In order to really experience the essence of Morocco, we decided it best to cook our way through a few traditional dishes! I’ve said it before, I’m no master chef….or even a chef, at all. But after having a few tastes of the infamous Moroccan tanjia and tagine, it proved essential that I learn the process to make them on my own! Our riad in Marrakech, BE Marrakech, offers a cooking class and we jumped at the chance… We started our cooking class with a trip to the local market for the necessary ingredients—fresh vegetables and chicken. And you can only do your market shopping in your chef’s apron 🙂 Back at the riad, they set up a table for us to prepare our dishes. We began with our chicken tanjia because this takes the longest time to cook. We chopped and stirred and prepared everything in the traditional vase looking pot and then carried it down the street to the local open cooking oven. Scattered along the coals were dozens of tanjias with numbered tags waiting for the evening collection!

Next, our vegetable tagine involved loads of chopping and dicing and perfectly aligning…the trick of this is the presentation as much as the taste! And ours was a colorful masterpiece…both in appearance and in flavor!  These both take the longest to cook so after preparing these, we had a quick stop for Moroccan mint tea!Next up, preparing the mezzes…a delicious tomato and aubergine zaalouks! These are such tasty starters and full of rich flavors. Last, one of my favorite dishes, the sambouseks! These homemade pastries are filled with whatever ingredient you prefer…we did a cheese, onion and zucchini filling. They are then stuffed and wrapped into little triangle wontons and simply fried! These were SO delicious!

We did all the chopping, all the stirring, all the blending, and eventually, all the eating! Enjoying our meal by candlelight overlooking the riad’s gorgeous pool.  One of my favorite experiences of our time in Morocco! I highly recommend staying here but if anything, definitely book this cooking class!