Where it comes from
Mqualli (literally 'gently cooked') is one of the four canonical tagine sauces — golden-yellow from saffron and ginger, brightened by Beldi preserved lemons and cracked Picholine green olives. It's the Marrakechi household chicken tagine, the one mothers make weekly, and the dish that French colonists carried back as 'Moroccan chicken with olives.'.
On the plate
Chicken or lamb in a yellow saffron-ginger-preserved-lemon sauce with green olives — the most golden-colored of all Moroccan tagines. The sauce is thin but coats every grain of couscous served alongside.
How it works
Mqualli sauce uses no tomato — it depends on saffron, turmeric, and preserved-lemon pectin for color and body. The ginger is added late (last 30 minutes) so its volatile gingerol doesn't denature.
Variations
Marrakech mqualli uses chicken; Fez version uses lamb; modern Rabat version uses beef — three saffron-yellow tagines.
On the Palate
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓
How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓- 130 min
Cut 1 whole chicken into 8 pieces. Rub with 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground turmeric, ½ tsp saffron threads, 3 minced garlic cloves, salt, pepper. Marinate 30 min.
- 25 min
Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a tagine. Brown the chicken on all sides, 8 minutes total.
- 38 min
Add 1 chopped onion, sauté 4 minutes. Add 400ml water, 1 cinnamon stick.
- 415 min
Cover and simmer 35 minutes until chicken is tender.
- 515 min
Add the rinsed flesh of 2 preserved lemons (skins only, sliced) and 150g cracked green olives. Simmer 10 more minutes. Finish with chopped cilantro and parsley.
