Mrouzia

Mrouzia is a North African meat tajine that sets sweet against salty. The meat is cooked with a ras el hanout spice blend, honey, cinnamon and almonds, which gives the sauce its dark, fragrant sweetness. It is counted among the dishes of Maghribi cuisine, and a thirteenth-century Andalusian cookbook of unknown authorship already lists it, describing it as a dish from Ifriqiya and Egypt. In Rabat it is also known as m'assal, a name that points to the honey in the pot. Mrouzia is one of the traditional dishes of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, and it is often made with lamb from animals ritually sacrificed during that festival, so it appears on the table as part of the feast.