A foodie’s guide to Moroccan cuisine

Before going to Morocco, I had visions of dining on flavoursome, lightly spiced bowls of couscous and stewed meat, punctuated by bursts of cinnamon, almond and sweet, dried fruit.

The reality was somewhat different. It didn’t matter where we ate – restaurants aimed at tourists or locals, in the big cities or small towns – the food was remarkably similar and often disappointingly bland, and we came across the same handful of dishes over and over.

Here’s a brief guide to the some of the dishes I ate during my time in the country…

Tagine

Possibly the most famous Moroccan dish, tagine refers to the type of pot the dish is cooked in rather than the ingredients themselves.

The most famous tagines involve chicken with preserved lemon and olives (which I had in Rabat) and lamb with apricots and dates.

My favourite tagine, and the one I ate the most, was made with meatball and eggs.

I first came across it in Fes, where it was served in a tomato-based sauce (above) and it became a staple evening meal. It was usually served with bread, which was handy for mopping up all the sauce.

Couscous

You’ll find couscous on almost every Moroccan menu. I had an enormous plateful of vegetable couscous piled high with courgettes, carrots, potatoes, chickpeas and more in Tinghir (above).

The couscous is served with a sauce that’s poured over the top to give it flavour. It was okay, but I found it a little bland for my tastes.

Harira soup

This traditional, hearty Moroccan soup is made with chickpeas, lentils, couscous and tomatoes (above).

I had a delicious bowl of harira in the capital Rabat, where it was served with flatbread. Worth seeking out at lunchtime.

Pastilla

Pastilla is a meat pie traditionally made with pigeon, topped with cinnamon and icing sugar.

I ordered pastilla in a restaurant in Fes’s medina – this version was made with chicken and spinach wrapped in a filo-like pastry and baked.

One of the most bizarre things I’ve ever eaten (and I’ve eaten a lot of weird things), it was more like a dessert than a main and all I could taste was icing sugar.

It really wasn’t to my taste – I’m not convinced meat and icing sugar go together – but I’m glad I tried it.

Chakchuka or Berber omelette

Another staple dish in my Moroccan repertoire – I ate a lot of eggs during my time in the country.

Usually titled chakchuka or Berber omelette, the dish consisted of baked eggs with a mix of sautéed tomatoes, peppers or onions. It was really tasty and one of my favourite things to eat in the country.

Madfouna bread

Essentially a giant stuffed pizza, where ground meat and onions are cooked inside a huge flatbread. It’s also known as nomad pizza.

I tried the dish in Rissani (above), where the bread was stuffed with beef and onions. It was really tasty but filling, and one slice was more than enough.

Grilled fish

If you’re heading to Essaouira on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, then dining on freshly-caught seafood is a must.

The best place to sample it is in one of the series of seafood shacks by the harbour. They’re all much of a muchness, but we stopped at shack number five.

The simple shacks sell seafood fresh off the boat. You choose what you want from the selection available that day and they grill it to order, served with fries and bread. You pay for the fish by weight.

I picked a superb lemon sole, which was grilled to perfection (above), and I left a very happy diner.

Olives

Olives are ubiquitous in Morocco and almost every meal I had was accompanied by a bowl of the stone fruit.

They were inevitably plump and delicious, and I had a hard time restraining myself and not devouring the bowlfuls when they were laid before me.

Oranges and mandarins

A revelation. I like oranges and tangerines/mandarins/satsumas/clementines (it’s hard to tell the difference in the UK these days), but I’ve never had oranges and mandarins quite like the ones I had in Morocco.

Sweet and juicy… I was buying them by the bagful and snacking on them constantly.

Biscuits

Most of the restaurants we went to in Morocco had platters of fruit for dessert, which we enjoyed immensely.

But when we fancied something a little naughtier, biscuits were our sweet treat of choice. Most of the biscuits we came across were flavoured with nuts, such as almond or pistachio (above right).

In Fes, we tried kaab el ghazal (gazelle horns), pleasant crescent-shaped biscuits filled with a sweet almond paste (above left).

Tea

Morocco may be renowned for its mint tea, but I enjoyed some lovely variations while I was there, including wild thyme tea atop a mountain in the High Atlas.

My favourite was verbena tea. Refreshing and delicious, I had it in a house in the High Atlas not far from Morocco’s highest peak, Mount Toubkal. Well worth seeking out.

Have your say

Have you been to Morocco? What did you think of the food? I’d love to know your thoughts, share your views in the comments below.