A trip to Marrakech allows you to indulge in a host of
tastes and experiences in the small space of one City. From shopping in the souks and eating street
food to the extravagance of fine bars and restaurants and lazing by the pool,
Marrakech truly is a city of contrasts.
Soaking up the sun, absorbing the smells of spices and the hustle and bustle of market trading in the souks is a fascinating way to pass a day but for me, Marrakech comes to life at night. As dusk settles, the main square is transformed into possibly the world’s largest street kitchen.
With stall sellers
pulling you this way and that to eat food at “one-one-seven the stairway to
heaven” and so many stands specialising in sheep brain, it is difficult to know
where to pitch your butt.
Having a week in Marrakech allowed us to explore kebabs,
sausages, tagines, cous cous, Moroccan sauce, flat breads, the works.
The cous cous is particularly
interesting. It is much more simple than
what you would buy in a packet in the UK.
The base is cous cous seasoned lightly and it is the stewed vegetables
served on top which really add the flavour.
You could reinvent a similar dish by making cous cous in
salt and water in much the same way you would boil and simmer rice – make sure
you stop before it becomes gloopy! For
the vegetables, chop carrots, cabbage and onions into large chunks. Place them in a pan covered with beef or
chicken stock and add in chick peas.
Stew them in the stock with spices such a saffron, turmeric and paprika. Serve the vegetables on top of a plate of the
seasoned cous cous.
Moroccan sauce (or so the street sellers call it!) is
delightful as a dip with flat bread. It
is essentially a salsa of chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, fresh coriander and
mint and a little heat (a drop or two of tabasco sauce would work well here but
a chopped chilli would do just as well).
My hunch is that you won’t be making your flat bread like
this…
…so I suggest buying it readymade!
We ate endless tagines in Marrakech, we quite simply
couldn’t get enough. The basis of a
tagine? Well, with a tagine dish ideally
or just a ceramic casserole dish, add chucks of meat, stock, vegetables and any
herbs and spices you can get your hands on.
Pop the dish into the oven on a low heat for as long as you are happy to
wait…
To attempt to recreate this tagine:
(serving 2-3)
Ingredients:
600g of meat
2 medium onions
3 cloves of garlic
150g of almond flakes
2 pinches of saffron
Tsp of ground nutmeg
Tsp of ground pepper
2 star anise
1 large cinnamon stick
600ml of stock
250g of figs
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 160 °c.
Choose a meat, probably lamb but I would go for beef as I
personally think Lamb tastes like the smell of sweaty men on the tube. Depending on how many people you intend to
feed, I’d suggest 600g of meat for two hearty portions or three people.
Seal your meat in a frying pan with a little olive oil but
be careful not to cook it. Add the meat
to a casserole dish or tagine pot.
Cut two medium onions into chunks and lightly fry in a tbsp
of olive oil for around 3-4 minutes (or until starting to turn golden brown),
to release the sweet onion flavours.
After the first 2 minutes add in three crushed cloves of garlic, which
should give off a strong smell as it cooks through. Pop the onions and garlic into your pot with
the meat.
Lightly roast 150g of almond flakes in a clean frying
pan. To do this, put your frying pan over
a medium heat and once hot add the flakes.
Leave the flakes to toast for a minute or so then continue toasting them
on the heat stirring/flipping them continuously. Once they have changed to a golden shade of
brown and are smelling delicious, pop them into your casserole or tagine pot.
Add enough hot beef/lamb stock to your dish so that the
contents is just covered.
Add 2 pinches of saffron (this will give your dish colour as
well as flavour), 2 star anise, a tsp of ground nutmeg, a tsp of ground pepper,
1 large cinnamon stick and stir.
Pop the lid on your dish and cook it in the pre-heated oven
for approximately 3 hours (most importantly, until the meat is tender and ready
to melt in your mouth). Check the dish
hourly to make sure there is enough stock to prevent the meat from drying
out.
After the first 1.5-2 hours of your dish cooking, chop the
figs into halves and stir them into the dish.
Then return the dish to the oven.
Serve immediately whilst still sizzling in your casserole
dish/tagine with cous cous.
Good snacks in Marrakech:
The climate in Morocco means it is perfect for home grown
nuts and figs. These are sold by the
barrel in the main square and on the streets of Marrakech. Don’t miss out, they’re a perfect healthy
snack (and no doubt great for moving along your digestive system!).
Morocco isn’t really a great place for dessert, or at least
not for a traditional British palate.
Whilst the fruits are wonderful and the mint exquisite, Moroccan
desserts are spice based. My biggest
mistake of the trip (probably because I didn’t try the sheep brain) was trying
what looked to me like a chocolate bomb in the Medina. It was a pear shaped mass of dried spices
which I did my utmost to swallow politely in front of the stall seller who had
lovingly made the…well…yack ball, for want of better terminology.
Tipples:
Definitely, definitely do try real Moroccan mint tea. The traditional method for making this tea is
to soak crushed dates and add fresh mint leaves. As the mint is so tasty, the less
traditional, purely sugar based mint teas are still nice but the date juice tea
is much better.
Many cafes around the souks have roof top terraces. My suggestion would be to get their mint tea
and when you’re weary from the hustle and bustle, watch the chaos of the
markets from the top of the world.
Where not to get it from – carpet sellers…in exchange for
one small cup of mint tea you WILL be expected to purchase a rug!
The oranges are incredibly sweet in Morocco and great for a
sweet tooth like mine as well as a much needed refreshing cool drink in the
warm climate.
And the street sellers are truly happy to serve you their
juice…
