Must-Try Moroccan Dishes You’ll Love

Moroccan cooking is slow, aromatic and built on contrasts — sweet with savoury, soft with crisp. Here is what to order.

Tagine

Named after the conical clay pot it is cooked in, which traps steam and returns it to the dish. Lamb with prunes and almonds is the classic celebration version; chicken with preserved lemon and olives is the everyday favourite; vegetable tagine is excellent and genuinely common, not an afterthought.

Couscous

Traditionally the Friday meal, steamed three times until the grains are separate and light, then topped with slow-cooked meat and vegetables. If you are offered couscous on a Friday, that is the good stuff.

Pastilla

The dish that most surprises visitors — layers of paper-thin warqa pastry around spiced pigeon or chicken, almonds and egg, dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar. Sweet and savoury at once, and a Fes speciality.

Harira

A tomato, lentil and chickpea soup finished with fresh herbs and lemon. It is what Moroccans break the fast with during Ramadan, and it is sold year-round from evening street stalls for a few dirhams.

Street food worth queueing for

• Msemen — flaky square pancakes, best hot with honey at breakfast.
• Bissara — thick fava bean soup with olive oil and cumin, a winter morning staple.
• Maakouda — spiced potato fritters, often served in bread as a sandwich.
• Grilled sardines — especially on the coast at Essaouira, straight off the boats.
• Sfenj — Moroccan doughnuts, fried to order and sold by the ring.

And to drink

Mint tea, always. Fresh orange juice from the stalls on Jemaa el-Fna in Marrakech costs almost nothing and is squeezed in front of you. Coffee culture is strong too — ask for a nous-nous, half espresso and half milk.