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639 recipes

Tagoula (barley porridge with argan oil and honey)

Tagoula is mountain food from the Souss and the Atlas: coarse barley (or maize) cooked in salted water until it is thick enough to hold a shape, then turned into a shared dish, hollowed in the centre and filled with golden argan oil, honey and sometimes a spoon of smen. Families eat it for breakfast on cold days and it is a traditional dish for Yennayer, the Amazigh New Year in January. Everyone dips spoonfuls of the soft, nutty porridge into the pool of oil and honey, so each bite is sweet, savoury and rich at once. Outside Morocco, a roasted walnut oil is the closest stand-in for culinary argan oil. Chef's tip: pour the grits into boiling water in a thin stream while beating with a wooden spoon; dumping them in at once is the usual mistake and leaves lumps.

40 minMoroccanBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Jben (fresh Moroccan cheese)

On the road into Chefchaouen, women from the Rif villages sit with rounds of jben wrapped in palm leaves, a fresh, soft, lightly salted cheese with a clean, milky tang. Breakfast in the north often means a slab of it drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with dried thyme or za'atar, with olives, honey and warm bread. Traditionally jben is curdled with animal rennet (sometimes with thistle or fig sap), so check if you buy it; this home version uses vegetarian (microbial) rennet and pasteurised milk, and is drained in the fridge. Hands-on time is about an hour; the curd then needs 1–2 hours to set and 4–6 hours to drain. Keep it chilled and eat it within 4 days. Chef's tip: avoid UHT and ultra-pasteurised milk, which will not set into a firm curd; ordinary pasteurised whole milk works well.

60 minMoroccanBasicsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Saykouk (couscous in cold buttermilk)

On hot evenings in the villages of the Middle and High Atlas, supper is often nothing more than saykouk: steamed couscous, usually barley, cooled and then drowned in ice-cold lben, the tangy buttermilk left after churning butter. It is eaten with spoons from a big shared bowl and is wonderfully cooling, sour and creamy, with the grains soaking up the milk as you eat. Some families sweeten it with a little sugar, others keep it salty; both are right. This quick version uses instant couscous so it is ready in about 20 minutes. Don't pour the buttermilk over warm couscous: it should be fully cool, or the buttermilk splits and the dish loses its refreshing chill. Chef's tip: let the couscous cool completely before the buttermilk goes in, or it turns the buttermilk warm and slightly grainy.

20 minMoroccanRice & Grains
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Berber omelette

Roadside cafés on the mountain passes of the High Atlas keep small clay tagines warming over charcoal, and the one most travellers order for breakfast or a quick lunch is the Berber omelette: eggs cracked over a bubbling base of tomato, onion, cumin and paprika, then covered until they just set. It arrives sizzling with olives and herbs on top and plenty of bread to wipe the dish clean, usually with a glass of mint tea. At home you can use a small tagine on a heat diffuser or a lidded frying pan. For anyone pregnant, very young, older or with a weak immune system, cook until the yolks are firm. Chef's tip: never put a clay tagine straight onto a high flame; use a diffuser and medium-low heat, or it can crack.

30 minMoroccanBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ourkimen (Yennayer pulse and grain stew)

Ourkimen is cooked across the Souss and the Atlas for Yennayer, the Amazigh New Year on 12–13 January, when a pot of mixed dried beans, chickpeas, wheat berries and corn is simmered for hours to wish for a plentiful harvest. Many families add lamb's feet or dried meat; this is the meat-free version, made the way many cooks prepare it when meat is not on the table, and it is still deeply savoury from tomato, cumin, paprika and a good dose of olive oil. The grains turn chewy and the pulses creamy, and the stew is eaten hot from bowls with bread. Start the soaking the night before; the stew then needs about 3 1/2 hours of gentle simmering. People who have G6PD deficiency (favism) should leave out the dried broad beans and use more white beans. Chef's tip: stir from the bottom every 20 minutes in the last hour; as the stew thickens it catches easily.

230 minMoroccanCurriesVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Amlou (almond, argan oil and honey spread)

Between Essaouira and Agadir, where argan trees grow on the dry hills, breakfast is not complete without a bowl of amlou: roasted almonds ground to a paste with culinary argan oil and honey until it is pourable, nutty and sweet with a deep, toasty flavour. It is spread on warm bread, msemen or baghrir, eaten with tea, and taken by many as a quick source of energy on cold mornings. Culinary argan oil is made from roasted kernels and is not the same as cosmetic argan oil, which is unroasted; if you cannot find it, roasted walnut oil gives a similar result. Chef's tip: roast the almonds until they are golden right through to the centre; pale almonds give a flat-tasting amlou.

25 minMoroccanChutneys & DipsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Chermoula

Along the Atlantic coast, in the fish stalls by Essaouira harbour and in home kitchens up and down the coast, chermoula is the green, garlicky paste that seasons almost everything from the sea: whole fish for the oven, sardines for the grill and fish tagines with potatoes and peppers. It works just as well on vegetables: toss it with potatoes, aubergine or carrots before roasting, spoon it over chickpeas, or stir it into a vegetable tagine. Bright, herby and tangy, it is warm with cumin and paprika and has a little chilli heat. When you use it on fish, marinate in the fridge, never on the counter, and for no more than 2 hours, or the lemon starts to cook the flesh and turns it mushy. Chef's tip: chop by hand or pulse only briefly; blended to a smooth purée, the herbs bruise and taste grassy.

15 minMoroccanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Rziza (coiled thread pancakes)

Rziza is one of the showpieces of the Ramadan table in the old imperial cities: a soft dough is stretched into a sheet, rolled up and pulled into a long, thin cord, then wound around the fingers into a skein, flattened into a nest and griddled until crisp outside and tender within. At iftar the nests are pulled apart into their fine strands and drenched in warm honey and melted butter, to eat with harira, dates and mint tea. Making it takes patience and practice; the first one or two may tear, and that is fine. Chef's tip: keep everything well oiled, your hands, the board and the dough balls; too little oil is the common mistake, and the dough then tears instead of stretching.

90 minMoroccanBreads & Parathas
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mufleta (Mimouna stacked crêpes)

On the evening Passover ends, Moroccan Jewish families celebrate Mimouna by opening their doors to neighbours and friends, and the star of the table is mufleta: paper-thin rounds of unleavened dough stretched by hand and cooked one on top of another in a single pan, so a whole warm stack comes out at once. Each layer is peeled off, spread with butter and drizzled with honey, and rolled up to eat with mint tea, among sweets, dried fruits and flowers. They are soft, a little chewy and lightly crisp at the edges. The dough has no yeast, fitting for the night bread returns. The usual mistake is stretching the dough with too little oil on the board, so the sheets tear and stick together in the stack. Chef's tip: cook over a medium-low heat; a pan that is too hot scorches the bottom layer before the stack is built.

60 minMoroccanBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fekkas (twice-baked almond biscuits)

Before Eid and during Ramadan, Moroccan kitchens fill with the scent of fekkas: logs of a soft, eggy dough studded with almonds, raisins, aniseed and sesame are baked, cooled, sliced thin and baked again until dry, golden and very crunchy. They are offered to guests on trays with ghriba and other biscuits and dunked into mint tea or milky coffee, and they keep for weeks in a tin, so they are perfect to make ahead. The flavour is gently sweet, with liquorice notes from the anise and a little lemon. Avoid slicing the logs while they are still hot from the first bake; they crumble. Let them firm up first. Chef's tip: let the baked logs cool completely, ideally overnight, before slicing; warm logs crumble under the knife.

75 minMoroccanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kaab el ghzal (gazelle horns)

Kaab el ghzal, 'gazelle ankles' or horns, are the most elegant of Moroccan biscuits: a slim crescent of fragrant almond paste flavoured with orange-flower water, wrapped in a pastry rolled so thin it is almost transparent, then baked only until it sets and stays pale. They are made for weddings, Eid, engagements and any visit that deserves honour, and are served with mint tea. The filling is soft and marzipan-like, the pastry delicate and barely crisp. They take time, so make a full batch and freeze half. Chef's tip: bake them until just firm and barely coloured; browning is the common mistake and makes the pastry hard.

105 minMoroccanDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Barley couscous with vegetables (belboula)

In the palm oases of the Draa Valley, south of the Atlas, barley grows where wheat struggles, and the couscous cooked for family meals is often belboula: cracked barley grains steamed three times until fluffy, nutty and slightly chewy. It is heaped on a big platter, crowned with vegetables from the broth bubbling beneath it, such as carrots, turnips, pumpkin, courgettes and cabbage, plus chickpeas, then moistened with ladles of the turmeric-and-ginger broth. On hot days the same couscous is eaten cold with buttermilk instead. It takes time but very little skill once you know the rhythm of steaming. Chef's tip: oil and rub the grains between your palms before each steaming so they stay separate.

105 minMoroccanRice & GrainsVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tafarnout (pebble-baked Amazigh bread)

In the villages of the Anti-Atlas and the south, tafarnout is named after the domed clay oven it is baked in, lined with pebbles that are heated by a wood fire until the dough slapped onto them puffs and blisters within minutes. The stones leave the bottom deeply dimpled and charred in spots, while the top stays soft; it is torn and dipped into argan oil, amlou or olive oil, or eaten with tagines. You can come close at home with a tray of clean, smooth river pebbles or a baking stone in a very hot oven. Allow about 1 1/2 hours for the dough to rise. Use only smooth, dense pebbles, scrubbed and dried for an hour in a low oven first: stones with trapped water can crack in the heat. Chef's tip: let the pebbles heat for a full 40 minutes; lukewarm stones make a pale, flat loaf.

130 minMoroccanBreads & ParathasVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sfenj (Moroccan doughnut rings)

Early in the morning, in medina lanes from Fez to Casablanca, the sfenji pulls handfuls of sticky dough from a bowl, pokes a hole through each with his thumb and drops the rings into a big pan of oil, where they puff into crisp, golden, irregular doughnuts with a chewy, airy inside. Customers carry them away threaded on a strip of palm leaf, to eat hot with mint tea or coffee, plain, dusted with sugar or dipped in honey. The dough is just flour, yeast, salt and water, and deliberately very wet; that is what gives the open, holey crumb. Allow about 1 1/2 hours for it to rise. Where sfenj go wrong is a dough that is too stiff; it should be sticky and slack, or the rings come out bready instead of open and chewy. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water beside you and wet your hands before every piece, so the sticky dough slides off your fingers instead of clinging to them.

130 minMoroccanBakingVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Chickpeas with cumin (hummus bel kamoun)

On chilly evenings, street carts in the medinas steam a great pot of chickpeas and scoop them, piping hot, into paper cones with a shake of cumin, salt and sometimes a little chilli. It is one of the cheapest and most comforting snacks in the country, eaten while strolling, and the chickpeas should be tender and creamy but whole, never mushy. At home they make a lovely warm nibble, a lunchbox protein or something to pick at alongside soups. Dried chickpeas give the best texture and need an overnight soak; tinned ones work in a hurry, just warmed through in salted water. Chef's tip: toss the cumin and salt onto the chickpeas the moment they come out of the water, while they are still steaming and damp, so the seasoning clings.

65 minMoroccanSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Batbout (griddled pocket breads)

Batbout, also called mkhamar, are small soft rounds of semolina and flour dough cooked on a dry griddle rather than in the oven, so they puff up like balloons and open into a pocket when split. Moroccan families make them for breakfast and teatime, and snack bars stuff them with all sorts of fillings; vegetarian favourites are zaalouk, egg and potato, soft cheese, or simply butter and honey or amlou. They are tender and slightly chewy, with a pale, freckled surface. The dough needs about an hour to rise and another short rest after shaping. A frequent slip is rolling the rounds too thin or cooking them on a fierce heat, so they scorch before they puff into pockets. Chef's tip: roll them no thinner than 5 mm and cook over a medium-low heat; thin rounds or a fierce pan scorch before they have a chance to puff.

120 minMoroccanBreads & ParathasVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Maakouda (potato fritters)

Few street snacks are as loved in Morocco as maakouda, golden patties of mashed potato seasoned with garlic, cumin, turmeric and plenty of parsley and coriander, dipped in beaten egg and fried until crisp outside and fluffy inside. At sandwich stalls in Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier they are split into half a baguette or a round of khobz with harissa, chopped tomato and onion, and in Ramadan they appear on the iftar table beside harira. At home they make a great lunch with a salad. Chef's tip: cook the potatoes in their skins, then peel and mash them while hot and leave the mash to steam dry for 10 minutes; dry mash holds together, while wet mash, the classic mistake, falls apart in the pan.

55 minMoroccanSnacks & Starters
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moroccan barley bread (khobz chair)

Before white flour became cheap, barley bread was everyday food in much of rural Morocco, from the Rif to the Atlas, and khobz chair is still baked at home and sold in markets by people who love its dense, slightly sweet, nutty crumb. Barley has very little gluten, so the loaves are flat-domed rather than tall, with a crust dusted in barley grits or semolina. Tear it while warm and dip it in olive oil, eat it with bissara, lentils or olives, or spread it with honey and butter at breakfast. A little white flour helps it rise; allow about 1 1/2 hours for rising. Chef's tip: do not keep adding flour to make it less sticky; barley dough is meant to feel tacky, and extra flour, the common mistake, makes a dry, crumbly loaf.

120 minMoroccanBreads & ParathasVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Krachel (aniseed and sesame brioche buns)

Moroccan bakeries pile their windows with krachel, round, glossy buns of enriched dough perfumed with aniseed, toasted sesame and orange-flower water, and families bake them at home for breakfast, for guests and for feast days. They are soft and pillowy, lightly sweet, with a distinctive liquorice-like scent from the anise and a nutty crunch of sesame on top. Eat them warm with butter and jam, dipped into milky coffee, or with mint tea in the afternoon. The dough needs two rises, about 1 1/2 hours in all. Don't rush the rise: under-proved krachel bake dense and tight instead of soft and fluffy. Chef's tip: lightly toast the aniseed and sesame in a dry pan before adding them to the dough; it doubles their fragrance.

138 minMoroccanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mhancha (almond snake pastry)

M'hancha means 'the snake', and that is exactly what this festive Fez pastry looks like: a long tube of paper-thin warqa or filo filled with orange-blossom almond paste and coiled into a spiral, then baked until golden and brushed with warm honey. It is brought out whole for guests and family celebrations and cut into wedges at the table with mint tea. The pastry shatters, the filling is soft and fragrant with cinnamon, and the honey glaze makes it shine. Filo stands in well for warqa; most shop filo is made without butter, but check the label. Most people go wrong by letting the filo dry out while they roll; keep the sheets under a damp cloth so the long rolls don't crack when coiled. Chef's tip: roll the filling loosely in the pastry and coil it gently; packed too tightly, the snake cracks as you curl it.

70 minMoroccanDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Almond briouats

Ramadan evenings, weddings and Eid all call for a tray of sticky almond briouats: small triangles of warqa or filo wrapped around almond paste scented with orange-flower water and cinnamon, fried until golden and then plunged into warm honey. They are crisp at first bite, then soft and chewy as the honey seeps in, finished with a few sesame seeds. Served with mint tea, they sit happily next to chebakia and sellou on the iftar table. Filo works well in place of warqa. Chef's tip: dip the briouats in honey that is warm but not boiling, for about 2 minutes; leave them longer, the common mistake, and they turn soggy.

75 minMoroccanDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ktefa (milk pastilla)

Ktefa, also known as pastilla au lait, is the grand finale of many weddings and family feasts in Fez and Rabat: shattering layers of fried warqa piled up with a light orange-blossom milk custard and a sweet, cinnamon-scented crumble of toasted almonds, assembled at the very last moment so every bite crackles. It is served in wedges or straight from the platter. Filo fried in rounds makes an easy home version, and everything can be prepared ahead except the final assembly. The custard is cooked until it bubbles, so the eggs are fully cooked. Don't assemble ktefa ahead of time: once the custard sits on the crisp layers they go soggy within minutes. Chef's tip: assemble only when you are ready to serve; if it sits for more than 15 minutes, the custard softens the crisp layers, the most common way ktefa goes wrong.

60 minMoroccanDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Meskouta (Moroccan orange cake)

Every Moroccan home cook seems to have a meskouta recipe, the light, fluffy sponge that is baked in a ring tin and set out for afternoon tea, unexpected guests or a children's snack. This one is flavoured with fresh orange juice and zest; many families make a yogurt version instead, using the yogurt pot to measure everything, and that variation is in the steps. The crumb is airy and moist, not too sweet, and it pairs perfectly with mint tea or a glass of milk. No mixer is strictly needed, but it helps. Chef's tip: beat the eggs and sugar for a full 5 minutes until pale and tripled in volume; under-whipped eggs, the usual mistake, make a dense, flat meskouta.

55 minMoroccanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moroccan almond milk (sharbat louz)

At Moroccan weddings and engagement parties, silver trays of tall glasses filled with sharbat louz are passed among the guests: chilled milk blended smooth with blanched almonds, sugar and a perfume of orange-flower water. It is also a favourite summer drink at home and is often offered to break the fast in Ramadan. The taste is creamy, delicate and nutty, a world away from carton almond milk, since it is real dairy milk enriched with almonds. Serve it very cold, on its own or with sweets. A common mistake is skipping the straining, which leaves a gritty drink instead of a smooth, silky one. Chef's tip: blend the almonds with the sugar and a little milk first, into a fine paste, before adding the rest; that way it ends up silky rather than gritty. Not for anyone with a nut allergy.

15 minMoroccanDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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