Moroccan Shrimp Tagine with Garlic, Ginger, and Fennel

This shrimp tagine with garlic, ginger, and fennel is an amazingly flavorful dish. Shrimp lovers (and who isn't?) will demand that you make this over and over again. 

This easy shrimp tagine is a great way to explore the flavors of Morocco without having to spend a huge amount of time in the kitchen. 

It's spicy (but not "hot" spicy) and loaded with flavor, and the recipe doesn't require any exotic or hard to find ingredients. 

Serving shrimp is a great way to introduce seafood to your little ones. My grandsons fell in love with shrimp long before they realized that it was "fish." Some of their favorites include crispy snack shack tacos, mini shrimp quiches, and shrimp stuffed Cuban potato balls. 

Tagines are a Berber tradition. A tagine is typically a slow cooked stew cooked in a vessel with a shallow and wide pot with a cone-shaped lid, which returns the moisture back into the food. 

Traditional clay tagines can be pretty fragile and you have to buy a special charcoal stove or diffusing plate for your stovetop so that you don't damage the vessel. For cooking on the stovetop, I use the flame ceramic Emile Henry tagine, which is pretty indestructable and works on all stovetops except induction. 

Le Creuset also makes one with a cast iron base and a stoneware lid. 

While this shrimp dish is not slow cooked, and you really don't need the specialized pot (a Dutch oven or covered skillet will work just fine), it's a wonderful way to present your dish and a great excuse to break out your tagine pot if you have one. 

I also use my tagine for baking bread sometimes instead of a Dutch oven. Because of the shallow base, it's so much easier to load the shaped and risen loaf into the preheated pot. 

This shrimp dish is from the northern most part of Morocco, and it's flavors reflect some of influences from Spain just across the Mediterranian Sea. 

You can serve this shrimp either as an appetizer or a meal. Just be sure to serve it with crusty bread to soak up all of the juices. 

This shrimp is super easy to make and can be ready in about 30 minutes.

How to make this Moroccan shrimp tagine: 

First, you sauté the shrimp in olive oil until it is just opaque, and then move it to a plate while you sauté onions, garlic, ginger, and saffron for about 4 minutes. 

After that, add paprika, canned diced tomatoes, and a big handful of chopped parsley and cilantro. You cook this mixture for about 10 minutes to reduce it to a thick sauce. 

While the sauce is cooking, steam sliced fennel in the microwave for 4 to 5 minutes, and then brown it in olive oil in a skillet. 

Once the sauce is ready and the fennel is browned, stir the shrimp into the sauce and place the fennel on top. Cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes. 

Finally, sprinkle the finished dish with more freshly chopped parsley and cilantro. 

You can peel the shrimp before cooking or leave the shells on, which is what I did (I used easy peel shrimp). While leaving the shells on makes eating the shrimp a messy job, the shells add so much flavor. 

You can also peel the shrimp right after sautéing them and before adding them to the sauce, or just serve the dish with plenty of napkins and a bowl for tossing the shells. 

Welcome to this month's Fish Friday Foodies. This month, we are celebrating seafood dishes from Africa. Africa is a huge continent and we have a sampling of dishes from throughout. 

• African Tin Mackerel & Bell Peppers Stew from Sneha's Recipe
• Caldo de Peixe (Cape Verdean Fish Stew) from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Camaroonian Fish Stew from Making Miracles
• Madagascar Coconut Shrimp Curry (Coco Crevettes) from Palatable Pastime

More Moroccan-Style Recipes

• Lamb, Chickpea, and Lentil Soup
• Kesra - Moroccan Yeasted Flatbread
• Rgaïf - Moroccan Flatbread

Moroccan Shrimp Tagine with Garlic, Ginger, and Fennel

Yield: 4 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

This shrimp tagine with garlic, ginger, and fennel is an amazingly flavorful dish. Shrimp lovers (and who isn't?) will demand that you make this over and over again.

Ingredients

• 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and sliced into 1/2 inch slices, lengthwise
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 20 raw jumbo shrimp, cleaned and heads removed. I used frozen easy peel shrimp that was pre-cleaned. 
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• Medium pinch of saffron threads
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, juices reserved
• Half of a bunch of cilantro, chopped
• Half of a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Place the fennel slices in a bowl with one inch of water and microwave for 4 to 5 minutes, until softened. Drain and set aside. 
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a deep skillet or tagine until just shimmery. Add the shrimp and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until just opaque. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon to a plate and set aside. 
3. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, and saffron and sauté for 4 minutes, until the mixture softens and begins to color. 
4. Add the paprika, tomatoes, and half of the cilantro and parsley. Stir in the sugar plus the salt and pepper to taste. If the mixture is too dry, add some of the reserved juices from the drained tomatoes. Cook the mixture over low heat for ten minutes, partially covered, until thickened. 
5. While the sauce is cooking, heat the remaining two tablespoons of oil in a separate skillet, and cook the fennel slices for 4 to 5 minutes a side, until golden. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. 
6. Stir the shrimp into the tomato sauce and top with the fennel slices. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the top with the rest of the parsley and cilantro and serve. 

Calories

248.82

Fat (grams)

17.53

Sat. Fat (grams)

2.47

Carbs (grams)

21.56

Fiber (grams)

4.36

Net carbs

17.20

Sugar (grams)

14.82

Protein (grams)

3.78

Sodium (milligrams)

310.85

Cholesterol (grams)

13.19

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2021/04/moroccan-shrimp-tagine-with-garlic.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Shrimp, tagine

Main Dishes

Moroccan

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Recipe adapted from Flavors of Morocco