How To Cook Well In Morocco with Rory O'Connell Season 1 Episode 2
#PrimeUSTV
🎞 Please join
https://t.me/CinemaSeriesUSFilm
#PrimeUSTV
🎞 Please join
https://t.me/CinemaSeriesUSFilm
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00May your table always be full.
00:04Kerrygold. Proud sponsor of How to Cook Well in Morocco.
00:30I've traveled 100 kilometers southeast of Tangier to the town of Shefshawan, which is nestled at the foot of the Rift Mountains.
00:47The overall impression, or the first impression, is of a haze of blue, which we'll explain later.
00:53Lots of tourism, lots of people, and lots of treasures.
01:00So I'm standing at the Bab Souq, which is the gateway into the Souq, obviously, which is in the Medina.
01:14And it's busy. I'm getting busier with every passing moment, because as good luck would have it, it's Thursday.
01:20So everybody is buying food for the big auspicious meal of the week on Friday.
01:25And what I particularly want to find are the ladies who have come in from the countryside with little bits of this and that.
01:32There'll be grapes and figs and quince and chilies and bunches of mint and coriander and things I don't recognize or that I haven't seen before and that I don't know how to use.
01:43And those are the things I'm really looking forward to see.
01:45The atmosphere is immense.
01:47So I've just come across this little stall selling cheese.
02:02And Chef Chouan is famous for goat's cheese.
02:04And this comes from a co-op just outside town.
02:06So the milk comes into the co-op and then they make both goat's cheese, which is a slightly firm goat's cheese, so slightly mature.
02:13And then this really lovely, beautifully soft cow's milk cheese, which is just so fresh.
02:20You can tell by the look of it how completely fresh it is.
02:23And I taste a tiny little bit, please.
02:26Thanks so much.
02:27That's very kind.
02:31Oh, salty, punchy.
02:33It's delicious.
02:34It's waiting for tomatoes, cucumbers, some of the local herbs, lots of mint, very good Moroccan olive oil.
02:39Goodbye.
02:40OK, so speaking of herbs, we've got what looks to me to be definitely dried thyme.
02:54And then I think this is oregano, one of the oreganos, dried.
02:59And then what's really fascinating, as far as I can understand from this lady, because remember tomorrow is Friday, so it's the auspicious meal.
03:06But it's also the day when people go to visit the dead at the cemeteries, at the graves.
03:11And this, I think, is myrtle leaves that have been dried, and you scatter that on the graves.
03:16Never come across that before.
03:17Sort of rather beautiful, really.
03:19So this is unbelievable.
03:25So we're in one of the little community ovens, and it's a hive of activity.
03:30And there are dishes of all sorts arriving.
03:32Apparently there's a protocol.
03:33In the morning, the breads and the tagines go in when you need a high heat.
03:37And then at various different stages throughout, all of these different dishes are coming in.
03:42There are buns and rolls.
03:44We've just seen a fantastic little sardine tagine going into the oven.
03:49There are sweet pastries.
03:50And you can imagine the responsibility of just getting it cooked exactly the way the cook wants it.
03:56It is really wonderful.
03:58It's incredibly exciting.
04:00This is a wood-fired oven.
04:02Such skill involved.
04:03And it's non-stop.
04:04This is not sporadic.
04:05They're just coming in.
04:07This is a conveyor belt.
04:09These lovely buns and rolls coming out of the oven.
04:12But I think what sesame seeds...
04:13You have sesame seeds on top.
04:15This is everything that I love in truth about travel and discovering the culture, in our case, particularly the food culture of another country.
04:23But the beauty of having a community oven and the heart of this community in the Medina, baking all this food, this is thrilling.
04:45I mean, did that just happen?
04:47I feel like I'm in a dream that I've been allowed access to something real and special.
04:53It was just fantastic.
05:02Not everything that these ladies are selling is necessarily for the table or for eating.
05:07And this little lady's have got her own mobile pharmacy going on here.
05:11I was intrigued by these what looked like berries in front of me.
05:13I think a question's here called Zouzouf.
05:16They are actually a form of date.
05:17And apparently they're very good for a detox.
05:20And then she also has these bunches of herbs.
05:22And if you rub your hands over these, these are very strong tasting.
05:26And there's also one that looks a little bit like...
05:29This could possibly be wild thyme.
05:31This apparently is very good for an earache.
05:33To find out a little more about Zouzouf Shawan, and in particular why so many of the buildings here are painted blue, I met local guide Fatima Habtay.
05:53I was born in Zouzouf Shawan, and as locals we call it Shawan, you know.
05:59I mean, first of all, Zouzouf Shawan composed of two parts.
06:02Zouf, meaning look at the mountains.
06:06Of course.
06:06That's where Zouzouf Shawan is surrounded with.
06:08If you were coming to visit us in Ireland, you would hear the expression 40 shades of green.
06:14Here, you could easily use the expression 40 shades of blue.
06:19Lots of people think that it has came with the Jewish people.
06:23Yes.
06:23You know, after the Spanish Inquisition.
06:25Others believe it has spiritual meaning, you know, for both the Jews and the Muslims.
06:30Yes, yeah.
06:31And the fact is that the blue has a magical influence.
06:36Yes.
06:37I mean, it's here, and it's wonderful, and, you know, we love it.
06:41And tell me a little bit about the history of the place, because it's a very storied city.
06:47Yeah, well, the city originally was established as a military base, you know, in 1471.
06:54It was meant to establish, to be a defensive area against the Portuguese expansion, you know, in the north.
07:01Because exactly in 1471, the Portuguese took Tangier, and before that, they took other cities, and they were, you know.
07:09Yeah.
07:09They were getting greedy.
07:11Yeah.
07:11Yes, yes, yeah.
07:12And then, so it was not meant to be a city, but after the Spanish Inquisition, that's when Shefshawan, as a city, started to be, you know, to grow in, and groups of immigrants, Jews, and Muslims, you know, who came from the Iberian Peninsula at that time,
07:31settled in Shefshawan, and that's when Shefshawan became, you know, a city or a town at that time.
07:38The location is not, was not randomly chosen, rather, because it is surrounded by mountains, ideal for, to be as a fortress.
07:47Yes.
07:47And, I mean, I know there's so much to see.
07:49What, tell me the highlights, please.
07:51Oh, there are so many things.
07:53So many.
07:53Yeah, so many things, but do not miss the Tahammam, the square, the main square, the heart of the Medina.
08:00Yes.
08:00That's really a lovely place to chill out, to have a tea.
08:03Yes.
08:04There is a Russell Mall.
08:05The Souk.
08:06The Souks.
08:07So many things, too.
08:09Yeah.
08:09And if you want to stretch your leg, you know, you can go for a hike to the Spanish Mosque.
08:14Yeah, wonderful.
08:15Well, it's, already, it feels like a completely wonderful place.
08:18And I'm entranced, not only by the appearance of the place, but also by the people, because immediately they seem so friendly and so welcoming.
08:24So this should be a lot of fun.
08:26Oh, yes.
08:26Thank you for introducing us to the joys of this lovely place.
08:29Thank you for visiting us.
08:35It is possible, just, to avoid the crowds in this increasingly popular and ridiculously photogenic town.
08:43And a quick walk through the maze of narrow streets brought me to this restaurant in the center of the Medina.
08:48It's a very busy restaurant here, and lunch is being prepared.
08:56Our focus, though, is here with Hayet, who's going to teach me how to make a tagine de el kefta.
09:02We, obviously, have this wonderful tagine here in front of me, you know, typical Moroccan tagine, a really beautiful thing.
09:10And it's on again, as we sometimes often see, actually, a little brazier.
09:15And in the brazier is charcoal.
09:17And the heat is absolutely fantastic.
09:19So it's, I mean, you know, we're back into sustainable sort of territory here again.
09:23Yes, so a little bit of oil to start off with.
09:28Onions going in next.
09:30And those onions could either have been chopped or, as often the case, in Morocco, grated.
09:34Okay, so lovely local tomatoes, because the grater is something that appears a lot in the Moroccan kitchen.
09:44But this will give a different sort of softer, more sort of broken down texture.
09:49Lovely.
09:50Okay, so a lovely plume of steam.
09:53And then with all of those lovely tomatoes, a good, generous amount of salt.
09:58And then ground cumin, which, of course, is used in so many dishes in Moroccan cooking.
10:04It's a very, very important spice.
10:06Oh, plenty of black pepper.
10:07Look at that.
10:08And some dried ground ginger.
10:11Yeah, just a little bit of that.
10:13Yes, just a little bit.
10:14Yeah, lovely.
10:15Yeah.
10:16And then some paprika.
10:17This is sweet paprika rather than smoked paprika.
10:20Now we have some garlic, which looks like it was grated, going in.
10:25Yes, so like a tomato puree or tomato paste going in now.
10:29That will give sort of intensity of flavor.
10:32Now, and this is a mixture of parsley and coriander chopped.
10:35Some going in now for a long, deep cooking, and then I think more at the end to freshen it up.
10:40Okay.
10:40Oh, now this is a little bit of dried oregano going in.
10:44Lid going back on.
10:46So now I think we're going to let that sit and just kind of cook away slowly for a little while.
10:50I think we're going to start the actual little keftas themselves, which, of course, are meatballs.
10:54Now, oh, there's the rest of the onions now that I was wondering where they were going to end up.
10:59And this, of course, makes complete sense.
11:01They're going in with the mincemeat and some of the parsley and coriander.
11:05There we go.
11:05That's some more of that going in.
11:07So that looks, it's like it's going in three different stages.
11:10And now some more salt, obviously seasoning for the kefta themselves, more cumin, more pepper.
11:18I'm curious about, yeah, lots and lots of pepper and more of our sweet paprika.
11:23So now we're going to mix this.
11:27So what next, let's look in here.
11:29Okay.
11:30I'm going to see how my kefta-making skills are.
11:34This is a form of mindfulness as far as I'm concerned.
11:37Without you having to lie down or anything like that, you could be standing up and still be practicing mindfulness.
11:43And if something delicious to eat at the end, double win if you ask me.
11:47So we're putting in some dried bay leaves going in.
11:49And then a little sprig of rosemary like that, just being pushed into the sauce.
11:53And now we're also going to put another little bit of olive oil on top.
11:58Lid on.
11:59Yeah, just tiny bubbles coming up.
12:01It's very subtle.
12:04Now we've been simmering away nice and gently for about 30 minutes, 35 minutes, that sort of thing.
12:09So now we're going to crack some eggs in on top.
12:13God, that looks really great.
12:15A little more of the third increment of the parsley and coriander.
12:20And now 10 minutes for the eggs just to cook through.
12:24The reveal, as they say.
12:26My goodness, look, isn't that just gorgeous?
12:29And I think this is going to be very hot, so I need to be careful.
12:38Appreciate it.
12:39Fabulous.
12:40It's really, really delicious.
12:41It's sweet and subtle.
12:45No heat because there's no chili heat here.
12:47Just that delicate blend of spices that you used.
12:50It's fantastic.
12:52Thank you so much.
12:53I now know, I believe, how to make a beautiful tagine al-kafta.
12:59Wonderful.
13:00Thank you so much.
13:02Really special.
13:02I'm standing in Otter Hammam, which means the place of the hammam.
13:31And from here, you can see some of the essential infrastructure, if you like, that went into creating a safe space here.
13:38Behind me is the Casbah, which is now actually a museum with some wonderful archaeological artifacts and fragments.
13:44Way up in the mountains are the old city walls.
13:48So you've created a great fortress and, of course, you have the mountains.
13:52This was a safe place.
13:54Just over here is a wonderful mosque, which came somewhat later.
13:57And it's unusual, in fact, unique in Morocco, and that's got an octagonal minaret, and the door points in the direction of Granada in Spain.
14:06The direction in which the door of the mosque is pointing is significant, because, as Fatima explained, Jews and Muslims fled here from Andalusia to escape the Spanish Inquisition.
14:19And there is a strong Andalusian influence here, which can be seen in the arches, doorways, windows, and red-tiled rooftops in the town.
14:31Still within the Medina, my next destination is the rooftop terrace of the restaurant Bab Sur, to see how one of the most significant local dishes is made.
14:41Bissara is a bean soup for which there are probably as many variations as there are for Irish stew at home.
14:52These colourful parasols might look a bit touristy, but, in fact, they are just larger versions of the traditional hats you see being worn everywhere.
15:01The backdrop of the mountains are the parasols overhead, this fabulous terrace where we're sitting, possibly the most spectacular place I've ever done any little bit of cooking.
15:10And we're going to make Bissara today. Bissara?
15:13It's made from fava.
15:15Great. So you've just got some boiling water, yeah?
15:17Yeah.
15:18With this soup, then, it's incredibly nutritious. It makes complete sense from every point of view, because the beans are local, all of the other ingredients are local.
15:26And it can be a breakfast soup, a lunch soup, a dinner?
15:30Exactly. Exactly.
15:32So, for the best Bissara, for the best soup, you need to take out the sfum.
15:37Okay.
15:38If you leave it, it will have a ridiculous test.
15:41Now, what's going in now?
15:43Now she will add salt.
15:44Okay.
15:45Yes.
15:46Now the leaves of the garlic.
15:50At the bulbs.
15:51Yeah.
15:51Five to six to seven.
15:53Lovely.
15:54Yeah.
15:54Now the cumin. The cumin is very healthy, so she can add a little bit extra. It's no problem.
16:00Yes.
16:01The property and the health is very important.
16:03Okay.
16:04Now she will add the vegetable oil.
16:08Now she will leave it for at least 30 minutes.
16:14So you're telling me that this dish has been given significance by the United Nations. Please explain to me about that.
16:20Because the United Nations recognizes this little town about its food, its gastronomy, about its healthy recipes, you know?
16:31Yes.
16:31That secretly we have lost, not only Bissara.
16:34Yes.
16:35Shivshawan was very known in the old days as a city that has, like, many cultures.
16:42Berber, Islamic, Moorist, Jewish, Christian.
16:45And this mixture of all those ingredients, Shivshawan has kept its own, its own tradition.
16:53Now, so, Saeed, this has been simmering for about 30 minutes.
16:56Yes.
16:57And she now has this fascinating little tool. Tell me about the tool.
17:00I think this wood has, it doesn't let any flavor to the food.
17:06This is why.
17:07So it's neutral.
17:08Beautiful.
17:08Yeah.
17:08Yeah.
17:09To make it creamy, it will take another 20 minutes, working hard like this, moving the Bissara.
17:16Good Lord.
17:17Okay.
17:18So there's commitment involved.
17:19Exactly.
17:19Old-fashioned.
17:20Yeah, old-fashioned commitment.
17:21Yes.
17:25Saeed, this looks wonderful.
17:27So now we're ready for the final embellishments.
17:29Fantastic.
17:30I think the most important will be the common.
17:33Lovely.
17:33We will put a little bit of chili.
17:40Yeah, the yeast.
17:41And here we will put much Moroccan.
17:44They love this one.
17:46This is a red charmoula.
17:47Yeah.
17:48Yeah.
17:48Lovely.
17:49And mostly of our parents, grandma, in the winter, spring to the winter, they use this green.
17:58Green charmoula, like that.
18:00Yes.
18:00So different seasonings for different seasons.
18:02Exactly.
18:04And the olive oil is very important.
18:07Lovely local Moroccan olive oil.
18:08And then the onion is a choice, with the olives, for every Moroccan.
18:15And then I taste it now as it is.
18:17Yeah, yeah.
18:17Why not?
18:22It's really delicious.
18:23The little bit of heat and the charmoula.
18:26It's really, really fantastic.
18:27It's sort of, you know, you just feel it sort of doing you good.
18:30Yeah, this has been a real treat.
18:31So I really feel honored to learn how to make this from both of you here in the place where
18:36it's most famously made with all your local ingredients, your local olive oil, olives,
18:41everything.
18:41Yeah, this has been very special.
18:42Thank you both very much indeed.
18:45Thanks.
18:45You're going to set up a settlement somewhere like here.
19:04You need water.
19:05And as you can see, there's plenty of water because we're at Ross El May, which is the
19:10name given, I believe, to the source of the water, which is up in the mountains.
19:14There's a spring, which this fabulous water comes right down and then comes down on the
19:19edge of town.
19:20And as you can see, lots of people gather here in the evenings for all sorts of reasons,
19:24whether it's to get a glass of fruit juice, which the guys are squeezing over there in
19:29that curious little building, which on another day of the week, I believe, is still used
19:33as a wash house, a place where some of the residents of the town come to wash their clothes.
19:40And they're lovely little molded, almost like washboards in that little house.
19:45It's verdant, it's green, the water's working.
19:48It's like an oasis.
19:57I'd never been to Chef Shaman before, and I'd strongly recommend it.
20:01It's always been popular with backpackers, but it's becoming a mainstream destination
20:06now, and there's always a danger that places lose their authenticity when this happens.
20:12Hopefully, that will not happen here.
20:14It's an enchanting place.
20:16It was wonderful to get that lesson from Rachma in the making of that wonderful soup, the
20:33bisara.
20:33I'm going to make another soup with lots of good things in it as well, and hopefully
20:38this will have the same effect in terms of how you feel afterwards as the bisara does
20:43on the people of Chef Shaman and of that particular part of the world.
20:47This is a spiced Moroccan lentil soup laden with all sorts of good things.
20:52So I've got various different vegetables and spices in front of me.
20:55The lentils, I've already cooked.
20:57So a little, lovely little green lentils dupuis.
20:59You could use brown lentils here if you wanted to.
21:01So I've cooked the lentils in simmering, unsalted water until they are completely tender.
21:07Meanwhile, in this pot here, the main soup pot, I've just started to sweat my onions.
21:12So covered as usual in the time-honored way to create a little bit of extra steam, cooking
21:17those down until they're nice and tender, sort of background flavor.
21:22And now I'm going to start to add in my spices.
21:24So I've got some cayenne and some turmeric, which are going in like that.
21:31And then some roasted and ground cumin going in and roasted and ground coriander.
21:39And also a nice pinch of salt.
21:43Okay, so we're going to toast the spices there.
21:45They've been toasting there for a moment or two, just to bring out the delicious flavor.
21:49Now we can add in our vegetables.
21:50So some diced celery, some lovely carrots, and some pepper.
21:58And we're going to sweat those just for about five minutes to take the firmness off the vegetables.
22:05So I'm going to put my little piece of greaseproof paper back on, like that, and the lids.
22:12Now while those are sweating, some frozen tomato.
22:16Okay, this is tomato.
22:17We freeze when the tomatoes are at their best.
22:20You simply open the freezer door, put them in, and then when you want to use them,
22:24you take them from the freezer and you just put them into a bowl of cold water.
22:29Just ordinary tap cold water.
22:31And you can see already the way the skin is starting to stretch on the tomato.
22:37And the skin peels off really easily.
22:39I mean the pleasure of that.
22:41Then all you need to do is chop them.
22:43Now, our vegetables were sweating for a few minutes.
22:46So I'm going to add in my garlic, my ginger, and now I can add in the rest of my ingredients.
22:53So my prepared tomatoes, and they go in like that.
22:55Then our strained lentils.
23:00And then our stock.
23:02And I'm using chicken stock, but you could absolutely use vegetable stock if you want to.
23:06Stir that in, like that.
23:10And we'll simmer that for about 20 minutes until all the flavors have got to know each other.
23:14Utterly wonderful.
23:17Our soup has been simmering away for about 20 minutes, half an hour, just until the vegetables are tender.
23:23It smells absolutely delicious.
23:26It's laden with the lentils, the carrots, celery.
23:30The tomatoes have given us a completely wonderful color.
23:33All I need to do now is just have a little taste, just to see how it is.
23:37Mm, that's delicious.
23:41And it tastes authentic.
23:42It really, really does.
23:44So you could reheat that later if you want to.
23:46The soup will keep in the fridge for a few days.
23:48You can freeze it and so on.
23:50But that's just, I mean, you can literally live on a bowl of soup like this.
23:57The only thing it needs really is a little coriander.
24:00You could put a little sprinkle of coriander leaves on top, or just chop a little coriander.
24:05So in Chef Schauen, we had the wonderful Bissera, and back here in Ireland, we're making another wonderful Moroccan soup, spiced Moroccan lentil soup, absolutely lovely.
24:35May your table always be full.
24:58Kerrygold, proud sponsor of How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:02How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:03How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:04How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:05How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:06How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:07How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:08How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:09How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:10How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:11How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:12How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:13How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:14How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:15How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:16How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:17How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:18How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:19How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:20How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:21How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:22How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:23How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:24How to Cook Well in Morocco.
25:25How to Cook Well in Morocco.