Moroccan Recipes
110 recipes found
Moroccan Chicken Smothered in Olives
Chicken, that old weeknight standby, can get pretty boring day after day. This dish, adapted from "Mediterranean Cooking" by Paula Wolfert, is almost as easy as a few pan-fried chicken breasts, but its flavors – ginger, turmeric, cumin, Spanish sweet paprika, briny olives – are far more exciting. If you have the time, brining the chicken thighs for a couple of hours in a salt-sugar-water solution before cooking will yield supremely tender meat, but if you're in a rush, skip it. You're still going to fall in love with this dish.
Loubia (White Bean and Tomato Stew)
This simple, yet hearty, vegetarian Moroccan stew is just as nourishing as it is comforting. White beans, onions and tomatoes simmer with paprika, ginger and turmeric, infusing the buttery white beans with sweet and earthy flavors. The optional parsley-vinegar oil adds a tangy kick that beautifully complements the fragrant beans. Typically, this stew is enjoyed on its own with plenty of bread and olive oil, but you could also serve it as a hearty breakfast with fried eggs and toast, or for lunch or dinner alongside grilled meat or roast chicken. It’s the kind of meal that you can make on a Sunday that will keep you full and satisfied all week long.
Chicken M’Hammer
M'hammer is a classic way of preparing tagine in Morocco in which roasted chicken legs are doused in a savory and lightly sweet sauce made of onions, paprika, cumin and turmeric. M’hammer, which means both reddish and grilled in Moroccan, refers to the ingredients as well as the way the dish is cooked. A generous amount of paprika is used in the marinade, giving it a brownish red color, and the chicken legs are cooked in the sauce, then charred under the broiler. Keep in mind that the color of your sauce will vary depending on the provenance and freshness of your spices. Serve this tagine with your side of choice: Bread would be the most traditional way to enjoy this deeply comforting dish, but couscous, rice or steamed greens would also work beautifully.
Tfaya Baked Chicken
This one-pan chicken dish is a practically effortless meal packed with the flavors of Morocco. Tfaya is a sweet and savory Moroccan sauce made of caramelized onions, raisins and spices, and here those ingredients are used to create a comforting meal that requires only 10 minutes of preparation time.
Msemen (Moroccan Flatbreads)
The Moroccan pan-fried flatbread known as msemen is usually eaten for breakfast and teatime. The process of flattening and rolling the dough might seem intimidating, but these layered breads are actually not complicated or very time-consuming to make. Serve them warm or at room temperature with anything you fancy. To enjoy them sweet, eat with melted butter and honey, or go the savory route with ricotta and olive oil.
Mrouzia Lamb Shanks
This recipe for mrouzia, a Moroccan tagine of lamb shanks with a syrupy sauce made with onions, ras el hanout, honey and raisins, is adapted from “Casablanca: My Moroccan Food” by Nargisse Benkabbou (Firefly, 2018). This centuries-old dish has been around so long that traditional recipes call for large amounts of animal fat and honey, which were needed to preserve the meat before the invention of modern refrigeration. Mrouzia is usually served to celebrate Eid al-Adha (also known as Eid el-Kabir), or other special occasions. Enjoy with fluffy couscous or plenty of crusty bread.
Taktouka With Burrata and Lime-Parsley Oil
Taktouka is a Moroccan cooked salad traditionally made of bell peppers simmered in a tomato sauce that’s seasoned with sweet paprika and cumin. The end result is a lightly fragrant and flavorful dish that is typically served with plenty of bread. Here, it is also served with burrata. Although the addition of the creamy cheese is not traditional, it makes taktouka a complete vegetarian meal. The optional addition of lime-parsley oil adds a touch of acidity and freshness.
Moroccan Carrot-Blood Orange Salad
Here, blood orange segments are tossed into a salad of roasted carrots, salty olives and freshly ground spices – a refreshing, satisfying and stunning dish with sunset colors.
Harira Soup
Harira, a savory Moroccan soup made with dried legumes — lentil, chickpeas, fava beans — is traditionally cooked with lamb or lamb broth, but this version is vegetarian. Though it is typically eaten to break the fast during Ramadan, it is served throughout the rest of the year as well. The soup tastes best the following day, when flavors have melded, but may thicken when refrigerated. Thin with water or broth when reheating, and adjust the salt.
Chicken and Chickpea Tagine
Like many dishes that rely on combinations of spices, a tagine, which is a slowly braised stew, may look more intimidating to cook than it is. Even with shortcuts, the results are exotic in flavor and appearance. My version of this tagine may not compare to those that begin with toasting and grinding spices and peeling grapes, but it is easily executed and, I think, divine. Some things to look out for: First, work with dark-meat chicken only and be aware that tagines are on the dry side, so don't add liquid to the sauce unless it is threatening to burn. Home-cooked chickpeas and fresh tomatoes are, of course, preferable to canned varieties, but in this dish the differences are not marked. Do, however, use a vanilla bean, not vanilla extract.
Moroccan-Style Carrot Salad
Almost-Spit-Roasted Moroccan Lamb
For special occasions in Morocco, a whole lamb is turned on a spit over coals for hours, until the exterior is browned and crisp, with tender juicy meat within. Paula Wolfert, the great American authority on Moroccan food, gives this slow-roasting method for achieving similar delicious results in a home oven. Ask your butcher for front quarter of lamb (also called a half bone-on chuck). It is comprised of the neck, shoulder, front shank, and some ribs, all in one piece. Alternatively, ask for 2 large bone-in shoulder roasts. The lamb emerges succulent and fragrant, thanks to careful basting with butter and spices. Serve it with warm chick peas, cumin-flavored salt and a dab of spicy harissa.
Cumin-Flavored Salt
This easy-to-make cumin-flavored salt is traditionally served with Moroccan roast lamb, but it’s good on just about everything, even fried eggs. It tastes best freshly made, but will keep for about a month in a closed container.
Lamb Patties Moroccan Style With Harissa Sauce
Moroccan Shakshuka
In this shakshuka variation by the San Francisco chef Mourad Lahlou, lamb and beef kefta (meatballs) are browned, then simmered in a spiced tomato-red pepper sauce. Instead of the usual whole eggs poached in the sauce, Mr. Lahlou adds only the yolks, which burst into a luscious orange sauce when tapped with a fork. In his native Morocco, this kind of dish would traditionally be cooked in a tagine, but a large skillet works equally well. Serve this with flatbread for brunch, lunch or dinner. Chef Lahlou garnishes his shakshuka with edible flowers and micro cilantro, as shown here, but tender cilantro springs will do beautifully, too.
Moroccan Chicken Pie
This is a slightly simplified version of Moroccan pastilla (also known as bsteeya or b’stillah), the savory pastry served on festive occasions. Still, there are a lot of steps involved. For ease of preparation, make the chicken filling up to a day in advance of serving — the actual building of the pie takes relatively little time. Or assemble the entire pie and refrigerate, unbaked, up to a day ahead. In Morocco, thin pastry leaves called warqa make the pie’s flaky layers, but elsewhere most cooks use readily available phyllo dough. Dusting the exterior with powdered sugar might sound odd, but this traditional combination of sweet and savory is truly beguiling.
Whole-Wheat Couscous Salad
Brik (Egg-stuffed pastry for one serving)
Moroccan Moufleta
For Moroccan Jews — and increasingly Israeli and other Jews of all stripes and ancestral origin — the end of the Passover holiday is not complete without a Mimouna feast. And at its center is moufleta, a flat cake that you fry in a pan and assemble into a stack. (If that seems too tricky, we provide a method here for making them individually.) The dough is fairly simple, as are the traditional toppings, soft butter and honey. But if you prefer homemade or Nutella, no one but the staunchest traditionalists is likely to complain.
Baked Coconut Balls
During the traditional Mimouna celebration at the end of Passover, many Israeli Jews lay out an elaborate table with sweets. Because dietary rules during the holiday ban flour from the house (including frozen cookies that contain it), the treats are usually flourless. Here, ground coconut turns the texture of these cookies into a soft and pleasantly cloudlike.
Moroccan Carrot Soup With Mussels
This is a Moroccan-style carrot soup, which can be served either hot or cold. Subtle sweetness (carrots), acidity (lemon), spice (cumin), fragrance (cilantro) and a touch of salinity (mussels) mirror the very aromas and flavor notes that the best of these German spätlese riesling wines deliver . The soup can also be made without the mussels, but not without the cilantro.
Jennifer's Moroccan Tea
Dried-Fruit-and-Nut Bsteeyas
Moroccan Semolina and Almond Cookies
Semolina flour gives these rather plain-looking but delicious cookies, adapted from "Dorie's Cookies" by Dorie Greenspan, a delightfully sandy texture. Almond flour makes them moist and rich, adding a gentle flavor and scent. If you don’t have almond flour, make your own by pulsing blanched almond slices in a food processor until they're finely ground. Just don’t over-process, or you’ll wind up with almond butter. And if you’re not a fan of orange blossom water, you can leave it out, or substitute rose water.