Marrakech Cooking Class:
We invite you to share the secrets of Moroccan cuisine and master its most popular recipes in one of the best cooking schools in Marrakech.
Marrakech cooking class, During a 5-hour classic master class, you will get acquainted with Moroccan spices and general principles of Moroccan cuisine, participate in the Moroccan tea ceremony, and watch a demonstration of Moroccan bread, bagel pancakes, soup, and make your own tagine and various Moroccan appetizers. Marrakech cooking class, The master class ends with a lunch or dinner of the dishes you have prepared and a certificate presentation ceremony by the chef!
Duration of the master class: about 4 hours + tasting.
About MOROCCO CUISINE & Marrakech cooking Class
The cuisine of Morocco is considered one of the best in the world, thanks to the richness of flavors and a mix of culinary traditions of the East, West, and Africa. Moroccan Markets abound with all types of fruits and vegetables, seafood and meat of excellent quality, and dozens of spices and herbs. All this gives a huge scope for the culinary imagination!
8 Moroccan dishes you must to test:
1: Tagine
Tagine is a Moroccan clay pot used for cooking hot food with a conical lid. It is also the name given to meals cooked in it over low heat for a long time. Thanks to this method, tagine dishes are very tender and fragrant!
Various combinations of meat, chicken, fish, seafood, and vegetables are used as ingredients for tagine. Fragrant olive oil, lemons, olives, fresh parsley and cilantro, and numerous spices are used to flavor the tagine.
Be sure to try the Berber tagine with meat dishes, the minced meat tagine with tomato sauce, the chicken tagine with marinated lemon and olives, the meat tagine with prunes and almonds, and the chicken tagine with caramelized onions and raisins.
2: Couscous
Traditional Berber dish of stewed durum wheat pellets. It is served with steamed spicy vegetables, chickpeas and meat or chicken. Couscous with chicken is sometimes topped with caramelized onions with raisins and cinnamon. Couscous is common throughout North Africa and, together with tajine, is the most popular Moroccan meal. The importance of couscous in Moroccan culture is almost sacred. It is eaten every Friday after midday prayers in the family. Most of the restaurants also cook this meal only on Fridays.
3: Pastilla
One of the most complex Moroccan dishes, served as a Snack on special occasions. Preparing this hearty pastry, filled with pigeon, chicken or fish, requires serious cooking skills and time. The main varieties are sweet and savory (filled with poultry, almonds and honey, topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon) and savory (with fish and seafood).
4: Moroccan appetizers
Served at the beginning of all Moroccan meal, their number varies from 2-3 to 12 in the best of the restaurants. The most popular varieties are:
– zaalouk – an appetizer of cooked eggplant, tomato, and cilantro;
– taktuka, an appetizer of cooked Sweet peppers and tomatoes;
– Moroccan salad – a salad of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, olives, cilantro, and lemon juice
5: Soup
A thick soup made from meat broth with lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes, noodles, and cilantro. Lemon juice is added to it before serving. It is often eaten with dates and sweet, caloric shebakia cookies. Harira is an obligatory meal during fetura (the meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan) as it is easy to digest and quickly restores energy.
6: Choua
A whole lamb carcass cooked at low heat. This is a special dish prepared at dinner parties and weddings. Nowadays it is rare for a whole lamb carcass to be roasted in a traditional oven. Instead, an electric grill is commonly used
7: Rfissa
A hearty dish of chopped-up puff pastry msmen, tender meat chicken, and lentils with a mixture of ras al-khanut spices and fenugreek seeds. This dish is often prepared for a feast in honor of a woman who has just given birth. Fenugreek seeds are believed to restore her strength. Fenugreek can be found in inexpensive folk restaurants on Wednesdays.
8: Grilled meat
The most famous dish in roadside restaurants. Customers usually choose their own meat from the butcher, who hands it over to the kitchen for cooking. Moroccans are big meat-eaters, so the meat in Morocco is always very fresh and of excellent quality. Try the kefta (juicy ground beef cutlets with herbs and spices), lamb on the ribs, spicy sausages merguez and liver kebabs.
Moroccan cuisine – a rich blend of traditions:
Moroccan cuisine reflects the rich history of the country, in which the culture of the indigenous Berber people has blended with that of the newcomers who have settled on the land: Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Muslims and Jews exiled from the Iberian Peninsula, indigenous peoples of Black Africa, Portuguese conquerors, English traders, French and Spanish colonists.
The Berbers, living in harsh mountain conditions, created the basis of Moroccan cuisine with simple but hearty dishes of vegetables and cereals, with little meat. It was they who created harira soup, couscous and Berber tajine, made from meat and vegetables.
The Phoenicians and Romans brought wheat, olive groves, orchards, and vineyards to Morocco and established wine production. They probably founded the culture of cooking in clay pots, which the Berbers later transformed into the tagine.
In the early 8th century, Arab conquerors arrived in North Africa, and with them came a new religion, language, and culture. The Arabs brought with them spices and Arab-Persian culinary traditions: mixing sweet and savoury, cooking meat with fruits and nuts, and using spices and herbs, honey, and sesame seeds in dishes.
The era of the trans-Saharan caravans, which brought gold, slaves and textiles from Mali, Ghana, and Senegal from the 8th to the 16th centuries, extended the use of spices in Morocco and brought the hot red pepper, Sudanese, to the country.
Jews have lived in Morocco since Roman times and have contributed much to Moroccan culture. After the Jewish community left Morocco for the creation of the State of Israel, almost all their culinary secrets were lost. But some Jewish dishes, such as roast veal stew and chickpeas, have taken firm root in Morocco.
In the 18th century, English traders brought tea to Morocco. Today, ‘Berber whisky’ and the tea ceremony have become a symbol of Moroccan culture.
In the 20th century, French colonialists who ruled the country brought baguettes, croissants, and the French culture of open-air cafés to Morocco.
The influence of the Spanish colonialists is most felt in the north, where paella, Bocadillos and dishes rich in tomatoes and peppers are popular.