My Morocco for Foodies Issue I.
My apologies friends for taking so long in getting this column started; but here I am. Before I go too far I would like to caution that this is my own personal take on the foods and dishes from the Oujda to Nador areas of Morocco; basically the northeast and a bit beyond. While regional dishes and spicing is to be found, just as much does not vary; such as the 7 Essential Spices in *every* Moroccan kitchen. Oujda for example uses very little to no cinnamon in savory dishes yet sells some of the finest cinnamon to be found anywhere. I have yet to have a dish here in Oujda that contained the sweet warm spices save ginger. You probably have food experiences that differ from mine here and I would be most happy to post dishes from other areas which you know and make yourself or have been served.
I have been cooking Moroccan food for over 20 years; ever since I saw Madhur Jaffrey’s series on Morocco on PBS. Oh, that dates me! I found when I came here that my food was on target for Moroccan flavors and ingredients. To date, 500 Moroccan souls have tasted my own Moroccan food and have said “this is Moroccan.” I also have recipes from lala (the mother of my husband), Mohamed, the house maid, and a few “home cooking” restaurants which I ran home and copied!! So, let us take an epicurean tour of Moroccan food together. Whether you have been cooking Moroccan food or want to learn, I am here to help, guide, and walk you through my Morocco.
One note on Moroccan recipes from the internet. Many, many of these recipes are from Morocco’s restaurant chefs and bear little resemblance to home cooking. These are most usually large hotel international style or chain hotels. Also, beware of *any* recipe called Moroccan *style*, it is just not Moroccan!! I cannot stress this enough!
The 7 Essential Seasonings for Every Kitchen:
PAPRIKA: This is a must! It must be a very deep yet very bright red sweet paprika. You will pay for this as the closest approximation for those outside of Morocco would be a good Spanish or Hungarian variety usually found in the international foods section of good supermarkets. I am completely addicted to the paprika here and it is used in many to most dishes! Never in my life nor anywhere in the world have I tasted a paprika with so much vibrant flavor! If you can only find the stuff in a jar that is not imported and turns brown quickly, I might skip it. It just is not worth the loss of flavor and color to use bad paprika. It isn’t only used to decorate potato salad and deviled eggs here!
GROUND GINGER: Used surprisingly enough in many to most dishes again in varying quantities. Also again, this must be high quality fragrant and fairly strong ground ginger. An Indian ground ginger could be a suitable replacement and perhaps Chinese as well. While fresh ginger is called for in Moroccan style recipes; someone decided that “fresh MUST be better!” Wrong answer!! In Moroccan homes and restaurants I have yet to see any fresh ginger! Pungent is what you are looking for with the color, if possible, of very golden sand. I have discovered the delights of cooking with ginger now.
GROUND BLACK PEPPER: Again of the highest quality available to you. None of that old, dry, powdery pepper that is most likely laced with saw dust!! If you grind your own you want a medium fine pepper. The first time that I smelled Moroccan black pepper, during Mohamed’s “name that spice” test, I actually thought that it was sage! The smell and flavor are unrivaled. It packs a bit of heat to quite a lot of heat depending on how much you use. Most recipes call for a teaspoon or more! I also use it by the pinch when I am cooking foods of other countries for wonderful flavor and scent without the heat. This is used for heat here more than any other type of pepper.
TURMERIC: Here you may be stumped for finding good turmeric. Here it is finely ground to powder, the color of autumn gold and actually has flavor! It is *not* used in Morocco to color food but to give flavor. All Moroccan houses keep a box of “coleur synthetique digestive” to color foods. 98 little paper packets of an orange powder that colors foods quite golden. All I can say is that you must find turmeric that has flavor and a lovely aroma! There is also a turmeric/saffron blend that most use at home. More on saffron in a bit.
CUMIN: Yes, very essential though rarely used in quantity. I have tasted very few foods where I could actually clearly taste the cumin. There are a few dishes which call for quite a fair bit of this spice though usually it is a very background flavor. Get your hands on the most fragrant cumin you can find and Mexican could be your best bet. While vast amounts are not usually used it is most definitely an essential! I can smell mine *through* the container every time I am in the kitchen, mmmm!
SAFFRON: Remarkably not used every day or even most days. All of the Moroccan households and people whom I know, when using saffron, use either the turmeric/saffron blend or ground saffron. The ground saffron can actually be mistaken for turmeric in color and flavor! If one lives in or near the mountains where the crocus that provides the stamens for saffron is grown, then you will see more “thread” saffron used. Saffron is mainly used for “guest food” though does make an appearance occasionally in daily home cooking.
COOKING SALT: (Grey and unrefined) Here how I WISH that all of you could taste Moroccan salt!! The flavor is like no other I have tasted! While Morocco has fine table salt, which Mohamed prefers, I *always* use the cooking salt for dishes and for the table! It is course but like sand and one cannot see through it, it has almost a grayish cast. Please dear cooks do not use rock salt as a substitute! Kosher flaked cooking salt is as near as you will be able to come to Moroccan cooking salt; for this cook, it simply cannot be replaced! Due to the length of this first column I am not including a recipe this time. The next column will have recipes using these essential flavorings. Also, it must be said that while these are the essentials and great Moroccan food is made using them, there are a few others which are fresh and only used fresh, *never* dried.
Here is the following short list as Moroccan home food is simple and delicious!
Lemons/Vinegar: They are equally substituted for each other unless of course making “lemon something.”
Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley: Again, a finer flavor than I have found in any of my travels about the Mediterranean! If purchased in quantity this will keep for at least 2-3 weeks in a white translucent plastic bag, rolled up and placed in the coldest part of your fridge or freezer door.
Fresh Coriander/Cilantro: I have never seen fresh coriander such as this. It contains the tiny white flowers as well as the top fronds and is fragrant enough that I know when it is in the house! Store the same as for the parsley and save your stems from both in the freezer for throwing into dishes and soups tied in a bundle. Great flavor in those stems!!
Garlic: Fresh garlic is a must, must! Here, at this time of year the garlic is shades of purple and pink with fat juicy sweet cloves. Do not be tempted to use dried garlic of any type; I may find out! Also keep away from chopped fresh garlic in jars! It has a taste and smell like garlic “gone off!” I hope that you have enjoyed our little jaunt through the essential Moroccan kitchen, perhaps have learned a bit, but above all enjoyed yourself! Please DO keep in mind that this is my Moroccan kitchen from what I have seen and know in my own area of Morocco.
c.\2005 L Elizabeth
Well, I am going away for the next week and have been quite busy trying to get through each day with some badly shattered foot bones and a surgery that did not successfully fuse said bones. Another surgery is on it's way in a month or so.
So, I will leave you with a recipe and a bit about the recipe. It is the ubiquitous Moroccan sauce tomatish found on every table for lunch and dinner as a truly special condiment. This is not a cooking sauce as one follower of my column discovered. Jan down under if you're out there, you rock lady! Her dad, before he passed, found this to be the best thing ever with his lamb. Patrick, I shall never forget you kind Sir.
This recipe and information is reprinted from one of my first couple of columns written while living in Morocco. I was in Oujda when I wrote this particular column. Some has been omitted as it was just unnecessary verbiage for this time. Mohamed mentioned within was a friend of mine who actually sparked me to move to Morocco as it had always been a dream of mine. I tried out many recipes on him and his family.
SAUCE TOMATISH (tomato sauce), though not just *any* tomato sauce but the ones used here in Morocco and trust me, it is ubiquitious! You will go to no restaurant whether big and fancy or a little home cooking hole in the wall without receiving your sauce tomatish. It is also made at home betweeen 2-5 times a week if not more in my house. In fact, yesterday I made one version for macaroni and much later on, another version to go with our main meal. The stuff is habit forming and has become a comfort food for this humble cook. It is sort of like mac & cheese is for me; I will even scoff bad sauce tomatish!!
You will need to be sure and use tomato concentrate/paste which we purchase in large to huge cans here as your base. All of the recipes are based on that for two reasons. Number one, is that this is how it is done here and I haven't yet run into a can of what we from the West call tomato sauce; which I don't think would make a great base. Number two, it needs to have that strong vibrant tomato taste that only comes from very good tomato concentrate/paste. So, think volume when you buy your tomato paste and if you can get one made with plum tomatoes, all the better. A plum tomato paste will give you a close approximation of the bright red color and bold fresh taste of those available in Morocco.
Please though don't avoid this recipe if you need to buy "Hunt's" tomato paste, you'd be missing out on something so very Moroccan! Please choose the *sweetest* white onions that you can find, as truly, here you can eat the onions like apples! There is no hint of yellow or yellow onion in them at all and they carry the pink/purple shades on the outside the same as the garlic does. Also, please do use a light cooking oil or cooking oil blend containing no olive oil. Olive oil is rarely used to cook with and is reserved mainly for dipping bread into at breakfast and occasionally with mint tea as a mid-afternoon/late evening snack. Here, we all use a cooking oil which is a blended vegetable oil to cook with and it is sold in 2 or 5 litre jugs.
One thing I have done with my Moroccan cooking is cut the oil a bit. Most Moroccan women who I know use just far far too much of the stuff. I cut back on it without telling Mohamed and he thanked me stating that as one of the main reasons that I am a better Moroccan cook than his mother! Mohamed and I *always* fight over the sauce tomatish and last time we went out to eat I slapped his hand with a piece of bread. That was the night that he laughingly began to ask for 2 bowls when we eat out! As well as Miloud and other friends. We know enough to make plenty at home for a meal in Morocco. All of this column's recipes freeze very well and can be doubled, tripled,,,,,,,,,? I would suggest for now that those who are brand new to Moroccan cooking use this sauce as an accompaniment to your usual meals with nice flatbread (not pita bread) for dipping, or over pasta or rice for now.
Elizabeth's Wicked Sauce Tomatish
8 oz. Tomato Paste/Concentrate
6 oz. Water, plus extra for more thinning as necessary
2-3 Garlic Cloves - chopped finely
1 c. Sweet White Onion - chopped finely or 1/2 c. grated
2 Fresh Tomatoes - grated and set aside
2 Tbsp. Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley - chopped
1 Tbsp. Fresh Coriander - chopped
2 tsp. Paprika
1/4 tsp. Cooking Salt - or to taste
1/2 tsp. Fresh Black Pepper - oh go on and heap it just a bit!
1 1/2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1. In a skillet or heavy bottomed saucepan place the oil, onions, garlic, parsley, coriander, salt and pepper. *Then* turn your burner or flame to low and saute until soft and translucent with no browning at all, stirring occasionally. Add paprika and allow to blend over heat for 1 minute.
2. Add grated tomato, stir to blend.
3. Turn heat up to med and add tomato paste. Stir and blend with other ingredients for 30 seconds. Add water and stir well.
4. Turn heat to med-high and bring to a bubble adding more water to reach your desired consistency. Here is personal choice time. Acceptable sauce tomatish can run from nearly "chicken broth" thin to as thick as canned tomato sauce and just a bit thicker. I like mine on the thicker end of the scale though sauce tomatish is never so thick that it doesn't slide nicely from the spoon.
Simply Basic Sauce Tomatish
8 oz. Tomato Paste
6 oz. Water - plus extra for thinning as necessary
1/8 tsp. cooking salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
Mix all together in a suacepan. Bring to a bubble and thin as necessary.
ADDITIONS
It is more than fine to "play" with your sauce tomatish and I follow one simple rule though. If the ingredient cannot be found in Morocco or it can be but is silly, then do not add it *if* looking for completely authentic Moroccan food. Here is a list of things that I have added to my own sauces and I leave the amounts to you bearing in mind The Essential Kitchen guidelines such as not 1 single dominant flavor. No mint either.
Lemon Juice - small amounts or it will be the base for or a soup not sauce tomatish.
Ginger - ground
Pickled Small Green Chili - chopped finely or added whole
Cumin
Large Piece Lemon Peel
Small Piece Cinnamon Stick - though not done in my area of Morocco, you can use it.
More Sugar
No Sugar
Corriander Seed - ground, not to replace the fresh coriander
Garlic according to taste, I don't recommend using more than 4 cloves.
Fresh Thyme
Chopped Green or Purple Olives - it is very worth it to buy non-pitted olives, just don't use the "Martini" type and nix the pimento "jello" stuffed ones as well.
Sauce Tomatish is sooo good that even when it is bad it is good! As I said you will always find it served in bowls here with bread and your meal, BUT Moroccans also use this on homemade batatas frites (french fries), every sandwich stand has it on hand to pour into your hot sandwiches which we do at home and out. Sauce Tomatish is served warm or room temperature, never bubbling hot or ice cold. I prefer mine at room temperature to slightly warm.
I hope that these 2 recipes inspire you to try mine and get creative with your sauce tomatish. I would like to see as many people as in love with this sauce as me, Mohamed and our friends are. I now wonder what a meal would be without it and am highly disappointed, to the point of leaving one restaurant that had run out, for another, when I can't get or make it. Just as a by the way, Mohamed makes a mean sauce tomatish, similar to my own recipe!
Elizabeth
c./23 July 2005 07.51
Oujda Morocco
Well, my friends, the obvious place to begin is Morocco. Morocco was the last country in which I lived before returning to the US. I lived in Oujda and Zaio, both in the Northeast and not very far from the Mediterranean coastline. Oujda, a fairly big city where University Mohamed I is located. Zaio could not be more different. Zaio, a small town located in the Rif section of the Atlas Mountains with less mix of Arabic and Indigenous peoples; Westerners like to call Berbers. Oujda being more Arabic. I will explain the genesis of the word Berber in another time.
If you think that preserved lemons, cinnamon and olive oil are staples in Moroccan cooking, think again. It is a rare Moroccan who can afford the dark green briny olive oil and things such as preserved lemons and sweet warm spices are extremely regional. For preserved lemons think Marakech and the Western Sahara where refrigeration used to be, and in many cases still is, a luxury.
You'd need to be staying at a tourist hotel such as The Hilton Casablanca to be fed what is known as Court Food; the old days food of the wealthy. If you are eating there then you're not tasting the real Morocco. The simple every day meals laid upon the tables of Moroccan households and tiny ''hole in the wall'' local's eateries.
Yes, this photo is of me with a raging sinus infection and having colored my hair auburn. I had colored my hair in England before moving to Morocco and this is of me preparing my first meal, in my first Moroccan house, wearing the first Moroccan house dress ever given to me by the mother of a friend in Oujda. This would have been 2004 near the end of April as I arrived on April 8, 2004.
The meal was a lamb tagine cooked in a pressure cooker as all Moroccan households do nowadays. A tagine is rarely, if ever, cooked IN a tagine any longer. There were also many side salads (slatas) and vegetables such as roasted peppers (fil fil), eggplant (braniya) cooked with cumin, the ever present bread (khoubz) as a utensil and always sauce tomatish as a condiment. Fruit, soda and bottled water are always at the table as well. All is served on communal platters and a meal is more than mere food. It speaks to culture and where one comes from.
Check in next time for a recipe!
Elizabeth
c.\2009
