Moroccan cuisine is famous for the Tagine and the Couscous. For sure these two recipes are delicious, but Moroccan food is much more than just that. It is a feast of flavors. To talk about Moroccan cuisine, it is necessary to devote books to it in order to know it better, in addition it is necessary to distinguish the great cooking terroirs in Morocco:
- Fez, Meknes and region
- Tangier / Tetouan and regions
- Rabat / Salé, Casablanca and region
- Essaouira
- Marrakech and Haouz
Tangier cuisine
Eating in Tangier is not a problem. The cuisine is refined and fragrant. Let yourself be guided by the flavors. Fish soup, seafood dishes, grilled sea bass, vegetables, salads, all accompanied by a mixture of homemade fruit juice and bitter herbal infusions.
The northern region is famous for its dishes with typically Mediterranean flavors such as paella, there are also very old Moorish dishes such as Sfiria, tagine mezgeldi, Tetouan pastille.
Fez cuisine
Fez, the ancient capital of Morocco for several centuries, has retained the prestige of Moroccan cuisine for special occasions and where entertaining is an art in the Atlas, Andalusia and Tafilalt.
The people of Fez used to eat fresh meat twice a week. The historical or literary tradition neglected food, not worthy of the writings, but it took the trouble to record for the kitchen specialists, the recipes in Andalusian fashion, then highly sought after. Fez cuisine is characterized by the combination of sweet and savory, the use of fruits and vegetables, the codified use of spices and condiments such as cumin, cinnamon, sweet pepper, ginger, pepper, parsley, cilantro but not chili. Bread is a staple food prepared daily and baked in the local public oven. Also note that there are many pancakes for breakfast, hot and cold drinks (mint tea, flavored coffees, almond milk, carrot or cucumber drinks …). The best known dish among Fez is the Sweet Chicken with Prunes.
Meknes cuisine
Often, when we meet together among Moroccans, we remember some dishes that we tasted in our childhood, such as dried meat, dishes that have now disappeared. Sometimes the name or the ingredients escape us, but we remember their taste, their smell or their appearance, often linked to memories of joy and celebration. This collection of dishes that I have made will include dishes typical of Moroccan cuisine today. Recipes that are hardly used today because they take too long for the modern cook. Recipes that have lost all their appeal in favor of Western culture, such as stuffed spleen or brained omelet, and which were once considered to be the delicacies.
Rabat cuisine
The Seven Vegetable Couscous is the most popular national dish among Rbattis, but it has also managed to conquer strongholds in many foreign countries. However, it is only known for its “special occasions” side, but there are different types of couscous that are unknown to foreign: Couscous with onions and caramelized raisins (Kseksou Bet’faya), Couscous with eggs and almonds ( Kseksou Bel Beid wa Louz) etc. We invite you to discover them when you leave for Rabat.
Casablanca cuisine
“Casablanca Cuisine” recreates the lost world of blackfoot, French settlers in North Africa, and is a perfect example of food reflecting different cultures, from chicken to olives, tuna, red peppers capers and almond nougat. By borrowing ideas and ingredients from their Arab neighbors, the Pieds Noir learned to cook meat with fruit and created delicacies such as lamb with pears, chicken with quinces and meatballs with lemon. Mixing European vegetables and North African spices, they created a beet and carrot salad with cumin. Finally, using the most typical local herb: mint, they were able to adapt the most classic soups.
Marrakech cuisine
Marrakech cuisine is a real art. It represents a very important element of Moroccan culture. Refined and varied, Moroccan cuisine is reputed to be one of the richest in the Arab world. Simmered meat and vegetables form the daily basis of the “Marrakchie” diet, all accompanied by spices and multiple aromas (saffron, cinnamon, chili, cumin, ginger, coriander, mint and ras el hanout: a mixture of spices). On the occasion of festivals and religious events (weddings, births, circumcision, Aïd El Kabîr), the meal becomes a real ceremony where many elaborate dishes follow one another: Tajines, pastilla, mechoui etc. There is another very typical element which is also one of the most popular dishes: delicious dishes made with mutton and spices. We throw it pell-mell all the ingredients, we shake it to mix and we just have to close it with paper and string and take it to the hammam where the “Farnachi” will be responsible for bury it in hot ashes for at least four hours of stewing.
Marrakech and its region represent the refinement of an imperial city which strikes with a Berber-Moorish / Saharan cache: Tangia, chicken with olives, pastilla, harira and typical soups.
Essaouira cuisine
The cuisine of Essaouira offers delicious fish dishes with spices and vegetables that have ripened under an ideal sun. For many, it is the best oriental cuisine in the world and there is no doubt that it will please your palates.
Agadir cuisine
In Agadir, in the first sardine port in the world, sirens sound, multicolored trawlers dock, engraved men repair their nets, fishermen unload noisily, over the hours, crates of wriggling fish: sardines, whiting, wolves, mullet , tuna and other shrimp. Tajine “Agadiri” takes its name from the Maghreb deep dish in glazed terracotta, topped with a perfectly hermetic conical cover, in which the ingredients acquire a subtle flavor and fondant. The basic dish is called ‘Amlou’. It is prepared with almonds, cinnamon and honey mixed and sprinkled with Argan oil.
Agadir and the Souss region are famous for tagines and dishes where Argan oil is very present to flavor their delicious dishes, without forgetting that Taroudante alone represents a micro terroir in the region renowned for its Tangia and its dishes distinguished.
One Comment
Rakesh
Bring out an exhaustive article on vegetarian food in Morocco.
Reportedly Morocco is a Vibrant Hell for vegetarians.