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MOROCCAN SPECIAL OCCASIONS

The population of Morocco is 99 percent Arab-Berber, and therefore Muslim, with a tiny minority of Christians and Jews. Religious holidays, family occasions, and guests all call forth gracious hospitality and an abundance of the best of foods. To mark the sweetness of the occasion it is not unusual for the festive banquet to begin with rounds of sweet pastries accompanied with glasses of sweet green mint tea. Eventually, many courses and dishes later, the diffa will likely end in the way it began: with sweetness as the theme.

For those Moroccans of the Muslim faith, the month of Ramadan, which calls for complete abstinence from food and drink through the daylight hours, is ended each day at sundown with the serving of the soup called harira. This is a thick soup of meats and legumes flavored richly with vegetables, lemon, turmeric or saffron, cinnamon and ginger and thickened with a fermented, slightly musty flour-water mixture called tedouira or sometimes with a clean tangy mixture of beaten eggs and lemon juice. This hearty soup is accompanied with mahalkra or shebbakia, pastries cooked in boiling honey. Platters of fresh dates, fruits, and coffee or milk complete the ceremonial meal.

MOROCCAN DOMESTIC LIFE

Just as it is impossible to make sweeping generalizations about the 200 distinctive Berber groups, so is it impossible to speak of the average Moroccan home. The great gap between rich and poor defies comparisons. How can one even speak in the same breath of the lifestyle of a nomadic Berber tribe of goat herders and a palatial servant-filled home of a Moroccan family serving a thirty-plate diffa (banquet)? Yet both are valid examples of Moroccan life.

But some things are the same. Everywhere, it is the women who cook. Everywhere, classic Arabian hospitality climaxes in the philosophy of shaban: abundance of satisfaction characterized by heaping plates of the best the household can offer. For even the lowliest of peasants shaban can be achieved if one has sufficient kimia. The Moroccan legends of endless exotic dishes preceded by long flowery speeches may not seem so lavish if one remembers that the arts of speech and the arts of the Moroccan cuisine have been carefully cultivated for centuries and just as carefully handed down from mother to daughter.

It also helps to bear in mind that many of these culinary wonders are actually prepared from the simplest and least expensive ingredients. They require, however, the agility of many knowing hands of which there is no shortage in Morocco.

Food preparation begins with the daily shopping for the freshest available ingredients found in the souks (marketplaces) or sold by vendors, sometimes from house to house. Everyone has a favorite source of fine spices, fresh vegetables, and fruits.

Despite the incredible quantity and endless variety of Moroccan food, the utensils needed in the kitchen are few. They include the mortar and pestle for grinding and pounding seasonings, a couscousiere (a two-layered pot for cooking stew in the bottom and the couscous in the perforated top), several pots and pans of universal design, earthenware tagine slaouis (their conical tops may be heaped with charcoal embers to simulate baking or for long slow simmering), shiny copper taouas (casseroles), a range of knives, and a small charcoal stove. If large amounts of food are to be prepared, neighborhood ovens are used.

Not evident in Moroccan kitchens are measuring utensils and electrical appliances. Like loving dedicated cooks throughout the world (only maybe more so in Morocco) amounts of ingredients are measured by experience, tasted knowingly, and seasoned deftly with shakes of this and pinches of that. Small wonder that Moroccan girls begin their training in the culinary arts very early. Electrical power is being increasingly produced from the country’s many rivers but is still considered a luxury and is not widely available. For this reason as well as the enjoyment of the freshest foods, perishables are bought daily rather than stored.

The accomplished Moroccan cook will also have the following utensils for specialty dishes:

• Gdra Dil Trid: earthenware dome used to stretch the thin pastry for Trid (similar to Bisteeya)
• Gsaa: large wooden or earthenware kneading trough for bread dough (easier than a board)
• M’ghazel: silver or brass skewers for meat and vegetable tidbits or meatballs (Kefta)
• Tobsil: similar to Gdra Dil Trid, except this utensil is placed over heat or over boiling water and is used to make the Warka (paper-thin pastry for Bisteeya)

Included also would be a variety of brass, copper or silver trays for serving, ornate teapot and sets of glasses for tea serving, and small decorated kettles and basins for pouring perfumed waters in the hand washing ritual.

For rural Berber women, the arts of cookery are somewhat simplified. Both breads and main dishes are cooked over open fires with few utensils. Yet the serving of foods, though not as elaborate as a diffa, may be nonetheless gracious. Low tables are placed before the diners and the customary heaped platters are eaten with three fingers of the right hand, while the frequent trays of sweet tea or spiced coffee are just as much enjoyed as in the palatial city homes.

MOROCCAN FOODS

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Fresh milk consumption is considered to be low, but for good reasons. As in other areas of North Africa and the Middle East, transportation and storage facilities make it difficult to distribute perishables such as fresh milk.

Whether out of taste or out of necessity, leben is a favored beverage. It is similar to buttermilk except that the natural milk from which the butter is churned is first allowed to ferment in an earthen jug. The low-fat leben is widely used especially by lower-income groups; cream and natural whole milk is used sparingly by upper classes. Served cool or slightly chilled, raipe is a type of thickened milk dish eaten as a refreshment. The milk is warmed then thickened with the addition of the pulverized powder from dried wild Moroccan artichoke hearts.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

It was the Moors who introduced the fragrant almond, peach, and apricot trees and the bittersweet “Seville” oranges to Spain. They merely introduced luscious fruits with which they were already familiar. In season, grapes, figs, dates, and many varieties of melon are readily available even to the poor. Many varieties of olives are used in cooked dishes and salads. Green cracked olives are usually brine-cured and may be flavored with lemon, spices or garlic, the seasonings depending on the bitterness. Ripe olives, which may be any color from green to tan or purple, are usually preserved in a mix of olive oil, a little salt and lemon juice. Shriveled ripe black olives are either salt-cured or packed with the hot sauce called hrisa or harissa.

Dates are a staple everywhere in North Africa, but in one Moroccan oasis alone – Erfoud – more than 30 varieties are grown. Dates may be nibbled as a dried fruit but they are also used to stuff fish, in combination with lamb, and also in vegetable dishes as well as desserts and sweets.

Main meals are concluded with platters of fresh fruits and assorted nuts. When fresh fruits are out of season, dried fruits take their place. Dishes of assorted nuts and dried fruits are common snacks at any time.

There are times in Moroccan cuisine when the line between fruit and vegetable is not as clearly delineated as in the western world. For example, jams and sweet preserves are frequently prepared from vegetables such as types of squash or tomatoes. Fruits as well as vegetables lend their aroma and taste to many a tagine. The smooth texture and tangy pickled flavor of preserved lemons are indispensable to Moroccan cuisine. Most are preserved in salt and lemon juice; Moroccan Jews preserve their lemons with the addition of olive oil. It is not uncommon to present a whole fish stuffed with one or more dried fruits, for instance a shad stuffed with dates. Fruits and vegetables are happy mates in salads too.
Basic vegetables and staples in almost every household include onions, tomatoes, turnips (widely used in cooking, salads and also as a preserve), carrots and many varieties of squash and pumpkin. Quinces may also be used fresh or preserved. Other basics are okra, zucchini, artichokes, green peppers, eggplants, string beans, sweet potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, and many other common vegetables. Wild white truffles, wild cardoons, and wild artichokes also add their special flavors when picked in season.

MEATS AND ALTERNATES

Even though the consumption of meat is low by western standards, small amounts of meats are used so artfully in cookery that their taste permeates many dishes. The tagine, the classic Moroccan stew, can be made from any combination of meat, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and even grains. In fact, it seems if a mixture is cooked in the tagine cone-shaped casserole it is therefore a tagine, ingredients notwithstanding.

Lamb and kid head the list of preferred meats and are the most plentiful. Mutton and beef are also used and it goes without saying that no part of the animal is ever wasted; heads and innards are regarded as special treats. For festive occasions, lamb is most sought after, kid second in favor, and the poor may have to be satisfied with chicken or pigeon meat.

Moroccans cook their meats as part of a tagine (with endless combinations of fruits, vegetables, and spices), grilled as mechoui, or sometimes made into sausages (usually from innards). Any odd bits and pieces are usually finely ground and richly spiced to form kefta, which refers to any ground meat mixture. Kefta may have many variations; it may be shaped like finger sausages and skewer-grilled, formed into meatballs as part of a tagine, or stuffed into vegetables or fruits.

In coastal areas where fish is more often used, imaginative cookery adds ginger, cinnamon, sugar, sweet butter as well as incredible combinations of fresh or dried fruits and nuts. There are tagines of fish and seafood, baked fish dishes, poached fish dishes, and a great variety of tiny fluffy fish balls served with many accompaniments of seasoned sauces, fruits, or vegetables. The only combination that is wrong is the one that doesn’t taste good!

Special mention must be made of the preserved meat called chele or khelea. This sun-dried, salted and spice-preserved beef is similar to the Romanian pastrama (which is also smoked) and the Greek or Turkish bastourma. The sun-dried beef is cooked in boiling olive oil and water, then stored in the fat until used.

Eggs are widely used but often prepared differently than in the western world. Street vendors hawk hard-boiled eggs and serve them with cumin-flavored salt for dipping. The Tunisian brik – a triangle of crisp thin pastry enfolding a raw egg, which is quickly fried and eaten immediately, is also a favorite, whether as a street snack or part of a home meal. Saffron-tinted hard eggs may garnish tagines or other platters. Eggs beaten with lemon juice and cooked into soft curds are a part of the famed bisteeya. Eggs may be poached in a zesty tomato sauce with tiny kefta or set into a sefirna, a casserole of meat and legumes baked overnight.

The sefirna is related to the Spanish olla podrida or adafina, a dish based on long-cooked beef, vegetables, legumes, and whole eggs in the shell. Adafina (Spanish), sefirna (Moroccan), and the central European cholent are all believed to be derived from ancient Jewish dishes. This meal-in-a-dish set to bake in banked ovens before the Sabbath could be eaten as a hot meal on the Sabbath without violating the commandment against work. The long slow cooking of the eggs in the casserole leaves them with tanned whites and mellow creamy yolks (these eggs are called huevos haminados).

Nuts are so widely used in Moroccan cookery that they must be viewed as a source of valuable protein. Almonds are most frequently used in whole blanched form, chopped, and often as almond paste. Nuts are also used in desserts and pastries and not uncommonly in many meat and fish dishes.

BREADS AND GRAINS

Bread is the essential of every meal. For the very poor the whole meal may be only bread, sometimes dipped into olive oil. The classic Moroccan bread is shaped into absorbent, chewy oval discs, made from a mixture of wholewheat and unbleached white flour and gently fragrant with aniseed.

Bread is much more than a meal accompaniment. Bread is viewed respectfully in deep recognition of its ability to satisfy hunger and as a gift from God. A piece of bread inadvertently dropped may be kissed and blessed as it is carefully retrieved. Broken pieces of bread become eating utensils as they scoop up moist foods and soak up tasty juices and sauces. Community bakers pride themselves on recognizing each family’s special symbol stamped on their breads, for breads are made with loving attention in private homes then toted on trays to be baked in the communal ovens.

Moroccan diets can be described as “classic antique Mediterranean” because grains and oil form the basis. Wheat and barley are the principal grains and are used to make a great variety of breads. European-type white bread is increasing in popularity.

After weaning, the child’s principal food is sweet tea and grains in the form of rice, corn, semolina, breads, and pasta.

Despite the importance of bread, no other food can compare in variety of preparation and importance to the legendary couscous. Of undisputed Berber origin, this incomparable dish may be called by various names, contain infinite varieties of ingredients and seasonings, and may be made from wheat, corn, barley, millet, green wheat, green barley shoots, or sprouts and even rice, tapioca, or bread crumbs. Named seksu by Moroccans, it may also be called sikuk, sksu, utsu, ta’am, and even kouski as in Tunisia. The principle is the same. Dry floury grains are dribbled with water and rubbed to form tiny pellets. These are carefully steamed with no cover over a perforated pot set upon a bubbling stew. The small pellets swell with moisture and absorb some of the flavors of the broth. Often two steaming are required to get the proper consistency of separate fluffy and tender granules. Frequently a light sprinkling of oil or smen (like clarified butter) is added. Today pre-cooked couscous speeds up meal preparation.

Couscous may be served upon one large platter, with meat, fruits, vegetables, and well-seasoned sauce heaped over the grain base. Or, as in the French or Algerian version, each part of the couscous may be served on separate plates. Couscous may be savory or sweet, and is usually served as a luncheon meal or at the very end of a diffa (banquet) solely for the purpose of achieving shaban, total satisfaction.

FATS

Many Moroccans use large amounts of oil in cooking and often a swirl of oil is added as a garnish to complete a dish. Oily sauces are frequent. Because it does not cloud and retains a shiny appearance, olive oil is used in many salads and cold dishes while vegetable oils or peanut oil is saved for cooking. Oil extracted from the nuts of the argan tree is used in the south-west region. A mix of honey crushed almonds, and oil is called amalou and is popularly used on breads. When amalou is mixed with more honey and wheat germ it makes a kind of breakfast gruel called zematur.

Smen is a type of clarified butter widely used in soups and couscous. Sometimes it is flavored with herbs and often it is fermented and stored. The strong smell and pungent taste of smen is not too widely appreciated except by Moroccans.

SWEETS AND SNACKS

Many sweet pastries, chewy nougat-type candies, sugared dried fruits, and spicy sweet couscous as well as sugared fried pastries are readily available. But probably more sugar is consumed in the endless cups of heavily sweetened green tea scented with mint than in any other form.

The traditional dessert to end a meal is inevitably an array of available fresh fruits and nuts. Dried fruits may replace the fresh. Moroccans will likely enjoy their sweetly rich pastries at the start of a special occasion meal such as at a wedding or circumcision and especially during the month of Ramadan where the meal after sundown is often begun with sweet cakes called shebbakia or mahalkra hungrily downed together with bowls of spicy harira soup.

SEASONINGS

Basically, Moroccan food has humble beginnings; it is the artistry of careful preparation and complex seasoning that set it apart. Spices are used not only in foods but also in perfumes, medicines, and even in magical potions with mysterious powers.

Spices are not used to mask flavors; they are used with discretion and knowledge to enhance, to tantalize, and to blend. Each cook measures with her nose, her fingers, and her eye but never by actual measurement. These are the skills that are passed from generation to generation. So is the knowledge of exactly which souk (marketplaces) and which merchant has the best seasonings.

Salt and pepper are basic, but to the Moroccan cook ten basic seasonings are always at hand: black pepper and cayenne, cumin (subtler than caraway) and saffron, ginger and turmeric, paprika and cinnamon as well as sesame seeds and aniseeds. This is by no means the end to the list, for allspice, cloves, and gum arabic (mksa) as well as cardamom, coriander seeds, and many others too exotic for most western tastes subtly season many foods.

Much like the many varied blends of curries (kari) in India, Morocco too has its prized blends of seasonings called ras el hanout. These blends may contain almost anything including alleged aphrodisiacs such as ash berries, Spanish fly, and monk’s pepper; they are purchased in prepared amounts or created in special blends by individual experts.

Chermoula is one example of a highly seasoned sauce made with a blend of herbs and strongly flavored with crushed fresh garlic, cayenne, and lemon juice. It is used mainly as a marinade for fish but other blends of seasonings may be specially prepared for soups and sauces. Not surprisingly, these seasoning blends are cherished family secrets.

Fresh mint or spearmint is used with steeped green tea while other fresh or dried herbs take their place with spices to enliven foods: green parsley, green coriander leaves, oregano, basil, grey verbena, and za’atar, a much-used herb similar in aroma and flavor to thyme and oregano.

Rosewater and orange flower water are used often in sweets and pastries and sometimes in the water used for ceremonial hand washing. Many dried herbs and even dried flowers and buds are used in mixing special medicinal potions and herbal teas.

A truly hot spiced relish made from crushed fresh garlic, chili peppers, salt, and olive oil is similar to the Indonesian sambal oelek and is called harissa. This hot condiment may be used as a dip or added judiciously to soups and sauces. It always accompanies harira, the staple legume soup.

BEVERAGES

Tiny decorated glasses of green tea served hot, sweet, and scented with fresh spearmint are the classic Moroccan beverage. Countless glasses are enjoyed every day at any time. But coffee is enjoyed too and helps many a Moroccan to begin the day. Coffee may be served black and sweet – it may also carry the surprise of a blend of sweet and peppery spices. Carbonated beverages are gaining in popularity but sweetened fruit drinks made from local produce and sometimes from crushed nuts are enjoyed as refreshers: these are called sharbat. Cool leben, similar to buttermilk, is also a frequent thirst-quencher.

Street vendors sell plain water, fruit juices, and even sharbat. Water is also the usual mealtime beverage accompanied by the main dishes with green tea following the meal. In rich homes, it is not unusual for the mealtime beverage of water to be lightly perfumed with the subtle addition of orange flower water, rose petal syrup, or other aromatic concentrates.
The prohibitions against alcoholic beverages that stern from Islamic traditions are kept to varying degrees. No such prohibitions exist in Jewish homes and many Jewish kitchens are known for their home-made wines and fruit brandies prepared from ancient recipes and distilled from a great variety of fresh fruits. Wine is a part of Sabbath and festival tradition in Jewish homes.

FOOD AND CULTURE IN MOROCCO

Morocco nestles on the northwest coast of Africa bordering the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean with a finger of land pointing north-ward to Spain. This is also part of the region known as the Mahgrib, where great extremes of climate occur between the coastal regions, the tips of the Atlas Mountains where snow is not uncommon year-round, and on the parched expanses of the Sahara Desert.

Despite only 20 percent arable land and the historic concern of drought in Morocco, modern farming and irrigation produce prodigious crops of grains – wheat, barley, corn, and oats as well as fruit and vegetables for export and domestic use. Ancient orchards still burst forth with the rich scents of blossoming trees that ripen into almonds, figs, olives, and many varieties of dates. Gnarled grapevines yield fine grapes that are pressed into a distinguished variety of wines. Herds of goats, sheep and some cattle are watched over in pastures and carefully guided along roadsides. As in most of North Africa and the Middle East, meat is usually in short supply and fish is consumed mainly where it is caught because of limited storage facilities.

Long referred to as Moors, the people of Morocco are actually a mix of Berber, Arab, and Black peoples. The 800-year occupation of Spain by Arabs and Moors (from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries C.E.) probably established the term “Moors” because most Christians at that time referred to all Muslims as Moors.

The Berbers were the first known inhabitants of Morocco and even today make up more than 75 percent of its population. These non-Arabic tribes inhabiting many parts of North Africa are a lean, hardy people, white to dark brown in coloring. Belonging to more than 200 separate groups each with distinctive customs and dialects, they live by herding sheep, goats, and cattle and increasingly work as crop-raising farmers.

Two facts illustrated their individualism and fierce independence: adoption of both Islam and Judaism did not replace but enhanced their former beliefs and traditions; and the continued agitation of the Berber tribes against the French occupation of Morocco actually led to the Moroccan independence of 1956.

The fact that almost 80 percent of the Moroccan population is illiterate can be misleading. For it must be understood that most of the Berber dialects do not have a written form, knowledge having been carefully transmitted verbally to succeeding generations. However, these peoples have a great appetite for education. French and at least one Arab or Berber dialect is spoken by educated Moroccans, but today Arabic and French are commonly taught in the increasing number of schools springing up even in rural and mountain areas.

Despite successive foreign conquest by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Byzantines, the Berbers stoutly maintained their own lifestyles. It was the sweeping Arab conquest in 682 C.E. that left the deepest mark. The entire population, with the exception of the few Christians (from Roman times) and the Jewish settlers in the larger cities. intermarried and adopted Islam but never really replaced their own ancient Berber traditions. Even now, of all the many sects of Islam, the Berber brand is one of the loosest and varies from tribe to tribe.

In fact, the Berbers had a profound effect on the Arabs. The rituals of serving and eating foods as well as many classic dishes are definitely of Berber origin. These include the eating of foods with only three fingers of the right hand. However, the ceremonial hand washing that precedes the meal seems to be of Jewish rather than Arabic or Berber origin.

The classic dish of couscous – national dish of the entire Maghreb which includes Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria – is also enjoyed in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. Mechoui (succulent roast lamb), with its many variations, is found all around the Mediterranean. Bisteeya or pastilla, the whisper-thin pastry layers shaped in an 18 inch to 20 inch pie enclosing scrambled eggs and pigeon meat, closely resembles the spring roll pastries of China. The tagine, prepared and served in an earthenware dome-shaped dish, is the classic of all stews.

Berber traditions are deeply steeped in the supernatural. Arabs, Berbers, and even many Jews profoundly believe in the power of the color of blue to ward off evil spirits; it would be impossible to count the doorways and even the windows that are painted blue in Morocco and in many other areas of North Africa and the Middle East. And it is attributed to a mysterious supernatural power called kimia that lowly but faithful peasants are able to survive despite only subsistent levels of food – often only scant quantities of bread dipped in oil. Satiety is said to be attained more by faith than by food.

“What isn’t known can’t be stolen….” Who can say whether this ancient saying was born out of folklore or the reality of prevalent thieves? Nonetheless, in Morocco perhaps more than any other area of North Africa, the cloak of secrecy and the characteristic of self-debasing modesty exist side by side with scenes of secluded walled courtyards, hidden door-ways painted a luminous blue, women clad in burkas (head-to-toe enveloping cloth “veils”), and djellabaclad men together with vendors of amulets, potions, and formulas all guaranteed to ward off the evil eye.

Great wealth and lovely women, like other treasured Moroccan possessions, are never displayed openly. Even the great cuisine of Morocco is seldom tasted in public places but is reserved for the hospitality of the home. Such is the Moroccan world: a curious blend of faith and superstition, lore and leg-end, Arab, Berber, Black, and Jew all touched by history and ancient customs, yet secretive.