Moroccan food - An Indian perspective.

Javed Gaya, writing in Mumbai's DNA - Daily News & Analysis, explores Moroccan cuisine.

The world is full of gastronomic splendours, and with globalization there is an increasing cross fertilization of different cuisines, whether you call it fusion or merely organic development. But for me there are a few cuisines which remain special. Special because they evoke memories of the past, of times misspent, often gloriously so.

Recollection often impresses events with its own patina, like those old photographs in sepia. One of the cuisines which evoke those memories for me is Moroccan; perhaps because of its understated and subtle sophistication and richness. It was an evening at a restaurant in the Heritage hotel I was staying in, in the midst of the exquisite and timeless Medina of Fez, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, full of medieval labyrinths recalling Ali Baba and the forty thieves.

I am not alone in my high regard for Moroccan cuisine; it has been pronounced as one of the most sophisticated of the Mediterranean cuisines, along with Italian. The more you discover it, the more you realize that it is a great deal more than just cous cous and tagines.

What does the cuisine have going for it? A Moroccan meal normally starts with a very lavish mezze consisting of a selection of salads, kofta and cold dishes. The salads include delights as the orange and carrot salad and the slightly piquant parsley onion and lemon salad.

They also include grilled vegetables such as the famous grilled red pepper and tomato salad. The dips do not just include the usual humus but purees such as carrot and pumpkin.

The most well known soup is the Harira, a Berber dish. Secondly, its tagines do something, which has long been forgotten in Europe, combining fruit with meat, and, uniquely, making use of preserved fruit like lemon as a flavoring for savory dishes. This is a very Persian thing, and in India the Parsi Jardalu Ghost is an example of this kind of cooking.

Thirdly, it uses its limited spices frugally but wisely and not in the overpowering and degenerate way which we in the Sub-continent do, particularly the egregious use of garam masala in everything. The Moroccan equivalent of garam masala is what is called “ras el hanout”, which comprises of at least 25 ingredients including aphrodisiacs. The most popular spices being, cumin, paprika, saffron, cinnamon, coriander and red chili, herbs are used sparingly and include coriander, parsley, mint but also aniseed (fenugreek), lavender and chermoula, which generally comprises of onion, coriander, garlic and chilies.

It also has a great pastry tradition with warka, which is far finer than filo pastry and forms the basis of the wholly delicious bastilla, a delicate flaky pigeon pie, wrapped and baked in warka with toasted almonds and eggs, garnished with cinnamon. Bastilla also has a sweet version, which you can get at the Souk restaurant at the Taj in Mumbai, with fresh cream in a saffron sauce. With the pastries come the perfumes such as the lingering Zhar, the orange flower water, which can also be used in the tagines. The Moroccan cuisine satisfies all the senses, including the olofactory, in that sense it is the most complete.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news