Cooking in Morocco

The Cuisine  of Morocco

By international cook and food writer Ghillie Başan for Morocco Gateway

There are some cuisines in the world that, undoubtedly, make me feel hungry when I think about them. The cuisine of Morocco is certainly one of them. With its sweet and spicy combinations, and its exciting use of cumin and coriander, honey and ginger, saffron and cinnamon, chillies and turmeric, and olives and preserved lemons, it is both inspirational and divine, and regarded by many as the perfumed soul of Moroccan culture.

Moroccan cuisine is a fascinating reflection of the history of a country whose invaders, such as the ancient Phoenicians and Romans, have come and gone, each leaving a stamp on the culinary landscape. Starting around 1100BC, the culinary history includes the indigenous Berber population, which inhabited the inland fertile plains and the harsh mountainous terrain where they lived off honey, beans, lentils and wheat and began the lifelong tradition of tagine cooking and couscous; the nomadic Bedouins from the desert who brought dates, milk and grains; the Moors expelled from Spain who relied heavily on olives and olive oil and brought with them the Andalucian flavours of paprika and herbs; the Sephardic Jews with their preserving techniques employing salt; the Arabs who introduced the sophisticated cuisine from the Middle East along with Islamic culinary restrictions; the slaves from central Africa with their tribal secrets; the Ottoman influence of kebabs and pastry making; and the French who left a legacy of wine-making, café culture and general culinary finesse.

To absorb the delights and diversity of Morocco’s cuisine it is worth visiting the markets of Marrakech and Fez where the labrynthine souks are the centres of all social and culinary activity. From the make-shift barber’s shops and stalls selling cones of raw sugar, shampoo stones, dried lizards and snake skins, and the butchered carcasses of cows and sheep to the mini emporiums displaying carpets, leather good, jewellery, pottery, dried spices and herbs, there is much to buy and admire. In my role as a cookery writer, I also look for the utensils carved from lemon wood and juniper bark, traditional clay tagines, fleshy olives of every colour and size, tiny preserved lemons, and argan oil, the precious pressing of the roasted kernels of the argan nut which is extracted from the excretions of the goats that climb the stout, thorny trees.

Colourful, spicy, sweet and scented – wherever you go there is always something cooking and something utterly delicious to eat. Look out for the savoury pastries flavoured with saffron and cinnamon, the tangy, syrupy tagines topped with preserved lemon, the fresh, crunchy salads spiked with coriander and chillies, and the creamy puddings scented with rose water. Eating on the cheap in Morocco will enable you to sample couscous, spicy tagines, savoury pastries, kebabs and kefta, but you will only skim the surface of the complexity and depth of flavours of the richly authentic dishes prepared in the homes.

Generally, Moroccan meals begin with a selection of little dishes such as small bowls of dried fava beans, slices of tiny spicy merguez, pickled vegetables, stuffed pastries, and mini meat balls. These dishes are designed to whet the appetite for the ensuing soup or tagine, followed by grilled or roasted meat, and finally a mound of couscous. Fresh fruit usually completes the meal or, on occasion, a dessert. Once everything has been cleared away, glasses of steaming mint tea will be served to aid the digestion while you sit back and reflect on all the wonderful dishes you have consumed.

My favourite dish (taken from my latest book Flavours of Morocco)

There are so many delicious things to eat in Morocco and you will inevitably be offered a variety of tagines and couscous but one of my favourite dishes that you should aim to try at least once is the traditional aromatic chicken pie, dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar – unique and delicious!

B’stilla b’djej (serves 4-6)

    2-3 tablespoons olive oil

   100g butter

   3 onions, halved lengthways, cut in half crossways and sliced with the grain

   2 cloves garlic, chopped

   2-3 tablespoons blanched almonds, chopped

   1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

   1 teaspoon ground ginger

   1 teaspoon paprika

   1 teaspoon ground coriander

   250g chicken fillets, cut into bite-size pieces

   a bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 

   a big bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped

   sea salt

   freshly ground black pepper

   7-8 sheets of filo

   1 egg yolk

   1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, for dusting

   2-3 teaspoons icing sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F/mark 6/200C

In a heavy-based frying pan, heat the olive oil with a nut of the butter and stir in the onions. Fry over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until they begin to soften and colour. Stir in the garlic and almonds, until they begin to colour and add the spices. Toss in the chicken and cook gently, until all the liquid in the pan has evaporated. Toss in the herbs, season with salt and pepper, and leave the chicken to cool.

Melt the rest of butter. Separate the sheets of filo and keep them under a damp cloth. Brush a little butter in the base of an oven-proof dish – a round one produces an attractive pie - and cover with a sheet of filo, allowing the sides to flop over the edge. Brush the sheet of filo with butter and place another one on top. Repeat with another 2 layers. Spread the chicken and onion mixture on top of the filo and fold the edges over the filling. Cover with the remaining sheets of filo, brushing each one with butter. Tuck the overlapping edges under the pie, like making a bed, so that it is flat on top. Mix the egg yolk with a scant teaspoon of water and brush it over the top of the pie.

Place the pie in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden. Dust the top with the cinnamon and icing sugar in a lattice pattern and serve immediately on its own.

About Ghillie Başan

Ghillie is an internationally acclaimed cook and food writer, well known for her informative and evocative books on the culinary cultures of Morocco and North Africa, Turkey, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Having spent her childhood in East Africa, followed by a Cordon Bleu Diploma and a BSc in Social Anthropology from Edinburgh University, and having worked in Europe and the Middle East as a cook, cookery writer, restaurant critic, English teacher and journalist, her interests and experiences have culminated in a variety of books and numerous articles on food and travel in different parts of the world. For more details see Ghjillie's website.

You can also view and purchase her book Flavours of Morocco here.

More about Cooking in Morocco

If you are interested in learning more about cooking in Morocco, a number of the hotels and riads on Morocco Gateway offer cooking classes or interactive demonstrations. You can view these hotels and riads by clicking here.