Our Moroccan Feast is ready! Our Chicken Pastilla, 7 vegetable Couscous, and Mint Tea were divine! The chicken Pastilla was very labor intensive but well worth it. We had to cook each layer of filling separately: spiced chicken, eggs, and almonds. What a pay off though! The Phyllo dough was light and flaky and each layer provided a contrast in flavor and texture. The chicken was savory and spicy, the eggs delicate and soft, and the almonds with orange blossom water, cinnamon, and sugar was crunchy and sweet. So divine!!! The couscous was so delicious and flavorful. It was pillowy and fluffy full of spices, my favorite being saffron. All washed down with the sweet mint infused tea was a perfect ending. My favorite by far was the chicken Pastilla but I must say I am hooked on Mint Tea!
Here are the recipes we used this week:
Here are a few fun facts we learned this week about Morocco
The official name of Morocco is the Kingdom of Morocco.
Morocco is about the same size as the state of California.
There are over 32 million people living in Morocco (32,649,130) as of July 2013.
The capital city of Morocco is Rabat, although the largest city is Casablanca with nearly 4 million people.
Ethnically, Moroccans are predominately of Berber (North African indigenous) and Arabic decent.
The Berber people have been living in North Africa for centuries, historically living in the mountainous areas but in more recent times moving to the cities for work.
The official languages of Morocco are Berber and Arabic. The distinctive group of Moroccan Arabic dialects are collectively called Darija. French and to a lesser extent Spanish and English are also spoken in the country.
From 1912 to 1956, Morocco was divided into French and Spanish zones. There are just two small Spanish-controlled areas still remaining today (Ceuta and Melilla).
Morocco is quite a mountainous country with the Atlas Mountains running from northeast to the southwest through the center and the Rif Mountains located in the north.
The southeast of the country is intersected by the Sahara Desert and direct to the south lies the Western Sahara. Morocco claims that the Western Sahara is part of its territory and refers to the area as its Southern Provinces, although officially this area is still a disputed territory.
The currency in Morocco is called the Dirham.
Moroccan cities commonly have mosques with beautiful towers called minarets, market areas called bazaars, old medieval sections called medinas and old fortresses called kasbahs.
Green tea with mint and sweetened with sugar is a popular beverage in Morocco.
The most famous of Moroccan dishes is couscous, other popular dishes include pastilla, tajine, and harira. Chicken is the most widely eaten meat.
There are very large concentrations of Moroccan migrants living in France (over 1 million) and Spain (over 700 thousand).
The most popular sport in Morocco is football (soccer), the Moroccan national team became the first African and Arab country to make to the 2nd round of a World Cup when they did so in 1986.
The university called al-Qarawiyin was founded in the city of Fes in 859 as a madrasa (an Arabic educational institution) and is considered by some to be the oldest university in the world.
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