The Cuisine of the Moroccan American Community

Learn about the Moroccan American community, its cuisine and culture.

Female: If you had Babouche Restaurant in New York City, both Moroccans and non-Moroccans alike come for taste of the good life. Babouche serves up top-notch modern cuisines that mix authentic flavors with contemporary style. The results, Moroccan food with an upscale French flare. Omar Balouma: The idea was to create a restaurant but with a guest house. And the way like you enter in the guest house in Morocco, you put the Babouches. And the idea was not, yes to be the restaurant but not really to have a feel like you’re in somebody else’s home. Female: Moroccan cuisine is one of the most diverse in the world combining in influences from Arab, Berber, Moorish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, African, and Jewish cooking. Building on staples such as chicken, lamb, and Couscous, Moroccan food adds a wide range of spices including cinnamon, cumin, tumeric, ginger, paprika, parsley, saffron, and mint. Other essential ingredients include almonds, pistachios, apricots, raisins, figs, and honey. Omar Balouma: First of all, I will tell you that the Moroccan cuisine is one of the best or at least well-known in the world. You can eat sweets and get it spicy. You can eat and those will be very healthy, a lot of vegetables involved, a lot of spices involved. Female: One item always graces the Moroccan menu, Couscous, both nutritious and delicious. This tiny pasta is made from moistened semolina wheat coated with finely ground wheat flour. Omar Balouma: Thank you for coming to Babouche Restaurant. We have the presence of Chef Rashida Haji. She is going to teach you right now how to make the Couscous. Then, the Couscous it’s semolina. We’re going to put some olive oil, some salt and—and you’re going to mix all the ingredients together. Female: While westerners may be familiar with the process quick-cook Couscous found in stores, traditional Couscous requires considerable preparation time. Well, it may seem like a simple dish. Making Couscous is an incredibly time-intensive process and that Babouche, they don’t cut corners. The granules are first mixed with water to moisten them. Next, they are steamed for 45 minutes to let the semolina expand. In this instance, they’ll repeat the steaming process multiple times. Properly cooked Couscous should be light and fluffy before it’s ready to be served. Couscous is traditionally served with a meat or a vegetable stew but it can also be in plain, warm, cold, for dessert, or as a side dish. Once the preparation is complete, the possibilities are endless. Omar Balouma: We’re going to let the Couscous stay inside for about 45 minutes and then we’re going to do the same action three times before we give it to the customer. Our customer today, they are from all over the place. The Americans of course, the French, there are East of Europe, there are Russians. You see, to have come to America and to have built up a Moroccan restaurant was also to just send a message. We also have strong values such as décor, such as the food, such as the hospitality. Now, you show Harris how to make the lamb Tagine. Female: Moroccan cooking, the term ‘Tazin’ refers to slow-cooked stews that feature aromatic vegetables and sauce. The dish is named after the clay pot in which it is traditionally prepared. For this lamb tazins, spices such are tumeric, cumin, and cinnamon create the base. Omar Balouma: So mix it everything. We’ll be adding the lamb Female: The wonderful thing about Tazins is that they can be adjusted for available ingredients and seasoned according to taste. We’re going to put some onion like most Moroccan recipes, this lamb Tazines combines both sweet and savory flavors together in one dish. Omar Balouma: They will leave it on the fire for about 30 minutes and finally we have the Tazin lamb Tagine, a chop of lamb with the prunes and felicida, salt and onion.