11 recipes
A captivating North African cuisine of tagines, couscous, spice blends and sweet-savoury balance that unites Berber, Arab and Andalusian traditions.
Read its storyA classic Moroccan dish of chicken braised in a fragrant saffron and spice sauce with preserved lemon and green olives, made without a tagine pot.
Fluffy couscous topped with vegetables and chickpeas simmered in a spiced broth, Morocco's generous Friday family meal.
A hearty Moroccan soup of tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas and fresh herbs, the centerpiece of the Ramadan fast-breaking table.
A Moroccan classic of eggplant cooked down with tomatoes, garlic and cumin into a soft, spoonable dip for bread.
A North African breakfast of eggs gently poached in a cumin-spiced tomato and pepper sauce, made for dipping bread.
Green tea brewed with a generous handful of fresh mint and sugar, then poured from a height until frothy: the symbol of Moroccan hospitality.
Morocco's showpiece pie of spiced chicken, herby egg sauce and sweet almonds layered in crisp pastry and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
Dried split fava beans simmered with garlic and blended smooth, then finished with olive oil, cumin and paprika: Morocco's warming winter breakfast.
Flaky, square Moroccan pancakes made by stretching dough paper-thin, folding it with butter and semolina, and cooking it on a hot griddle.
Cumin-spiced meatballs simmered in a fragrant tomato sauce and finished with eggs poached right on top: a favorite Moroccan one-pot meal.
Lightly cooked carrots tossed with cumin, garlic, paprika, lemon and olive oil: a bright, fragrant opener on the Moroccan table.
The oldest layer of Moroccan cooking belongs to the Berbers (Amazigh), the indigenous people of North Africa. Couscous and the tagine, the clay pot with a conical lid, are the best-known examples of this heritage. The tradition of rolling semolina by hand and steaming it into couscous is recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage shared by several North African countries.
With the arrival of the Arabs from the 7th century, spices such as saffron, cinnamon and ginger spread, along with the practice of cooking meat together with fruit. At the end of the 15th century, Muslim and Jewish communities fleeing Andalusia in Spain enriched the cuisine with olive oil, almonds and delicate court pastries. Although Ottoman influence was strong further east in North Africa, Morocco never came under Ottoman rule and kept its own royal culinary tradition. The French protectorate in the 20th century brought café culture and some French bread and pastry habits. British traders bringing green tea in the 18th and 19th centuries are thought to have helped popularise mint tea.
Fez is known as the home of Morocco's most refined court cooking; pastilla, a sweet-savoury pie of chicken or pigeon in thin pastry, is closely associated with the city. Marrakech is famous for tanjia, meat slow-cooked for hours in a clay urn set in the embers of a bathhouse furnace. On the Atlantic coast, in Essaouira and Tangier, fish and seafood dominate, while the Berber villages of the Atlas Mountains cook simpler, heartier, grain-based meals.
The Moroccan spice cupboard holds cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, paprika and coriander, skilfully combined into the blend known as "ras el hanout". Preserved lemons cured in salt and lemon juice, olives, dried apricots, prunes and almonds give tagines their character, and harissa, a chilli paste, is the fiery companion on the table. Long, gentle simmering and steaming are the core techniques. If you do not own a tagine, a heavy cast-iron pot with a lid does the same job.
Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives is a superb first dish: it teaches you to sweat onions and spices and then cook slowly over low heat. Next, try vegetable couscous to learn how to fluff the grains, and harira, a lentil and chickpea soup, to practise balancing spices. Finish the meal the Moroccan way with sweet mint tea brewed with fresh mint.