What to eat in Morocco ?
You can’t visit Morocco without tasting the delicious cuisine this country has to offer. Moroccan dishes are a mix of Arab, Berber, Andalusi, and Mediterranean cuisines.
A typical meal starts with cold and/or hot salads followed by a tajine, a couscous or a pastilla.
Moroccan Salads
You must try:
- Zaalouk: an eggplant and tomato mixture
- Taktouka: a mixture of tomatoes, smoked green peppers, garlic and spices
Main Courses
Tajines have a unique taste of spices such as saffron, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and cilantro. The most common and tasty ones to try are:
- Chicken with pickled lemon and olives
- Chicken with candied onions and dried onions
- Chicken with honey and almonds
- Beef with a variety of vegetables (according to the season)
The Couscous (either vegetarian or topped with chicken and/or lamb) is traditionally eaten on Fridays after prayer and followed by a nice mid-day nap!
Other tasty Moroccan specialties include:
- The harira soup: a thick tomato based soup that is often eaten to break the fast during Ramadan. It’s made of chickpeas and lentils.
- Pastilla: (either with chicken or pigeon) which is a savory-sweet preparation baked in puff pastry and topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar
Sweets
If you have a sweet tooth you can indulge in a variety of Moroccan pastries.
A personal favorite are the Gazelle Ankles, a crescent-shaped pastry filled with orange-blossom flavored almond paste and topped with sugar.
Another is Chebakia, a pretzel-shapped deep-fried dough, soaked in honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Definitely not a diet friendly option but so good!
It is eaten mostly during the month of Ramadan.
Breakfast
In Morocco, breakfast goods are made of wheat and semolina.
The most common breakfast specialties are:
- Msemmen: a traditional flatbread which is folded into square pancakes with multiple internal layers and cooked on a griddle, usually served with honey or hamlou (almond butter and argan oil).They can also be stuffed with dried meat (khlea) or vegetables.
- Harsha: Is a breakfast good made of fine semolina, butter and milk. Shaped like an English muffin, it can be stuffed with olives or served with honey for those with a sweet tooth.
- Baghrir: is a Moroccan spongy semolina pancake. The little holes that you can see on the top is the result of adding baking powder to the batter. Baghrir will soak up anything that you chose to spread on them: honey, butter, jam, etc.
At riad Zoraida, our in-house cook prepares fresh breakfasts and fresh daily meals upon request and according to seasonal products available.
Drinks
The most popular drink is undeniably mint tea locally called atay. Everywhere you go you will be served mint tea, most places now don’t sweeten it as much, to tailor to tourists taste.
Morocco also has an abundance of oranges and tangerines and fresh orange juice is easily found. Be careful in some places oranges are not washed with clean water which can lead to some stomach issues if you are sensitive.