Taktouka

Moroccan slow-cooked tomato and pepper salad: warm, silky, and fragrant with cumin and paprika

Origin: Fez / Marrakech, Morocco

From the journey of Cumin.

Taktouka is one of Morocco's most beloved cooked vegetable salads, served warm or at room temperature as part of a mezze spread, a side dish, or a dipping sauce scooped up with crusty bread. It appears across the Maghreb in various forms, but the Moroccan version is defined by its generous hand with cumin and sweet paprika, which transform slow-cooked tomatoes and green peppers into a silky, deeply aromatic condiment. Cumin arrived in North Africa through Arab trade routes and became so embedded in Moroccan cooking that virtually no savoury dish is made without it.

Ingredients

Vegetables

  • 4 medium ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 3 medium green peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped

Aromatics

  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 tbsp olive oil

Spices

  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 0.5 tsp hot paprika or cayenne
  • 0.5 tsp ground coriander
  • to taste salt

To finish

  • 1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a wide, heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant but not coloured.
  2. Add the chopped green peppers to the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until they begin to soften and their skins loosen.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes, cumin, sweet paprika, hot paprika, ground coriander, and salt. Stir well to combine.
  4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20–25 minutes until the tomatoes have completely broken down and the mixture is thick and jammy with almost no liquid remaining.
  5. Remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice, fresh parsley, and coriander. Taste and adjust salt.
  6. Serve warm or at room temperature in a shallow bowl with a drizzle of olive oil. Eat with crusty Moroccan bread (khobz) or flatbread for scooping.

Notes

Taktouka can include a chopped preserved lemon rind for extra Moroccan character. It is also excellent served alongside grilled fish or chicken, or as a base sauce for eggs poached directly in the mixture (a style similar to shakshuka).

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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