With Cinnamon Sugar on Top

            On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have only a short break between our linguistic history of Morocco class and my Modern Standard Arabic class, so our host family packs us a lunch. And yesterday’s lunch was something worth remembering.

            In Chicago, I try too hard to cook impressive and fancy dishes. They’re usually good, but since I was aiming for great, I end up disappointed. Here, the mantra of home cooking is simplicity. And the results are usually stunning. My main tupperware on Thursday featured a repeat of Wednesday’s lunch: peas with egg in a simple spiced tomato sauce. The idea is wonderfully basic and incredibly delicious, as well as being a cheap meal I’ll definitely try to recreate on my student budget back at college.

            The side dishes, though, is where Moroccan food shines, and where the stereotypical “Moroccan” flavours – fresh vegetables, spices, sweet and savory – are the stars.

            We’d witnessed one of our salads’ germination the day before. On Wednesday morning during breakfast, our host sister stirred a fry-pan of chopped red and green peppers.

            “What are you making?” I asked.

            “Moroccan pepper salad,” she responded. “You chop peppers, cook them with a little garlic, make a tomato sauce with paprika and olive oil, and add lots of cilantro.” There must be some vinegar in there too, and the result is a delicious spread that can be eaten plain or on bread.

            Our lunch included some of this salad as well as a sweet pumpkin spread that, when combined with the long French baguette, made the perfect dessert. Smooth and cinnamony, and specked with plump raisins, gra‘a has become one of my favorite “salads”.

            Sweet is a big flavor here, as our lunch today proved. I knew the base starch would be shar‘a, short spaghetti, since our host grandmother had been preparing the noodles during breakfast this morning. But I was surprised when we were served sfaa, noodles with cinnamon, powdered sugar, tangy raisins, and ground roasted almonds. Almost reminiscent of peanut butter and jelly, but pasta. It was absolutely delicious, and wonderfully comforting on this cold day. The main goal here is a full stomach, with nutritional details as an afterthought. Luckily, I have a whole bag of vitamin C in my bedroom.

            It’s clementine season right now, so most meals include a plate of the juicy orange fruit, and when they don’t, there’s a whole street where fresh fruit and vegetables sit waiting to be bought. Whereas avocados or artichokes only show up at the odd stall, every vendor has crates of clementines. The peels practically fall off in your hands, and I bought a whole kilo today for less than a dollar. Unlike the gorgeous tiling that surrounds the dining room here or the intricate plaster-work in the courtyard, the clementines are simple – but like most Moroccan food, oh so good.