Jasmine Kamal 
We’re continuing with the chef secrets, bringing you the top hacks from the most skilled chefs to make your culinary experience a lot easier on you. This week’s chef secrets are brought to you by culinary alumna Ghalia Kattan or also known as scrumptious_gk, where she shared with us a few of her amazing secrets to prepare a delicious Moroccan Tagine for your Iftar table.
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About this Moroccan dish, Ghalia said,
“I visited Morocco last year and was mesmerised with how they can take a basic dish and put a spin on it with some spices and herbs and turn it into something amazing. It’s simple yet delicious because it’s always about the fresh natural ingredients. It’s always an expression of love. A lot of their dishes include slow cooking because it allows the flavours to infuse deeply.”
Ghalia Kattan's 6 tips to perfect a Moroccan Tagine:
The chicken, carrot and tempeh casserole is my favorite. Usually Moroccans prepare this dish as soon as carrot season starts. Here are some secrets to preparing it:
1.Use chicken bones without washing them
I like to use chicken bones in this recipe; it is not completely recomeended to wash the chicken before cooking it, as it allows the bacteria on the surface to spread throughout the area you cleaned the chicken in. If you manage to get your chicken from a good source, do not rinse it.
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2. Hot oil is the key to it all
When preparing the Moroccan tagine, make sure that the oil is very hot before adding the chicken. Do not remove the chicken until it has been fried perfectly.
3. Do not change or wash the pan to preserve flavor
The first thing that comes to a woman’s mind once the frying is finished is changing the pan or washing it, but Chef Ghalia says that this wastes the flavor. According to her, the brown chunks left over after frying carry the most flavor, so take out the chicken and use the same frying pan without washing it.
4. Spices, spices, spices!
What distinguishes Moroccan food is their use of spices. So, if you want a delicious and distinctive Moroccan tagine, you can use all kinds of spices, such as turmeric and ginger to give the dish the ultimate deliciousness.
5.Beware of the salt
Chef Ghalia says that one of the tips she learned in cooking school, is that you should not add too much salt in the beginning, because you can always add more salt in the end after you serve the dish.
6. Cooking on low heat is always a good idea
If you want to get delicious food, cooking on low heat is the way to go. So cook all the ingredients in vegetable broth for 45 minutes on low heat, and if you feel there isn’t enough liquid, add more water. Next, rub the chicken with olive oil and put it in a hot frying pan for three minutes.
