During our Morocco trip, we went on the trail of traditional Moroccan cuisine and enjoyed our first taste experiences. As our first trip to Morocco will not have been our last, we will hopefully get to know many other good-tasting dishes and drinks.
Traditional Moroccan Mint Tea
Mint tea is part of daily life in Morocco. I had the feeling that people drink much less coffee in Morocco and that tea is simply part of every day and after every meal.
I am enthusiastic about the sweet tea, but after 2 days I switched to a mixture of sweetened and unsweetened tea after seeing the amounts of sugar used in the production. It still tasted good, but the sweet version was definitely better.
Ingredients:
- a few sprigs of fresh mint, preferably nana mint
- 4 teaspoons gundpowder (green tea)
- 1.2 litres of water or mineral water
- 12 to 15 sugar cubes
- small Moroccan tea glasses (or heat-resistant glasses)
- Moroccan jugs with a capacity of about 400 ml (is simply more stylish)
Preparation:
Pour a tablespoon of green tea into the pot with a little hot water. Let this brew boil for about one minute.
Dump the water afterwards, you don’t need it any more.
Now add the fresh mint to the tea leaves in the pot. Fill the pot to the brim with hot but not boiling water and boil well.
Then add the sugar to the pot. Use about 150 grams of sugar for 400 ml of water.
Once the sugar has dissolved, the Moroccan tea is poured in a very specific way. To do this, the glasses are placed on a usually silver tea tray. The pot is held about 30 -40 centimetres above the glasses. The tea is now poured into the glass with a small, thin jet of tea. Then tip the tea back into the pot. This process is repeated 4-5 times, then the tea is well mixed with the sugar in the pot.
When you pour the last cup, a light foam forms on the tea and now you can drink the aromatic and sweet mint tea.
Food in Morocco: Tajine
Tajine or tagine, tashiin is a braising vessel made of clay. It has a pointed or curved lid. The dish prepared in it is also called a tajine.
The tajine is one of the traditional cooking utensils in Morocco. The clay pot has relatively thick walls and so the contents do not burn. The ingredients for the tajine dish are layered in the lower dish. The heat circulates in the vessel and the contents cook gently in their own juices or in the added liquid.
Today, there are tajines that are used on hot plates. Originally, the clay pots were only used on an open fire. It is only important that the heat is not too high so that the clay pot does not crack.
In North African cuisine, a wide variety of dishes are prepared in a tajine. There are hearty dishes with meat or fish, vegetables but also desserts. When layering the ingredients in the tajine, you start with fruit or vegetables in bite-sized pieces. This is followed by rice or couscous, which has previously been in the water for a few minutes. The meat (chicken, turkey, lamb or fish) is then placed on top. Traditional Moroccan spices such as cumin, coriander, almonds, sesame seeds or honey give the recipe an oriental touch. The food is cooked when the meat separates effortlessly from the bone.
To eat, the tajine is placed on the table and you serve yourself directly from the pot.
We ate tajine several times, with chicken, lamb and fish. Depending on the restaurant, there were different vegetables, but in our case always potatoes and peppers. I found the food extremely tasty. The meat was always soft and tender, the spices not too dominant but easy to taste. For me, it was a wonderful meal that I will certainly eat again on our next visit to Morocco.
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