The Moroccan dishes encyclopedia
Page 3 of 4 · Showing dishes 49–72 of 85
10 dishes
Salads & cooked mezze
The cooked and raw small plates that crowd a Moroccan table before the main dish arrives.
Cooked salad / mezze
Matbucha (Slow-Cooked Tomato & Pepper Salad)
مطبوخة · maṭbukha
Tomatoes and roasted peppers cooked down slowly with garlic and paprika into a thick, sweet-savoury jam — a cornerstone cooked salad of the Moroccan mezze table.
- Eaten at
- Starter, mezze, Shabbat table
Cooked salad / mezze
Khizou Mcharmel (Cooked Carrot & Cumin Salad)
خيزو مشرمل · khizzu mcharmel
Cooked carrots dressed warm with garlic, cumin, paprika and vinegar or lemon — a bright, tangy cooked salad from the chermoula-style mezze family.
- Eaten at
- Starter, mezze, everyday side
Cooked salad / mezze
Chlada Felfla (Grilled Green Pepper & Tomato Salad)
شلاضة الفلفلة · shlada felfla
Grilled and peeled green peppers with tomato, garlic and preserved lemon — a smoky, fresh cooked salad that cools a spread of richer dishes.
- Eaten at
- Starter, mezze, with grills
Cooked greens salad / mezze
Selk (Cooked Swiss Chard Salad)
سلق · selq
Swiss chard stewed down with garlic, olive oil, cumin and a little lemon or preserved lemon — a soft, savoury greens salad from the cooked-mezze table.
- Eaten at
- Starter, mezze, everyday side
Seasonal delicacy / cooked vegetable
Terfess (Desert Truffles)
الترفاس · t-terfas
Wild desert truffles from Morocco's arid plains — earthy, potato-like tubers gently sautéed or stewed, a fleeting and prized spring speciality.
- Eaten at
- Spring, special meals
Marinade / herb sauce
Chermoula (Herb & Spice Marinade)
شرمولة · sharmula
Morocco's essential green marinade and dressing — coriander, parsley, garlic, cumin, paprika, lemon and olive oil, the flavour behind countless fish and cooked salads.
- Eaten at
- With fish, salads, tagines — year-round
Chilli paste / condiment
Harissa Marocaine (Moroccan Chilli Paste)
هريسة · harisa
A garlicky, cumin-scented red chilli paste, milder and often more aromatic than its Tunisian cousin — Morocco's go-to heat for soups, sandwiches and grills.
- Eaten at
- Side condiment, year-round
Preserved fat / flavouring
Smen (Preserved Fermented Butter)
سمن · smen
Salted, aged, fermented butter with a pungent, cheese-like funk — a prized Moroccan flavouring that deepens couscous, tagines and soups.
- Eaten at
- Flavouring for couscous, tagines, soups
Sweet condiment / cooked side
Matisha Msletta (Sweet Tomato Jam)
مطيشة مسلّطة · maṭisha msleṭṭa
Tomatoes cooked slowly down with honey, cinnamon and sometimes fried onion into a glossy, sweet-savoury jam — the classic sweet counterpoint to grilled meat and kefta.
- Eaten at
- With kefta, grills, guests
Preserved condiment / flavouring
Hamd Markad (Preserved Lemons)
الحامض المرقد · l-ḥamd l-marqad
Whole lemons salted and left to cure until soft, intensely aromatic and mellow — the preserved citrus that flavours tagines, salads and fish across Morocco.
- Eaten at
- In tagines, salads and fish — year-round
6 dishes
Grills & street food
Charcoal-grilled kefta and brochettes and the fried potato cakes of the medina — Marrakech eaten standing up.
Spiced minced meat
Kefta
كفتة · kefta
Spiced minced meat — grilled into juicy skewers or simmered as meatballs in a tomato tagine cracked with eggs.
- Eaten at
- Street grills, home dinners
Charcoal-grilled skewers
Brochettes
قطبان · qotban / brochettes
Cubes of marinated lamb, beef, chicken or liver skewered and grilled over charcoal — the smoky heartbeat of Marrakech evenings.
- Eaten at
- Evening street food, grills
Stuffed, battered and fried fish
Sardines Farcies (Stuffed Fried Sardines)
سردين محشي · sardin mahchi
Two sardine fillets sandwiched around a garlicky chermoula paste, dipped in spiced batter and fried crisp — Morocco's favourite way with its cheapest fish.
- Eaten at
- Street food, sandwiches, home meals
Grilled liver skewer
Boulfaf (Grilled Liver in Caul Fat)
بولفاف · boulfaf
Lamb liver wrapped in caul fat and grilled fast over charcoal until crisp outside and rich within — the prized bite of Eid al-Adha.
- Eaten at
- Eid al-Adha, grill stalls
Baked chickpea-flour cake
Karan (Essaouira Chickpea Cake)
كاران · karan
A baked chickpea-flour cake, dusted with cumin and sliced hot from the tray — Essaouira's Jewish-Moroccan street snack.
- Eaten at
- Street snack, market stalls
Charcoal-grilled whole fish
Grilled Fish Chermoula
حوت مشوي بالشرمولة · ḥūt mashwi bi-chermoula
A whole fish marinated in garlic, herbs and spice, then grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters — Morocco's simplest way with a fresh catch.
- Eaten at
- Coastal lunches, grill stalls
4 dishes
Savoury pastry & pies
The warqa-pastry showpieces: sweet-savoury pastilla, crisp briouat fingers and the coiled almond mhanncha.
Filled fried pastry
Briouat
بريوات · briwāt
Crisp little triangles or cigars of warqa pastry, filled savoury with meat, cheese or seafood — or sweet with almonds and honey.
- Eaten at
- Ramadan, weddings, tea time
Coiled almond pastry
M'hanncha
محنشة · mḥanncha
The 'snake' — a coil of almond-paste-filled pastry baked golden and scented with orange blossom, cinnamon and honey.
- Eaten at
- Celebrations, tea time, guests
Savoury filled pastry pie
Seafood Pastilla
بسطيلة بالحوت · basṭīla bi-l-ḥūt
Warqa pastry wrapped around a creamy filling of fish, shellfish and vermicelli — the modern, entirely savoury cousin of Morocco's classic pigeon pie.
- Eaten at
- Starters, restaurant menus
Stuffed baked bread pie
Medfouna (Berber Bread Pie)
مدفونة · medfouna
A round bread stuffed with spiced minced meat and onion, baked buried in hot embers — the Sahara-edge specialty sometimes called Berber pizza.
- Eaten at
- Desert trips, family gatherings
4 dishes
Breads & pancakes
Daily khobz from the neighbourhood oven and the griddle breads — flaky msemen, semolina harcha and honeycomb baghrir.
Daily leavened bread
Khobz
خبز · khobz
The round daily bread of Morocco — carried to the neighbourhood wood-fired oven to bake, and used at every meal as edible cutlery.
- Eaten at
- Every meal, all day
Semolina griddle bread
Harcha
حرشة · ḥarša
A pan-cooked semolina bread with a crumbly, cornbread-like crust — split and buttered for breakfast or afternoon tea.
- Eaten at
- Breakfast, afternoon tea
Spongy holed pancake
Baghrir
بغرير · baġrīr
The 'thousand-hole' pancake — a spongy semolina round riddled with tiny holes that drink up melted butter and honey.
- Eaten at
- Breakfast, afternoon tea, Ramadan
Griddle-cooked flatbread
Batbout
بطبوط · batbout
Small semolina flatbreads that puff hollow on the griddle, ready to split and stuff — Morocco's answer to pita.
- Eaten at
- Breakfast, sandwiches, everyday meals
Taste these dishes in Marrakech
Cook them in a hands-on class or taste them on a guided food tour.