Moroccan spices add flavor to dishes.
Moroccan cooking is marked by intense flavors and long cooking times to allow spices and marinades to mingle and fuse together. Moroccan cooks generally use many spices in one dish, and they often mix up different spice blends using similar spices for most of their culinary creations. For example, the Moroccan tagine, which also refers to a special cooking pot, is a slow-cooked stew made with a variety of spices.
Cumin
Cumin has a warm, mild flavor that adds a subtle distinction to cooked dishes. It is used in many Moroccan recipes and it adds complex flavor to salads and vegetable stews. Cumin can dress up plain rice or couscous, and it is an essential ingredient in the Moroccan eggplant salad, zaalouk. Cumin seeds, which are sold whole or ground, are the fruit of an annual plant in the parsley family.
Ginger
Ginger has its origins in China and India, and is used in everything from cakes and cookies to poultry, fish and pasta. Ginger is also mentioned in the Koran, and is widely used in Arab recipes such as Moroccan Essaouira fish, where it is blended with parsley, cilantro, cumin, rosemary, garlic and pepper.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is native to Burma and Sri Lanka. It comes from the bark of a tree which is rolled and sold in stick form or ground for cooking. In American cuisine, cinnamon is generally used in desserts, however, Moroccans blend cinnamon into savory stews and use it to season poultry. Cinnamon is a feature of Moroccan pastilla which is a sweet and savory dish of stuffed meats, vegetables and nuts.
Coriander
Coriander is an herb that is actually a member of the carrot family. It is used in Middle Eastern, North African, Southern European and Mexican dishes. The coriander leaves are used in the traditional Moroccan tomato and lentil soup, harira.
Turmeric
Turmeric, which comes from the root of a plant in the same family as ginger, has a strong, yellow color. Turmeric is widely used in Moroccan cooking, most notably to add flavor to lamb as well as tagines. It can also be used as a digestive aid.
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