Welcome to our Inaugural Recipes page
Ramadan 2006
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HARIRA
1. Background
The
Harira is the Moroccan national soup. During 30 days of Ramadan, every
house prepares this perfumed soup, permeating the streets of its scent
at the sundown. It is eaten along with dates, or honey
sweeties(Chabakkia, Briouats with almonds and honey).
There are many varieties of this soup, but the classical one is usually as follows:
1. Ingredients feed about 12 people:
The Harira should be prepared in two phases; Bouillon (2.1.) followed by Tedouira (2.2.).
2.1. Bouillon (about 1.5 hour cooking):
2.1.1. Ingredients
- 250 g of beef, lamb (or chicken) meat cut into small pieces (4 or 5 fleshy bones can be substituted here)
- 500 g of small onions.
- Half teaspoon saffron(half natural and half artificial)
- Fresh ground pepper to your taste
- 1 butter walnut
- 250 g of lentil
- salt to your taste
- 1.5 litter of water to be boiled
- 1 Juicy lemon (or its equivalent in lemon juice)
2.1.2. Preparation
Cook the lentil in salted water, add the juice of one lemon. Set the mix aside.
Cook the other ingredients in covered saucepan on a low heat.
Bring the mix into a boil, then remove the onions before they start
splitting up.
After verifying that meat is cooked (after bout 1 hour on the
stove) remove the mixture from the stove. Add the lentil and the
onions.
2.2 Tédouira (about 1 hour cooking):
2.2.1. Ingredients
- 1 bouquet of coriander
- 1 bouquet of parsley
- 1.5 kg of canned slices of tomatoes or 1 can of concentrated (paste) and mixed tomatoes mixed with 1.5 liter of water
- 2.5 liters and a half of water
- Half a cup of lemon juice
- Half a stick of real butter
- 200 g of flour
- salt to your taste
2.2.2. Preparation
Boil water
with the canned sliced or concentrated tomatoes, add butter, then boil
for quarter an hour, add the boiling mix over the meat, lentil, onions,
etc.
Next,
in a separate container, slowly mix the flour in 1 liter of water. To
avoid flour clots, the mixing should be constant, while the addition of
flour to the water should be very slow.
Next, pour the watered down flour to the mixture and bring back to a boil.
Add the parsley and coriander cut to little pieces or crushed with mortar with the necessary quantity of salt for condiment.
Dilute with 1 liter of water, and pour into the mix, keep stirring.
Verify the condiment and remove it from the stove while the soup is
still very hot.
The Harira should be velvety ,not thick.
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1. Ingredients for 6 people
- 250 g of veal or beef meat
- 2 carrots
- 2 turnips
- 2 potatoes
- 2 celery sticks
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 bouquet of parsley
- 1 onion
- half tea cup of vermicelli
- 1 soup spoon of oil
- Fresh ground pepper to your taste
- 1 pinch of saffron
Preparation
Peel and cut the vegetables into small pieces(except for tomatoes). Cut the meat into small pieces.
Put the vegetables (except the tomatoes) in a boiler, add the meat
pieces, and parsley, crushed onion, oil salt, pepper and saffron.
Add 2 liters of water, bring everything into a boil.
Peel the tomatoes and remove their seeds. Cook the tomatoes
in the boiler and mix them into a sauce looking texture for about 50
hour (over low heat).
About 10 minutes before serving, slowly add vermicelli (to avoid clots).
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TAGINE OF FISH
1. Ingredients for 4 people
- A mid size whole fish(i.e. snapper)
- ½ kg of potatoes, peeled and sliced into circles
- 2 kg of tomatoes sliced into circles
- 4 grilled bell peppers, cut into long slices
- 4 bell green hot peppers
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 bouquet of diced parsley
- salt and Fresh ground pepper to your taste
- 2 lemons cut into roundels
- Tomato juice
2. Preparation
Dice
the coriander with salt and garlic, mix in a plate with sweet and hot
red pepper, cumin, lemon juice, water and olive oil, cover fish with
the pickle. Marinate the entire fish to ensure the marinade sips
into the meat, leave it to marinate for a couple of hours.
Cover
the plate of the oven with potatoes slices, place the fish over them
and cover it with slices of tomatoes, add the bell pepper slices, sweet
and got red pepper and oil, sprinkle with diced parsley, salt and
pepper, decorate with round slices of lemon, water with tomatoes juice,
mixed with the pickle, cook for about 40 minutes on a medium oven
setting. Make sure you water the fish with its own juice
every 15 minutes or so.
Serve the fish decorated with round slices of fresh tomatoes alternating with lemon round slices and parsley leaves.
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VEGETABLE COUSCOUS
1. Ingredients:
- 1 kg& 1/ 2 of rather fat meat of sheep (shoulder or saddle) or of veal (collar, chest, shoulder, bend of the knee)
- 1 headed cabbage (about 800 g)
- 1 piece of stale bread
- 1 soup spoonful of juice of lemon
- 4 cloves
- 1 kg of onions
- 250 g of chickpea soaked the day before
- 150 g of butter
- 1 pinch of saffron
- Fresh ground pepper to your taste
- salt to your taste
- 6 liters of water
- 1 kg of couscous
- 250 g of peeled tomatoes
- 250 g of little peeled turnips
- 500 g of peeled carrots and equal slices' length
- 3 branches of tied coriander
- 2 peppers pungent or pimentos
- 500 g of red gourd
- 250 g of soft potatoes
- 100 g of oil of olives
2. Preparation:
Cut
the meat to small and equal pieces. Discard the heart of cabbage,
then put it for 5 minutes in boiling water with lemon juice and the
stale bread.
Put
the meat in the bottom of the Couscous pot, the boiled cabbage, two
sliced onions, chickpeas, saffron, pepper, the salt, the water and
put on medium stove.
Put the couscous in the top of the Couscous pot
and bring the entire pot ingredients to a boiling point. Ensure that
water steam from the bottom side of the Couscous pot is escaping only
through the couscous. If this is not the case, then tie the
two side of the Couscous pot with a string of cloth dipped
in liquid dough (flour and water). As soon as the steam start
going through the couscous (not the opening between the two sides of
the Couscous pot), start a counter for a half hour of cooking.
After
half hour, pull the top side of the pot and put the couscous in a big
hollow dish, separate the grains using a fork. The object here is
to get the couscous grains unstuck. Meanwhile, add 2 to 3 soup
spoons of salted and cold water to the couscous while separating the
grains and let it rest 15 minutes. Afterwards, put back at the
top of the Couscous pot.
Add
to the boiling vegetables the leftover minced onions, tomatoes,
turnips, carrots, tied coriander and pimentos. Remove some of the
soup and cook separately red gourd and soft potatoes.
As soon as the steam start
going through the couscous (not the opening between the two sides of
the Couscous pot), start a counter for a half hour of cooking. Afterward, start the separation of couscous grains operation once again, but this time replace the water with the olive oil. Let the couscous rest for 15 minutes. Afterwards, put back at the top of the Couscous pot.
Repeat this separation of couscous grains a third time (using olive oil), as soon as the steam start
going through the couscous (not the opening between the two sides of
the Couscous pot), start a counter for a half hour of cooking.
Verify the
meat and vegetables are done, and that the couscous grains are softer
now. If this is the case, you are done. Otherwise repeat
the separation of couscous grains a fourth time.
3. Presentation:
Put
the couscous in cone in a big dish, dig a crater in the center. Place
the meat and the vegetables in the crater, water of soup and let to
absorb. Put the surplus bouillon on side bowl so that guests can
adjust the amount of juice of their couscous.
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EGGPLANT SALAD (ZAALOOK)
1. Ingredients
- 1 kg of egg plant
- 500 g of tomatoes
- 5 to 6 cloves of garlic
- 5 soup spoonful of olive oil
- 1 soup spoonful of lemon juice
- 1 soup spoonful of red pepper
- 1 soup spoonful of cumin
- Salt & fresh ground pepper to your taste
- Half soup spoonful of pepper
- Black olives
- Picked sliced lemon (if available) or vinegar
2. Preparation
Cook
for 30 minutes the non-peeled eggplants. Then cut them into small
pieces into salty water. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces, cook
them for 5 minutes in a shallow pan with oil, red pepper, cumin,
garlic, salt and lemon juice.
When the egg plant is almost cooked drain and press it to extract its
water, add it to tomatoes. Smash the whole mix, while stirring up
on a low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, adjust condiments as needed with
lemon juice (or vinegar), leave it cool then serve.
This salad can also be served hot.
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ALMOND GHOURIBA (MACAROONS)
1. Ingredients per 60 to 70 macaroons
- 7 beaten eggs
- 250 g of granulated sugar
- 1 teabag size yeast packet
- 1 zest of a large lemon
- 1 kg of peeled and chopped almonds
- 200 g of fine semolina
- Water of orange blossom
- Icing sugar
2. Preparation
Mix the
beaten eggs the granulated sugar, the yeast and the zest of lemon.
Slowly add the chopped almonds and the semolina. Work this mixture
throughly until a soft dough is achieved.
Dampen the
hands with the water of orange blossom, get a walnut size dough, then
make a ball of it and flatten it very slightly .put it on the bottom of
icing sugar. Arrange the balls on an oiled plate, Iced side should face
up.
Bake in a medium heat oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
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BEGHRIR (PANCAKE)
1. Ingredients
- 375 g fine semolina
- 125 g flour
- 1 tea spoon of salt
- 1/ 2 liter of milk
- 1/ 2 liter of water
- 3 eggs
- 40 g of yeast
- 4 soup spoon honey
- 1/4 liter water
- 50 g of butter
2. Preparation:
Dilute the yeast into a lukewarm water slightly sugared. Mix the yeast and the flour in a big bowl together.
Ensure that
the milk and water are tepid, then add salt, and add well-
beaten eggs to the mix. Pour half of liquid in the semolina
gradually while mixing up the entire content. Using your hands, beat
vigorously the resulting dough to air it out and eliminate the
curds. after 10 minutes, insert the remaining liquid then cover
with a clean cloth and let rise for at least 30 minutes.
Heat
2 or 3 stoves slightly oiled, mix the dough with a soup spoon, and pour
two soup spoons in every stove. Then spread out the dough
with the back the spoon. Grill under low heat, until some holes
form at the surface and that all trace of raw dough disappears. Put the
crepes on the clean cloth smooth face under until it is time to serve
them.
Melt
the butter and the honey in a pan and let the liquid boil for a couple
of minutes. Put the Beghrir in a dish and cover them with the honey and
butter mix. You can also to caramelize some of them to the oven.
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SALAD OF POTATOES
1. Ingredients:
- 500 g of sweet potatoes1/2 cup of oil1
crushed onion
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/2 tea spoonful of
ginger
- 1 glass of water
- 1 pinch of cumin
- 1 coffee spoonful of sweet red
pepper
- 1 soup spoonful of crushed parsley and
coriander
- Juice of half a lemon
- The peel of preserved lemon cut into
little pieces
- Some olives cut into
pieces
2. Preparation:
Melt
the onion with oil, salt, safran and ginger, pour the glass of water,
add the sweet potaoes peeled and cut into pieces, cover the saucepan,
cook for 5 minutes, add the cumin, red pepper, parsley, corriander,
lemon juice, the peel of a preserved lemon and the olives. Then reduce
the sauce to a smooth consistency
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FEQQAS COOKIES
1. Ingredients:
- 1 kg 500 of flour
- 500 g of sugar
- 75 g of of bakery yeast
- 3 soup spoonful of seeds of sésame and
of anise
- 1 coffee spoonful of eraser crushed
with a little salt
- 1 glass of water of orange
blossom
- water
2. Preparation:
Mix half of the flour with 50 g
of yeast diluted in a little tepid sugary water. Once well worked add some
water, the resulting dough must be soft. Form a ball with the dough, cover it and let it to rise for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, work the dough using the
remaining flour with the melted butter, the sugar, the water of orange
blossom, the eraser then add the sésame seeds and of anise. Mix together
Mold
the dough into elongated sticks of about 2 cm of diameter and 30 to 40
cm of long, put them on a cookie sheet and let them rise for 2
hours. After such time, put the sheets in the oven under midium
heat.
Color the
cookies as you please, then cut them up into small circles. Place them
in the oven for few more minutes so they can get a light brownish
glaze/hue.
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M'SEMEN
1. Ingredients:
- 1 kg of flour
- 1 coffee spoonful of salt
- 2 glasses of water
2. Preparation:
Make a well to the center of the flour,
then put the salt and add the water slowly while mixing,
until getting a very smooth dough. With some oiled hands, make tangerine size balls, and arrange them on an oiled surface.
Spread out the balls one by one with
the palm of the oiled hand stretching the dough mildly in all the senses until
it is very thin. Fold back the 4 sides in to get a square of 8 cm.
Gild these squares on both 2 faces in a buttered
stove they are served with honey or sugar.
You can also stuff them before bending
and cooking them (for example of crushed almonds and sugar, or a
mixture of onion and parsley, or of meat and of spices).
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BRIWATS
1. Ingredients
- 500 g of minced calf
meat
- 100 g of lamb fat
- 1 tea spoonful of
salt
- 1 tea spoonful of
cumin
- 1 tea spoonful of red
pepper
- 1 cup of minced parsley
- 1 cup of coriander
- 1 minced thin onion
- 100 g of butter
- 4 churned eggs
- 2 tea spoonful of
cinamon
- 1 kg of pastille
- Oil for frying
- Chilly sugar & cinamon in saucers
2. Preparation
Mix the minced meat and grease with
parsley, corriander, red pepper, cumin, onion and salt. Then cook the mix in butter, while
crushing with a spoon to separate the grease. Allow the mixture to simmer till the liquid is nearly all evaporated.
Add cinamon while mixing on a little
fire , incorporate progressively the eggs(keep some to glue the briouates), mix
and remove from fire.
The briouates' Folding:
Cut the leaves of pastille in two
pieces, take1/2 of one leaf in its length, bring down the sides to the center to
have a rectangular border.
Put one soup spoonful of the mixture in
one corner, then fold up again or roll to form a triangle, rectangular or a
cylinder, make sure to close the forcemeat. Glue the extremity with eggs, to
serve the briouats, fry them in a very hot oil, remove them with a skimmer when
they have a golden color, drain and put them on an absorbing
paper.
They can be served hot ,crown _shaped
within a plate, with a saucer of chilly sugar and cinamon.
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BASTILLA
1. Background:
The Bastilla, flower_shaped ornament of
moroccan cuisine, is a subtil lamellar, on the basis of onion and pigeon or
chiken, parsley, hard boiled eggs and almonds, a mixture of sugar and salt,
perfumed with cinamon, there is a variety of these composants( fish, seafood and
slauthring) ; this is the most classical recipe, it's a ceremony dish served as
a starter
2. Ingredients for 12
people
2.1. Meat fill
- 8 pigeons or 1 chicken
- 3 pans of minced parsley
- 1.5 kg rape
onion
- 200 g of butter
- ½ tea spoonful of
cinamon
- 1 tea spoonful of
pepper
- ½ tea spoonful of natural
safran
- 8 hard boiled eggs
- 300 g of blanched, fried and peeled
almonds
- 1 cup of sugar
- salt
2.2. The Bastilla
- 1 kg of large Bastilla
leaves
- 150 g of butter
- Churned eggs
- Cinamon and chilly sugar in
saucers
3. preparation
3.1. The meat fill
Put the pigeons in a pressure cooker
with parsley, onion, butter, salt, pepper, sefron, cinamon and a little bit of
sugar, cook on a little fire and add some water when necessary.
Once cooked, remove the pigeon and
leave the sauce atop low heat to diminish, till the liquid is all gone. Remove and disregard the pigeon's
bones and put the meat in a container, mix almonds with sugar in another container,
cut the hard boiled eggs in a third container
3.2. The Bastilla
Butter the pastille pan, put the first layer of leaves(the smooth side underneath) overlap them to 1/3 outside the
pan, put some other leaves in the center for strenght.
Spread
out the sauce, add pieces of pigeon, sprinkle sweet almonds and
pieces of hard boiled egg, cover with other leaves.
Repeat untill the meat fill is gone, bring down,
outstriping leaves, glue them with churned egg and cover again with
leaves, spread out some softened butter an egg over the pastille
Cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes,
then remove the Bastilla. Put the latter on a big plate, return the other side and put
it back in the cooking pan with some pieces of butter. Put back atop low heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
Slowly put the Bastilla in a plate to
be served. Decorate the pastery with powdered sugar and cinamon, serve in
saucers.
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