your hand steady.
This is la cuisine du lien, the cooking of connection, ordinary enough for Sunday and generous enough when someone knocks. Put the tagine in the middle, tear the khobz, and make room. Une table, c'est une porte qu'on laisse ouverte, a table is a door you leave open.
Ingredients
bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks
Quantity
1.4 kg
skin removed if you like
yellow onions
Quantity
3 large
1 grated and 2 sliced into thin rounds
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
4
peeled if skins are thick, sliced into rounds
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticksskin removed if you like | 1.4 kg |
| yellow onions1 grated and 2 sliced into thin rounds | 3 large |
| ripe tomatoespeeled if skins are thick, sliced into rounds | 4 |
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