Many non-Muslim people believe that Ramadan is a time to avoid paying a visit to Morocco, but they are out of truth, since traveling to Morocco in Ramadan, the month of fasting, is a great opportunity that shakes up every aspect of Moroccan daily life. Though Ramadan is associated with fasting in Morocco, as in many other Islamic countries, it is, in fact, a wonderful experience to try traditional and exceptional Moroccan cuisine devoted to that holy month beside daily life cuisine, expressively.
Despite of Ramadan’s association with fasting,-and you may think that there will be no open Moroccan restaurant, where you can enjoy eating out of guide- actually, it is a time for trying certain ritual and traditional Moroccan dishes, prepared in Moroccan restaurants serving those who are not fasting. Indeed, restaurant foods are consumed in large and sales reach record level. For the new-comers, the possible list of things to eat in Moroccan restaurants are too numerous to list since Ramadan is the ideal time to taste all these exotic Moroccan specialties at their very best.
Harira comes on the top of the list. Harira, a hearty national soup with many different variations, depending on restaurants and regions, is a stable. Frequently, Harira served with bowls of dates, chepakia or griwech (wafers cooked in honey), hardboiled eggs sprinkled with salts and cumin and of course with a special Moroccan bread.
Other typical Ramadan’s dishes in Moroccan restaurants include: M semen (wafers coated with honey and Smen-reserved natural butter); oily Baghrir (Moroccan special pankes), Harsha (a special mixture of semolina and natural oil), Meskouta (a Moroccan cake that is made from flour, eggs, milk and other ingredients) and Selou (an almond and Smen mixture ground with flour).
Also, cooks of Moroccan restaurants, that scatter hither and thither showing themselves by themselves without the help of any guide, exploit this occasion to show their culinary skills in other specialties like: Briouates (wafers stuffed with shrimps or meat), Caab ghzal (horn of gazelle cake in stuffed layers and ground almond), …and, of course, the national drink, typically Moroccan, mint tea and other amazing juicy drinks made from avocados, oranges, apples or bananas.
This does not mean that the other most notable Moroccan dishes like: Couscous, Tajine , Tanjia (red meat and preserved lemons), Meshoui (roasted lamb), Pastilla (chicken, almond, seafood), Ferakh Maamer (chicken filled with almond), the delicious Kefta ( meatballs), Milina (chicken and eggs), Boulfaf (calf liver), Lahzina (salad made from oranges, paprika and black olives), Mourouzia (lamb, raisins, almond and honey), Mqualli (chickens and lemon) …and finally and not lastly, the mouth-watering Khlea (preserved meat with eggs) are absent; on the opposite, they are strongly present in the menu of the majority of Moroccan restaurant as in the other months without seeking the help of any restaurant guide.
Consequently, you do not need to take off your visit. Visiting morocco in Ramadan is the appropriate time to taste all kind of exotic Moroccan delicacies that exist in Ramadan and not in the other eleven months, exclusively. So that, Ramadan cuisine is a large open menu worth to be discovered and rediscovered; then hurry-up and do not hesitate to come!!
By Mustafa Ettoualy
Morocco World News
yum!!