Moroccan cuisine

Tradition et Gastronomy: Argan oil has a strong and wild taste. In the Berber tradition, it plays an important role in the preparation of several dishes: used plain and pure, with bread or joined in seasonings. The women in Morocco use the oil for tagines, couscous, to marinate roasted peppers and tomatoes, and to enhance semolina dishes. It also features in the preparation of amlou, a delicious pate to serve to the guests (a mixture of argan oil, crushed almonds, and honey); it’s used, also, like afrodisiac. We may experience its flavor at the base of a great range of seasonings, often associated with fish dishes, or meat dishes or carpaccios; appreciated with cheese preferibly with goat cheese.

foto: moroccan kitchen

Cuscus (couscous in French) is a typical North African dish; Berber dish that consists in granules of the steamed semolina (the berber woman use the grains of durum wheat, in some regions barley or miles). The semolina is sprinkled with water and rolled with the hands to form small pellets, sprinkled with dry flour to separate the pellets. This process continues until all the semolina has been formed into tiny grains of couscous. Sometimes salt is added to the semolina and water. Couscous is steamed two to three times. The traditional North African method is to use a steamer called kiska:s in Arabic or couscoussière in French. The base is a tall metal pot shaped rather like an oil jar in which the meat and vegetables are cooked in a stew. On top of the base a steamer sits where the couscous is cooked, absorbing the flavours from the stew.

The cuscussiere - cuscus dish

Tajines is an other Moroccan dish made in a basic terra-cotta pot, very resistant to high temperature and with a conical lid in which the meat, fish, vegetables and spices are cooked, using the heat of the oven or coals (according to the tradition); in this manner you can eliminate fats obtaining the spicy food and a low fat dish.

Amlou pate: 250 grams of almonds, 100 grams of honey and 500ml of argan oil. You have to toast the almonds and shake forming a smooth dough; adding honey and Argan oil, obtaining a pâté. Serve on bread.

Virgin Argan oil - Amlou Pate

Zaaluk (appetizer: spicy eggplant salad): peeled cubed eggplants and tomatoes (1 kg of each ingredient), garlic (5 cloves), 4 spoons of olive oil, ½ harissa, cumin, parsley, lemon juice and salt
The harissa is a spicy sauce made of chili. You have to Boil, for about 30 minutes, the eggplants and garlic in salted water. When they are tender, you can put in an other pot pan-frying with the tomatoes (minced) and olive oil. Let cook very slowly crushing with a fork so that the eggplants and tomatoes are well cooked and the water completely evaporated. Stir constantly and at the end of cooking, add the remaining ingredients. To eat on the bread.

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Moroccan bread: indispensable to serve with Tagine. Ingredients: flour 500gr, yeast, salt (3 teaspoons), warm water, semolina (50gr), sesame. Knead the flour and salt with the yeas (diluite in the water); you have to rise the bread for an hour and then knead again briefly, stretch the dough realizing the forms of bread of 20-25 cm of diameter and a height of 2-3cm; cover the forms and let them risefor 40 minutes. Sprinkle the bread with sesame and bake for 30 minutes at 190 degrees.

Moroccan bread - bread with tea