Join Khmisa and Kawtar in the kitchen to prepare their favorite family recipes during your hands-on Moroccan cooking class in the heart of Marrakech. You will cook together for about 1.5 hours as you learn to make three authentic Moroccan dishes, a starter, a main dish and a dessert. After cooking, sit down at the dining table to enjoy the authentic Moroccan dishes you helped prepare.
Khmisa and Kawtar, a mother-daughter duo, live in a traditional Moroccan riad in the heart of the Medina (old city). Their riad is a 10-minute walk from the central square, Jemaa el-Fnaa. Khmisa will welcome you with a traditional Moroccan mint tea and Kawtar shares stories of Moroccan cuisine and culture. Next join them at the dining table to taste an authentic home-cooked Moroccan meal that might include Moroccan appetizers and chicken tajine with vegetables and preserved lemon. You will end your meal with pastilla, a dessert made with milk and almonds.
Prepare a shopping list with Khmisa and Kawtar for your authentic Moroccan meal. Basket in hand, visit the Old Souk (market), a short walk from their riad. At the souk, you will witness the hustle and bustle of locals buying groceries, inhale the fragrance of spices used in Moroccan cuisine and interact with vendors as you purchase fresh vegetables and spices for your cooking class. Walk back to your hosts' riad to begin your cooking class using ingredients you purchased at the local market.
Khmisa will do all the cooking while Kawtar helps as her sous chef and translator. They can also offer vegetarian and vegan meals on request.
This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
Appetizer: Moroccan startersMain: Chicken tajine with vegetables and preserved lemonDessert: Pastilla of milkKhmisa has been a chef for over 40 years, specializing in Morrocan cuisine and pastry. She has worked for several renowned hotels in the cities of Rabat and Marrakech and her daughter, Kawtar, graduated with a bachelor degree in hospitality and tourism. Together they love cooking, creating new recipes, learning about flavor combinations and feeding friends and family.
Moroccan cuisine has a remarkable diversity of influences - the Arab invasion brought new spices, nuts and dried fruits, the Moors introduced olives, olive juice and citrus and the Jewish-Moors left behind their sophisticated food preserving techniques. Together Khmisa and Kawtar are delighted to share their passion for and secrets of Moroccan cuisine and culture.
"We learned so much about Moroccan pastries and culture! We had so much fun and the food was delicious. We highly recommended this class!"
"This class is for anyone appreciating fine pastries. It was very easy to follow the class. The hosts were not only great chefs, but also willing to share stories about their country, which is even more important in these times of travel restrictions. Thank you."
"Excellent mother/daughter team. A lot of fun. They made excellent use of the two-way communication the technology allows, checking in from step-to-step to make sure everything was going well. Both pastries were very tasty."
