Skip to main content

Practicing Moroccan Cooking: The Plan

A Moroccan Tajine
Those of you who know me well know that I like to cook, and one of my short-term goals is to familiarize myself with Moroccan cooking. To this end, I have planned a Moroccan meal to prepare for the family for Christmas. Here is what I hope to make:


Bread
In this part of the world, bread is sacred. If someone finds a piece lying on the ground, the custom is to pick it up, kiss it, and set it someplace safe. Moroccan bread is chewy, soft-crusted, absorbent, and makes for a great utensil. I plan to have plenty of it.


Mixed Herb Salad & Carrot Salad
Moroccans begin their meals with a series of hot or cold salads. I'll have two kinds prepared, plenty of herbs and spices in each.


Harira Soup
This is a traditional soup. During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during the day. At sunset, they break the fast with this breakfast: Harira Soup and a bowl of fresh dates. The soup of course has many spices, as well as the addition of smen, a cooked, salted butter.


Djej Masquid Bil Beid or Chicken with Eggs, Lemon, and Olives
A classic Moroccan dish. Moroccans are known for their perfection of their meat-fruit combinations. They love including dates, raisins, lemons, and many other fruits with their lamb or chicken dishes. This dish calls for another Moroccan specialty: preserved lemons. These are made by letting fresh lemons soak in a brine with salt and sometimes various spices until preserved (about 30 days, minimum).


Tajine of Lamb with Pears
Again, a meat-fruit combination, sweet and spicy. Tajines are very common in Morocco. They are the name of a dish and a cooking implement. Tajines are earthenware dishes fitted with a conical lid. They are set over coals so that everything slow-cooks, and all of the delicious juices are trapped inside.


7-Vegetable Couscous
Moroccans take great pride in their couscous. It is reportedly like no other couscous in the world - so delicate, so savory. Meals typically include a course of couscous, and this 7-vegetable version is a big deal in Fez.


M'hanncha or "The Snake"
Time for dessert! This is a traditional Moroccan pastry filled with almond paste and coiled up like a fierce serpent.


All of this will be served with plenty of mint tea, the beverage of choice for Moroccans. They like their tea very minty and very sweet!


This is the plan, anyway. I'll post pictures and comments after the meal. Wish me luck!

Comments

Jenn's Travelogue Blog said…
What a great idea! Let the lemon-brining commence!
December 3, 2011 at 4:26 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Will Enter Heaven?

Check out this quote I found online: "[C]onsider this fact: fewer than 20% of people actually think they are going to hell. And yet, in answering that question, Jesus says in Matthew 7 that FEW pass through the gate that leads to eternal life. 80% doesn't sound like few to me... do some of us have the wrong idea?" There are a number of problems with this quote. First of all, you it is assuming that "few" refers to the current ratio of professing Christians to non-Christians. What's to say that Jesus isn't referring to the entire population of all the earth over all time? In that case, it's entirely plausible that 80% of people now are really Christians, as long as there are still few total Christians when all is said and done. Maybe it applies only to the people in the crowd listening to Jesus. Or, it could refer to something else entirely (as I believe). Jesus was talking to a specific people living in a specific time. We cannot decontextualize his ...
11 comments
Older Posts »

Jesus, Lover of my Soul

An old friend and spiritual mentor of mine left a comment on my last "Religious Conversation" Post . It provoked so much thought that I wanted to share it with everybody, because I know quite a few of my religious friends are reading this, and I know quite a few of you who would make a similar statement. Here it is: There is an element in this conversation that is being overlooked (at least, I presume). There is an aesthetic beauty and, more, an affection, which Steven appears to have for God. This is not illogical; in fact, all human beings exhibit it for something. It may be subjective, and it is not conclusive, but it is completely logical. And I can't imagine an argument that would refute it. It is something like a man saying, "I love my wife. I appreciate her many virtues and charms; I believe her to be the woman most worthy of my affection and lifelong commitment." If I say this and someone were to say to me, "But EVERY man says that of his bride!...
9 comments
Older Posts »

An Experiment In Honesty

This last week has been emotionally unsettling, and since I've been unoccupied all day (I'm at my dad's place until I leave for San Francisco), I'm feeling it in a strong sort of way. To sort it all out, I thought the best thing to do would be to start writing about it, so here it goes. This summer has been very influential in my development - I suspect more influential than I can really understand at present. I had to leave many new-found friends and watch as friends left me. The people at Yellowstone helped me to see what I want socially. There were few Christians (besides the anomalous Campus Crusaders) who were more than nominally religious (and I mean religious in the way that we see American Evangelicals or Catholics - there were many 'mystics'). I could talk honestly about questions of death or a god without fearing that evangelical backlash I'd get at Sterling College or The Master's College. In fact, I just enjoyed being able to hang out with an...
7 comments
Older Posts »