As a popular tourist destination, Morocco is familiar to many Saudis. If you haven’t had an opportunity to visit the North African country, you now have the option of trying the unique blend of Arab and European food that Morocco offers.
The Marrakesh Restaurant at Crowne Plaza, Alkhobar, offers authentic Moroccan food, which is heavily influenced by Mediterranean, Arabic and Andalusian cuisines.
The first and only Moroccan restaurant in the eastern province uses Moorish architecture, arches, mosaics and tiles in Arabesque patterns. The restaurant transports you to a different world — you might as well be sitting in a courtyard in Casablanca or Rabat.
Executive Chef Bassil Habib, Head Chef Omar Aghchoui and Manager Hicham explained some of the key ingredients used in Moroccan cuisine and also about Moroccan cooking techniques. Some of the most common ingredients in a Moroccan kitchen are olive oil, mint, saffron, semolina, almonds, raisins and fruits such as apricots, prunes and lemons. Dietary staples include wheat, couscous, chicken, meat and seafood. Moroccan chef Aghchoui and his team tell us that Moroccans rarely eat rice, possibly only once a year — a revelation that shocked us.
The first course in a Moroccan meal may consist of salad or soup, and the traditional bread. As our first course, we tried the hearty and wholesome harissa soup — which is a meal in itself — and usually the fast-breaking dish of choice in Ramadan. The soup includes vermicelli, meat, chickpeas, tomato, onion and lentils. Our salad was a combination of couscous, chickpeas, raisins, zucchini, carrots and sweet potato, and was accompanied by a broth-like sauce.
The chicken pastilla is made of a filo dough-type pastry and then stuffed with shredded chicken. The pastry is dusted with sugar and cinnamon and is similar to the sambosak found in other Arab cuisines, said Aghchoui.
Tagine (referring to both the food and the ceramic vessel it is made in) is a conical earthenware vessel used to cook meat, fruit, spices and vegetables on a stovetop. The lamb tagine made of lamb, plum and almonds is cooked for over four hours — the result is a rich, sweet and savory dish with fall-off-the-bone meat.
The dessert course consists of a platter of Moroccan sweets — fakkas, sellou, ghareba, barewaat and kaab-el-ghazal. Sellou is made by toasting semolina and creating a fine paste of cashews, almonds, fine sugar, cinnamon and rose water. The kaab-el-ghazal literally translates to “feet of the gazelle.” Stuffed with almonds, it is made to look like the dainty feet of a gazelle. To offset the richness of the dessert platter, it is accompanied by the famed Moroccan mint tea.
The tea comes in a traditional teapot and is layered with spearmint leaves, sugar, and crushed mint to ensure that conversation around the table continues long after the meal.
The restaurant is open from noon to 3:30 p.m. for lunch and from 7 to 11 p.m. for dinner. A meal for two costs approximately SR350-400 ($90-100).
• life.style@arabnews.com
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق