Moroccan Taktouka
Charred green peppers and tomatoes cook together with garlic and warm spices in a Moroccan salad made for scooping with bread.
About this dish
Taktouka is a common Moroccan cooked salad or dip built principally from green bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. Moroccan cook and author Nargisse Benkabbou describes grilling the peppers until scorched and tender, then simmering them with softened tomatoes, herbs, paprika and cumin until the liquid evaporates. It can be served warm or cold, with bread, beside grilled foods or in a sandwich.
Why this dish matters
Moroccan tables often present several salads and vegetable preparations at once, and taktouka belongs to that family of small dishes rather than to the Western idea of a raw leafy salad. Its defining contrast is smoke and sweetness: the peppers are charred before they meet tomatoes that have cooked down until concentrated. It is related in serving role to zaalouk, but the two should stay distinct - taktouka centers peppers and tomato, while zaalouk centers eggplant and tomato. Household versions vary in pepper color, chile heat, tomato sweetness and how finely the vegetables are chopped.
This recipe follows a charred-green-pepper Moroccan home style. Some cooks leave taktouka chunkier or softer, and tomato sweetness varies enough that a pinch of sugar is sometimes used; add it only if the finished tomatoes are noticeably sharp, not by default.
Preparation notes
The peppers should be blackened in patches over most of the skin and feel limp, not merely browned on one face.
Let the hot peppers rest under a bowl or in a covered container for about 10 minutes; trapped steam loosens the skins without rinsing away smoky flavor.
Taktouka should be moist but not soupy. The final simmer is finished when a spoon moved across the pan does not immediately fill with watery tomato juice.
Ingredients & detailed method
Ingredients
- 3 large green bell peppers
- 4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Pinch cayenne, optional
- Pinch sugar only if the tomatoes are sharply acidic, optional
Method
- 1.Heat a broiler, outdoor grill or grill pan to high. Char the whole green peppers, turning every 3 to 4 minutes, until all sides are blistered and blackened in patches and the flesh feels soft, about 12 to 16 minutes total.
- 2.Transfer the hot peppers to a bowl and cover for 10 minutes. Checkpoint: when uncovered, the skins should wrinkle and slip away easily; the peppers should smell smoky and sweet rather than raw and grassy.
- 3.Peel the peppers without rinsing them, remove stems and seeds, and cut the flesh into roughly 1-inch pieces.
- 4.Warm the olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-low heat. Add the tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, parsley, paprika, cumin, salt, optional cayenne and optional sugar. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring twice, until the tomatoes collapse and release their juice.
- 5.Uncover and cook 5 to 8 minutes more, stirring often. Checkpoint: the raw tomato smell should be gone, the garlic should smell mellow rather than sharp, and the tomato mixture should look thick enough to coat the spoon.
- 6.Fold in the charred green peppers and simmer gently, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Stir and lightly press some of the vegetables with the spoon, keeping visible pieces rather than pureeing the salad.
- 7.Checkpoint: almost all free liquid should have evaporated, the peppers should be completely tender, and the mixture should hold together in a soft mound when pushed to one side of the pan. If water pools around it, continue simmering a few minutes.
- 8.Taste for salt, cumin and heat. Serve warm or at room temperature with Moroccan bread or other crusty bread, or alongside grilled meat or fish.
Read further
- My Moroccan Food - Taktouka by Moroccan cook and author Nargisse Benkabbou
- Fringe Table - Maghreb & West Africa food guide
- Fringe Table - Moroccan Zaalouk
- Fringe Table - Moroccan Harira
- Photo: Ni4535, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. This is an illustrative Moroccan grilled pepper salad rather than a photograph of the exact green-pepper-and-tomato taktouka made on this page.