Harissa, Tagines and Mint Tea

Anywhere in Morocco, when you sit down for a meal, the first thing they bring to your table is some Hobs bread, a plate of olives, and some mint tea.

The traditional Moroccan dish is cooked in a Tagine and therefore the dishes are named based on what is in the Tagine, e.g. Seafood Tagine.

The Tagines are made of clay and have a cover. The food ingredients are place in the based and cooked in an oven. The restaurant I saw in Casablanca had a lot of Tagines placed neatly in the kitchen.

The Mint Tea is a fantastic drink, usually served with mint leaves, sugar and a samovar with brewed tea.

The various appetizers served in a restaurant usually have tahini, kibbeh, falafel and empanadas which may have different types of fillings.

There is a thick bread sometimes served instead of Hobs and this one is almost as big as a pizza, very thick and crunchy around the edges.

Serving the tea is an artform in Morocco. To express their respect towards the guests, the tea is poured from a height directly in the serving cup. This scene is enacted many times in all restaurants all over Morocco.

The Tagine once uncovered reveals the meat or vegetables, or seafood and is sizzling hot.

Most restaurants have a huge oven in which their Tagines are cooked.

The Moroccan markets sell a wide variety of olives and they are pretty modestly priced staples.

There is a variety of traditional Moroccan sweets and for about two dollars I got four delicious pieces of them.

In a fancy restaurant in Rabat, I saw much better serving bowls of soup.

The soup itself was a delicious Moroccan traditional soup which has garbanzo beans and some noodles.

The Vegetables Tagine in this restaurant was well presented and delicious!

Instead of the traditional breads, they had a basket with different variations on them.

In a market in Larache, there were many types of seafood and fish on sale and people could buy it at a very good price.

In the same alley with the fish market were many restaurants serving fish. As soon as you sit down, they bring another different type of bread and Moroccan salad.

The fish is served with different fried vegetables. All of it cost around $6.

Along with the fish, oysters were being sold as well and the person would shuck and sell them for few cents a piece.

Grilled fish served on lettuce with lemons for just a few bucks!

In some restaurants, I got a paella like rice and a lentil soup as a free starter instead of the typical breads and olives.

The Tagine here looked differently shaped.

When opened, it revealed the still bubbling seafood in broth, truly yummy with the accompanying Harissa.

In another restaurant, they only served Shrimp Tagine.

They did not have Harissa but brought out a fantastic spicy roasted pepper.

They had a fresh San Pierre (John Dory) fish that was delicious and delicately prepared.

The Pastilla is a dish suitable for kings and queens, it has chicken and almonds with a coating of cinnamon and powdered sugar all encased in a filo dough. It is at once sweet and savory.

The vegetable tagine is sometimes as simple as it is healthy, with olives, carrots, potatoes and zuccini.

On the roadside restaurant, they had no choices of food offered, just an egg tagine, however it was delicious.

In the desert of Merzouga, the waiter in traditional Moroccan garb brought me a breakfast tagine with eggs and vegetables.

Morocco is a delightful place full of fantastic food options and has very friendly people. It is an enjoyable place to visit.