If you want to experience Moroccan cuisine there is literally no better way than to immerse yourself all in. And by all in, I mean sign up for a cooking class!
We booked this class through Viator after reading many excellent reviews about Chef Najla. And she did not disappoint.
As we started to arrive at the meeting point, we introduced ourselves, there was a young woman from Milan, another from Nottingham, a couple from Portugal, myself from Vancouver, Canada & then another couple, from Port Moody, Canada! Not far from me! What are the chances?!
They all were really fun people & we had a great time together. We were greeted warmly by Chef Najla in a little alleyway near a pharmacy & were asked what we wanted to cook from chicken, lamb, vegetable & meatball tajines. We decided upon chicken & meatball, then were given little shopping baskets as we stepped across the street to a fresh fruit & vegetable stand. Najla explained about choosing your vegetables & what to look for, explaining the Moroccan diet & why they eat the way they eat – bread is life – but fruit & vegs are also very important.
We moved along one stall to the butcher where we purchased the chicken, some choosing to see how the fresh chicken is caught & “prepared”. Then down another little alleyway to a beautiful doorway into the chef’s own home.
Her home was the style of the Riads we’ve visited but this one had a more enclosed “courtyard” where all the cooking classes are taught, her family meals are taken, and where she also teaches how to make Argan products by hand. The beautiful tile work & Moroccan decor was bright & welcoming. The home originally belonged to her mother’s parents & holds many memories. It felt very special to be there.
Najla is a lively, cheerful person who clearly loves what she does. We were made the most heavenly Moroccan Tea that I had the entire time we were in Marrakech. It was made with gunpowder green tea (which I purchased) & then infused with special herbs (I purchased the dehydrated version to take home). That was Anise, Spearmint, Peppermint, Lemon Verbena, Lemongrass, Wormwood, Rose Petals & Thyme. There is a certain way to boil & make the tea to “clean” the leaves & get a clear, flavourful tea. The teeny gunpowder tea is as small as caraway seeds but expands when boiled to so much more than you’d think! Then of course, there’s the sugar – they love their tea sweet!
Once we started the food prep, Najla explains the Moroccan spices & what they should (& should not) be used with as far as fish, chicken or vegetables. She explains about the timing & cooking using tajines, also depending on what’s in them. We did get to make some sides as well, one with fire roasted aubergine (eggplant), another with zucchini, also a tomatoe one & lastly, one with potatoes. All were delicious & refreshing!
My favourite thing to learn about was the preserved lemon! The flavour is amazing! It’s lemon only so deep and rich. I’ll be trying my hand at making my own.
It was very interesting to see the difference between the vegetables that we get in Canada from our grocery stores and the ones we chose in the market in Marrakech. Their tomatoes are so beautifully red & flavourful that it makes ours seem tomatoe-esque… the aubergine were a different flavour as well, everyone liked that side dish, even though they weren’t normally fans of the vegetable. I think the difference is that when ours have been shipped, they’re picked before they’re ripe so that they ship well, which means they won’t have the same flavours at all. I will be sourcing our produce directly from local farms from now on, as much as possible.
I have cooked millions of meals for my children, husband, grandchildren & extended family over the years & I still managed to learn some tricks! One: cut tomatoes in half then “grate” the insides out to get a fresh tomatoe base for your tajine(or stew or soup, even pasta sauce); two: take your garlic clove with the skin on – grate that too – you’ll be left with the skin to toss and nicely minced garlic; three: you can fire roast your peppers or aubergine right on the flame of your gas stove! Is it ever tasty!
We got to enjoy every bit of that meal, of course with fresh bread & was it delicious?! The best! We were able to purchase the Berber tea that we got to enjoy, tajines or any of the spices we used, even a few other items, like the Argan products Najla also makes. She does classes to teach people how to make oils by hand too.
As we said goodbye, we took each other’s information so we can follow each other’s further travels & so that we could receive the recipes to try making at home. I’m excited to try!
We would highly recommend this class & would take another ourselves if we were returning to Marrakech, for sure.
