Spices
There are eight main spices in Moroccan cooking: turmeric, cumin, powdered ginger, black pepper, saffron, paprika, cinnamon, and Ras El Hanout (a complex blend of 30+ spices and herbs). These spices are used so frequently that they are bought in the medina in very large quantities and every kitchen has them. |
Moroccan Mint Tea
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon Chinese Gunpowder Green Tea leaves 1 large handful fresh spearmint leaaves, washed 1 liter boiling water 1/4 cup sugar Recipe:
| Moroccan Mint Tea (Berber Whiskey) was the very first thing we had here in Morocco, all around Morocco, people are welcomed into homes, riads, carpet shops, and it is the drink that we share with our students during our trips to the cafe on Fridays. Unlike any North African mint teas we've had in the US, Berber Whiskey does not come from a tea bag or a prepared mix of tea leaves, it comes from a carefully created and practiced ritual that we were invited to learn. |
Moroccan Breakfast
Ingredients: 1 kg cake flour 1 tablespoon salt ½ teaspoon yeast (optional) 2 1/2 cups water Butter ¼ Kg of Semolina Vegetable oil for hands and cooking surface | Breakfast here in Morocco is a very filling experience. It consists of a combination of mint tea, orange juice, eggs (hard boiled or scrambled), yogurt, and bread. Lots of bread. Many different kinds of bread. Our favorite is Melwi or M'semen, and it's a flat, folded bread served fresh off the griddle, like a pancake. At the house we eat them with jelly, butter, or our favorite: honey. Recipe:
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Tagine of Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives
Ingredients: 1 whole large chicken, cut into 8 pieces Salt 1 cup of lemon juice 5 tablespoons olive oil 4 tablespoons of fresh cilantro/parsley, chopped 1/2 teaspoon real saffron (optional) 1 teaspoon fine salt 2 medium onions, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon turmeric 1/4 cup green olives 1/2 preserved lemon, cut into wedges |
- Rub salt into the chicken pieces, wash the chicken with lemon juice and water and leave for 10 minutes.
- Rinse, dry and place onto a clean plate. For cooking, use a Tagine or a deep, heavy bottom casserole dish.
- Heat the dish up over medium heat and add oil once the dish is hot.
- When you see the oil bubble, add salt and the chicken
- Flip the chicken pieces over after 2 or 3 minutes.
- Add saffron, fine salt, 1 onion, garlic, black pepper, cumin, turmeric, ginger and 2 tablespoons of the mixed parsley/cilantro.
- Mix all these ingredients with the chicken and try to place the onion under the chicken. Add the rest of the onion on the top with the lemons, the other 2 tablespoons of mixed parsley/cilantro, and 1 cup of water.
- Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes.
- 5 minutes before it is done, add the green olives.
- Serve hot in the Tagine or Casserole dish.
Vegetable Briwats
Prep Work:
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- Take a rectangular phyllo dough strip and add a large spoonful of the cooled mixture to the end with enough dough at the top to be able to cross the mixture in a triangle form
- Continue to fold the mixture across the Phyllo dough keeping the integrity of the triangle to form a sealed pocket.
- Once you arrive close to the end, brush the egg wash on the last section of the Phyllo dough to create a final seal.
- Once you make the triangles you can freeze them for a time until you are ready to fry or bake them.
- They can be fried in a skillet over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes or cooked in the oven at 350° until they brown.
- Briwats taste best when you eat them hot and straight from the pan or oven.