Tag: moroccan food

Rose, Cardamom & Pecan Breakfast Muffins

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I know the title might suggest that there are a lot of ingredients in these that you may not have and that they are hard to make but they are super easy and also, you don’t even need to use rose and cardamom if you don’t want… you could just have them plain, they would be just as tasty. I just loved the rose and cardamom combination that Raine and I made for our original honey cakes, flavours inspired by my Moroccan upbringing, so thought I’d try them in the muffins.

These are gluten free, dairy free and refined-sugar free so totally perfect as a snack for your little ones. Braxton LOVED these when they came out the oven this morning!

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas
2 eggs, free-range organic
5 tbsp coconut oil, melted
150ml water, room temperature
Quarter cup almond milk (or oat, rice, coconut or any other nut milk)
250g maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
130g buckwheat flour
130g brown rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch Himalayan salt
The seeds from 10 cardamom pods
1 tbsp rose water
Pecans to top

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.

Mash the bananas in a large bowl.

Whisk the eggs with a fork in a separate bowl then add this to the bananas.

Add the water, maple, almond milk and vanilla and whisk with a fork until smooth.

Sift both flours, baking powder and bicarb into the big bowl, followed by the cinnamon and salt and mix until totally incorporated.

De-seed the cardamoms and add the seeds to the mixture, followed by the rose water.

Mix well then add the mixture to each individual muffin case, about 3/4 of the way to leave room for rising. Top with a pecan if desired.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a fork comes out clean.

Love & health,
Lauren

Moroccan Brown Rice

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moroccan-brown-rice

The best thing about being half Moroccan is, by far, the food. Who doesn’t like Moroccan food? Moroccan grandmothers are renowned for their cooking skills and my grandmother was one of the best.

My mum grew up in the East End of London – you literally couldn’t find a bigger disparity between my dad’s upbringing in Casablanca and my mum’s in the East End! Pie and mash versus apricot chicken tagine, fish and chips versus almond couscous, bacon butties versus cinnamon and turmeric spiced rice, and so on.

But luckily for me, my mum is an amazing cook and learnt all the dishes from my grandmother when she met my dad and so I’ve been fortunate enough to grow up eating the most beautifully tasting food, not just thanks to my mum but also all my dad’s sisters.

I have learnt a lot of the dishes myself and although some of them are very intricate, there are also ways of incorporating the flavours and spices into everyday dishes like rice. Rice is a really hard thing to get right so I hope this post helps you perfect it.

I made this for our dinner alongside some other bits and Daniel and Braxton both love it. I hope you do too.

Ingredients

1 cup brown basmati rice
Enough purified water to cover the rice
1 tsp bouillon
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
Handful almond flakes
Handful sultanas
Himalayan salt and black pepper, to taste

Method

Put the rice in a saucepan and cover with water, but make sure the water comes up about an inch over the rice. I have a Brita kettle and usually boil the kettle first to pre-boil and purify the water, then pour it over once it’s boiled. Give it a mix and add the bouillon and wait until it starts bubbling. Once the bubbling starts, give it another mix, turn the heat down to low and put the lid on.

It will take about 20 minutes from here but you need to give it a stir every 5 minutes or so. If you see the water has gone down too much and the rice isn’t nearly ready, add some more water. The heat is down on low and the lid is on so the steam will cook it more than the water.

Once there is only a very tiny bit of water left at the bottom, after about 15 minutes, add the turmeric, cinnamon, salt and pepper and mix, then add the almond flakes and sultanas and give it another mix and leave the lid off until the water has disappeared but only just.

Serve straight away.

Love & health,
Lauren

Moroccan Salad

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Moroccan Salad

This is a really delicious way of having all the spices of Moroccan food but having the benefit of having raw veggies in it. I whipped this up today for a Friday night dinner party I’m hosting tomorrow and it’s really delicious…

Ingredients

2 carrots
1 beetroot
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp organic runny honey

Method

Gently heat the vinegar and honey together in a saucepan then set aside.

Peel and grate the carrots and beetroot into a bowl, then add the vinegar and honey mix, followed by the spices and mix really well.

Serve straight away or keep in an airtight container for 5 days.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Moroccan Matbucha

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Matbucha

Matbucha… the absolute staple in every Moroccan’s fridge, and at its best when it has just been made and is still warm. It’s something I grew up eating. My mum would make it every single Friday and we’d have massive spoonfuls of it on big chunks of hot bread. Now I tend to favour healthier breads but the matbucha stays the same! This is my mum’s original recipe (thanks Marge!) I hope you all love it…

Ingredients (this makes enough for a couple of people. If making for a dinner party, double the ingredients)

1 tin organic chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cloves garlic, sliced in half
Half a red chilli, chopped (add the whole thing if you like it really hot!)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt (I use Himalayan salt)
1 tsp sugar

Method

Chuck it all into a smallish saucepan and simmer on a low heat for about an hour. Yes, it really is that easy! Do taste along the way to see if it needs more paprika, cumin, salt or chilli.

Enjoy your taste of Morocco!

Love,
Lauren