Marokkaanse kookles Casablanca

I'm glad I took that cooking class! With my friends we were able to learn how to make Tajine. We were actually guests at a Moroccan family house for an evening, they were welcoming and they gave us all the advice to understand the secrets of moroccan cuisine and Moroccan mint tea. I highly recommend it if you're vegetarian.

I was told that Bouchra means 'good news' in Arabic, and it was indeed good news for me when I found Mme. Bouchra's cooking class on a trip to Casablanca. As I don't speak French or Arabic, she arranged for a relative to translate and it turned out to be an amazing experience. From the time I walked in to be greeted by her cheery smile, I felt like a guest of the family, and was offered delightful pastries with traditional mint tea brewed in a family heirloom teapot! I had chosen to learn how to make a chicken tagine with two salads (one hot and one cold) and a fruit dessert, and as I had very little time for the lesson she had marinated the chicken the night before. But she gave me step-by-step instructions on the marinade as well as how to prep the tagine, and all the little tips and techniques you learn only in a live lesson as opposed to watching someone do it on youtube. She answered my many questions readily, and advised on where to buy the spice mix (Ras al hanout) and ingredients. I learned so much not only about the various dishes but about the cultural and social aspects of each dish. The meal was ready very quickly, and Mme.Bouchra's husband stepped out to buy piping hot fresh bread and I sat down to a sumptuous meal, full of complex but complimentary flavours that emerged from the magic tagine. The dessert was light, but aromatic, being a mix of seasonal fruits dusted with cinnamon and orange blossom infused sugar. Her clear instructions and explanations made me so confident that I bought a tagine on my way back to the hotel and cooked a chicken tagine for my family immediately on my return and they loved it as much as I had!

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