Moroccan Tea Time Recipes

Tea time starts with tea, of course. Here's a round-up of the green tea and herb combinations that are popular in Morocco. Don't have any herbs on hand? Simply brew a pot of gunpowder green tea and sweeten it to taste.

Sfenj are fritter-like Moroccan doughnuts made by deep frying a sticky, unsweetened yeast dough. A popular street food, sfenj should be eaten warm, either plain or dusted with sugar.

Harcha (or harsha) is a Moroccan pan-fried bread made from semolina flour. Although it looks a bit like an English muffin, it's more like cornbread in texture and taste. They're best served hot off the griddle, and are easy and quick enough to make for unexpected company.

This savory version of harcha is flavored with olive oil and za'atar (wild thyme), then stuffed with a filling of onions, olives, parsley and cheese. For a quicker unfilled version, try harcha with za'atar and olive oil.

Anise seeds, sesame seeds and orange flower water give these sweet rolls their fragrant, characteristic flavor. If you don't care much for anise, either reduce the quantity of anise seeds or omit them entirely.

Amlou is a delicious Moroccan dip made from toasted almonds, argan oil and honey. Serve it with khobz or any bread of your choice.

Briouats (also spelled braewats) are stuffed Moroccan pastries which can be served as a finger food at tea time, as appetizers, or as sides. The fillings, which can be sweet or savory, are enclosed within a paper-thin dough called warqa. Outside of Morocco, spring roll wrappers or phyllo dough can be used instead.

This Moroccan stuffed bread features a traditional filling of onions, parsley, spices and beef or lamb suet (chehma in Arabic). Pan-fried like batbout, khobz chehma is a delicious offering at tea time or iftar in Ramadan.

Msemen – also known as rghaif – are Moroccan pancakes that have been folded into a square shape before being fried in a pan. Although they are very good plain, many Moroccans prefer to drench them in syrup made from melted butter and honey. Sweet, sticky and delicious with Moroccan tea!

Meloui are a round, coiled version of rghaif. Like their counterpart msemen, they can be served plain or dipped in butter and honey.