Well, Marrakech is an absolute delight to the senses! This is my first time in a Muslim country and I’ve never experienced a culture so different to Australia. We are staying in a very luxurious Riad, a Moroccan house with an internal courtyard. Most windows are inward facing towards the central atrium. This design of property suits Islamic tradition as there is no obvious wealth statement being made externally, no windows to peer through. Entering a Riad is like discovering an Aladdin’s Cave in comparison to it’s non-descript exterior. It is an intimate and relaxing retreat that is very peaceful compared to the outside world of Marrakech.
We are staying on the old town (the Médina). The main square in the Médina is Djemaa El-Fna. It is surrounded by endless labyrinths of souks (bazaars) and alley ways covering all of the Médina. Our riad is tucked away in the labyrinth! Djemaa El-Fna is crazy enough during the day, but at night the square really comes to life. As the evening darkens, the hustle bustle of activity rages on, with exotic music, aromas and entertaining sights at every turn. Every where you go, people are trying to sell you something, draw you in to eat and show you stuff. It’s incredible.
We absolutely love the food. It’s very healthy. So far we have enjoyed tagines, barbeque meat and veggie skewers with moroccan rice and lentis etc, a “bocadillo” (essentially a salad and/or meat and/or egg an/or other ingredients on traditional berber bread), and “bourjejes” (pancakes containing flour, eggs, yeast and salt) with jam. This last was for our breakfast, which is included in our accomm. Today we took part in a Moroccan cooking class and made a chicken and vegetable tagine. I’ve retained the recipe in my mind to make at home. Here it is:
Chicken Tagine (for one)
Ingredients:
1 handful parsley
1 clove garlic
1 wedge Moroccan preserved lemon
2 tsp pepper (ground)
2 tsp saffron (ground)
2 tsp ginger (ground)
1/2 tsp natural orange food colourant (we used some kind of powder – it’s just for extra colour, so any type will do)
2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
2 chicken thigh fillets
Half red onion
3 tbsp olive oil
Half large potato
1 zucchini
Handful of peas
Directions:
1. Finely dice the parsley and garlic together and place into a bowl
2. Add the flesh of one wedge of lemon and dice it up together with the parsley and garlic. You may be able to buy preserved lemon from a market, if not, you will need to prepare it two months before you are ready to use it! To do so, wash the outside of the lemon; make criss-cross incisions into lemon and pack course salt into the flesh (use a good many of teaspoons of salt); place lemon into an airtight jar and cover in olive oil; seal the jar closed and let it sit for 2 months and voila! You are left with a much nicer tasting lemon without the sharp acidity you get in fresh lemons.
3. Add pepper, saffron, ginger, food colourant, salt and water to the bowl and combine.
4. Place the whole chicken thigh fillets into the mixture, coat and mix well, then place all into a small tagine (this is for one person – to cook for two, double the recipe and place in a larger tagine, pretty standard stuff…)
5. Dice the onion finely and place on top of the chicken mixture. Do not mix it through, just sit it on top.
6. Spoon the olive oil over the top of the onion and chicken mixture, place lid on the tagine. Now it is ready to cook. At home it would be best to use a gas hob and cook it slowly. Today, we cooked the traditional way – the tagine was placed on a pot of hot coals. So if you happen to have some hot coals lying around, go for it, otherwise a gas hob would be the next best option, and the last option would be a hotplate stove.
7. Back to the chopping board to slice up the veggies: Slice the zucchini longways into quarters and then halve into 5cm long sticks. Peel the potato, halve it and cut into large chunks.
8. Add vegetables, don’t forget the peas (make sure they are fresh), to the tagine, which should be bubbling along nicely. Ensure the veggies are coated in the broth and place lid back on the tagine.
9. Cooking time should be about 45mins.
10. When it’s done, eat straight out of the tagine (if it’s for one, this servers as a dinner bowl as well as cooking device). Serve with crusty bread. It’s very hot, so blow on it before shoveling it in your mouth!
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