Tangia

Tangia is the bachelor’s dish of Marrakech, a story of a clay urn, a neighborhood oven, and all day to wait. Workers would drop their pot of beef, preserved lemon, garlic, and cumin at the communal oven on the way to work and pick it up, fragrant and falling apart, on the way home. You do not need the urn; a slow cooker or a low oven does the same quiet magic.

All day in a pot, worth every minute

There is no browning, no chopping beyond a few cloves of garlic. Everything goes into the pot, and hours of gentle heat turn cheap beef into something you can shred with a spoon. The preserved lemon melts into the juices, and the cumin and smen make a broth you will want to pour over everything. Serve it with crusty bread and nothing else.

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Part of a full Moroccan spread — plan yours with our complete Moroccan dinner night menu. This dish is built from Middle Eastern pantry staples — explore all 20 in our guide to 20 essential Middle Eastern pantry ingredients.

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