More than ancient cities and dramatic landscapes, Morocco is a melting pot of cultures with a cuisine to match. Couscous, the national dish of Morocco, was created centuries ago by the Amazigh (Berbers) of North Africa. Arabs brought aromatic spices, such as saffron, cumin, and cinnamon, that make Moroccan tagines so flavoursome, and the French left behind a café culture. Pour a piping hot mint tea and read on to discover how to get a real taste of Morocco!
Traditional Moroccan couscous
Couscous is the national dish of Morocco, a symbol of ritual, tradition, and hospitality, and it’s a fixture at celebrations and ceremonies. In Morocco, couscous is served at weddings, family reunions, funerals, and at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
In Moroccan homes, couscous is traditionally served on Fridays (the Muslim holy day), when families gather together after midday prayers. If you’re invited to eat couscous with a Moroccan family, it will be served on a communal platter, and bread replaces utensils. Moroccan dining etiquette dictates that you should use your right hand only and eat what’s directly in front of you.
Now couscous appears on every menu around the country, from family-run restaurants to rustic cafés and palatial dining rooms.
Where does couscous come from?
Couscous has been a staple of the Moroccan and North African diet for centuries. Some historians think it dates from the 3rd century, and while its exact origins are difficult to pin down, it can be traced back to the Imazighen (Berbers), the indigenous people of North Africa.
Couscous is eaten widely across the region, and Morocco and Algeria regularly engage in the so-called “couscous wars” over its origin. But they put aside their differences to file a joint application with Tunisia and Mauritania to inscribe the ‘knowledge, know-how, and practices related to the production and consumption of couscous’ on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2020.
What does couscous mean?
The word “couscous” refers both to the grain and the dish. Couscous comes in a variety of forms, but Moroccan couscous is typically made from semolina (coarsely ground durum wheat).
Couscous the dish can be vegan, served with meat, topped with nuts and dried fruit, or sweetened with cinnamon. It can be prepared in hundreds of different ways, depending on the region and the occasion.
Hand-rolling couscous in the traditional way is a laborious process and a dying art. Women moisten the semolina with water and roll it with their hands to create small uniform spheres, which are then sprinkled with flour and put through large round sieves. This process is repeated many times. The grain is then steamed in a two-tier couscoussier until it’s plump and fluffy.
Couscous with seven vegetables
One of the most famous couscous recipes in Morocco is seven vegetable couscous, in which couscous is served with carrot, turnip, courgette, pumpkin, cabbage, aubergine, and chickpeas. It all cooks in a delicious broth flavoured with herbs including parsley and coriander, and spices like turmeric and ginger.
The couscous is heaped into a large dish and then the vegetables are artfully arranged on top in alternating colours, and it’s all drenched in the broth.
More traditional Moroccan dishes to try
Tagine
Named after the conical earthenware pot it’s cooked in, tagine, like couscous, is a quintessential Moroccan dish on almost every menu. Tagine is a stew of tender meat and vegetables in a blend of spices, sometimes with the addition of olives and dried fruit, and it’s always served with bread.
Tagines make the most of seasonal, market-fresh vegetables, but perennially popular variations are chicken with olives and preserved lemons, beef and prune, and kefta, in which lamb or beef meatballs are cooked in a rich tomato and onion sauce and topped with an egg.
Tangia
Hailing from Marrakech, tangia is another dish that owes its name to the clay pot in which it’s cooked, and it’s traditionally made by men. Chunks of meat and a mix of spices are stuffed into the pot before being taken to the local hammam (public bathhouse), placed in the hot ashes of the furnace that heats the hammam’s water, and left to slow cook for hours.
Sweet treats
Moroccans are known to have a sweet tooth, and the souks (markets) are piled high with calorie-laden treats, especially during Ramadan. Look out for cornes de gazelle, crescent-shaped pastries stuffed with almond paste scented with orange flower water and cinnamon; chebakia, deep-fried dough coated in a honey and rosewater syrup and sprinkled with sesame seeds; and crunchy biscotti-like fekkas, which pair perfectly with a nous nous, a Moroccan coffee that’s half espresso, half milk.
For an energy boost, try sellou, a mix of sesame seeds, almonds, and flour. Amlou – a spread made from argan oil, toasted almonds, and honey — has been dubbed the ‘Moroccan Nutella’.
Mint tea
Perfectly paired with couscous, mint tea has been the Moroccan national drink for centuries, often jokingly referred to as ‘Berber whiskey’. A symbol of hospitality, tea making in Morocco involves more than throwing a tea bag into a cup. Loose gunpowder green tea, sprigs of fresh mint, several teaspoons of sugar, and boiling water are stirred together in a metal teapot. The tea is then poured from a great height into tiny tea glasses — the resulting bubbles are thought to make it more appealing to the eye — and it’s served piping hot to encourage guests to linger.
Harira
Harira is a traditional Moroccan soup that’s rich, warming, and flavoursome. While it’s usually served as a starter, harira can be filling enough as a meal in itself. Like couscous, the exact recipe varies from region to region and family to family, but the key ingredients are chickpeas, lentils, tomatoes, an array of aromatic spices, and lamb. You can try it in restaurants (where you’re more likely to find a vegetarian version) or on the street. During Ramadan, it’s served at dusk to break the fast.
Bread
Every Moroccan neighbourhood has five things: a mosque, a school, a hammam, a fountain, and a ferran, a wood-fired communal oven in a subterranean stone-walled space. Families can take their own dough to be baked or buy their khobz (Morocco’s staple round flatbread) from the baker.
Harcha is pan-fried flatbread made from semolina, while popular breakfast pancakes include flaky, flat, and square msemen and spongy round baghrir, full of holes and perfect with honey.
Salads
Moroccan meals usually include a spread of sharing salads. Favourites include zaalouk, a smoked aubergine dip seasoned with garlic, paprika, and cumin; taktouka, a cooked salad of tomato and green peppers; and salade marocaine with finely chopped tomatoes, onions, and cucumber.
B’stilla
Perhaps the most iconic dish from Fes is the sweet and savoury b’stilla (also spelled pastilla), traditionally pigeon meat cooked in spices; topped with a layer of toasted and ground almonds, saffron, and cinnamon; wrapped in paper-thin warka pastry; and dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. Look for people making it in the souk, and restaurants often serve this one-of-a-kind pie made with chicken instead.
