Moroccan chef Hakim Chatar shares 10 essential cooking tips
Moroccan cuisine: we love it! This rich and varied cuisine has been influenced by various cultures and cuisines, including Berber, Arab, Andalusian and French cuisine. The result: rich flavors, enticing aromas and colors that leap off your plate. Want to make Moroccan cuisine your own, for example to prepare a traditional tagine, chicken bastilla or perfect couscous? These are 10 essential tips from chef Hakim to keep in mind.
Hakim Chatar narrowly missed out on the Celebrity MasterChef title in 2023. He lives in Ghent with his girlfriend, two cats and two children. And luckily, he is happy to help you take your Moroccan cooking skills to the next level. Quickly stock your Moroccan pantry and then: off to the kitchen!
10 essential cooking tips for Moroccan cuisine
1. Cook from the gut
This (Ras el Hakim, ed.) may be a cookbook with precise quantities, but in Moroccan cuisine, passion and flair are the main ingredients.
2. Spices are your best friends
Don’t be afraid of the spice jars. Stock up on large quantities of ras el hanout, cumin, ginger, paprika, cinnamon, saffron and so on – use them generously and with love.
3. Always use flat-leaf parsley
Curly parsley is fine with shrimp croquettes, and even though Belgian shrimp are peeled in Morocco, curly parsley does not enter our kitchen.
4. Don’t like coriander? Too bad. Sorry not sorry.
If you’re really not a fan, work on it. There is no Moroccan cuisine without coriander.
5. Mint belongs in your tea, not in your soup
It is the perfect warm-up and provides a refreshing kick after a spicy meal. And don’t forget: pouring tea from a height is an art form. Pouring soup from a height is not recommended.
6. Patience is the key to a perfect tagine
Treat your tagine with kid gloves. Let it simmer slowly, let the flavors melt together and dance as if you were at a Moroccan wedding.
8. Bread, bread and more bread!
Moroccan cuisine is not exactly kind to people with gluten intolerance. Bread is our fork and our plate. It goes with everything, in large, warm stacks.
9. A table should be filled to the brim
Enough is never enough. You never leave a Moroccan table without indigestion.
10. Dig in, literally
Just as you give yourself away at an Italian restaurant if you use a spoon or knife alongside a fork to eat your pasta, according to Moroccan culture you are only a true connoisseur when you eat with your hands.
