Food

Moroccan Recipes for Eid Al-Adha (Eid Al-Kabir)

By Christine Benlafquih, About.com Guide

Eid Al-Adha, known as the Festival of Sacrifice, is the most important holiday in the Islamic calendar. Here are recipes for Moroccan dishes traditionally prepared during this special time.

1. Mrouzia

This sweet and spicy dish features meat and raisins stewed with exotic spices. Almonds can be cooked in the aromatic sauce or fried and served as a garnish.

2. Mechoui - Roasted Leg of Lamb or Shoulder

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

Although mechoui is traditionally prepared by roasting a whole lamb either on a spit over a fire or in a pit in the ground, this recipe calls for only a leg of lamb or shoulder. It's best prepared by slow-roasting in the oven until the meat is tender enough to pull off the bone.

3. Gueddid - Moroccan Dried Meat

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

Although most families no longer need to preserve meat by sun-drying, gueddid, or the Moroccan version of jerky, is still high on the list of many Moroccans' beloved traditional foods. Eid is a popular time to prepare this marinated, dried meat.

4. Express Khlii - Mquila Rbatia

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

This express method of preparing the Moroccan preserved meat known as khlii (or khlea) is said to have originated in Salé, the sister city of Rabat. While the traditional method of making khlii involves marinating strips of fresh meat, drying them in the sun, and then cooking them in fat and oil, the Mquila Rbatia version avoids the drying process.

5. Herbel - Wheat Soup with Milk

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

This porridge like soup is a traditional Eid breakfast in many families. It's quite easy to prepare, but you'll need to allow overnight soaking of the wheat berries. Honey, butter and orange flower water can be added to taste.

6. Slow Roasted Lamb Spareribs

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

This is an easy, delicious way to prepare slabs of lamb spareribs. The meat is coated with a butter, herb and spice mixture, and then slow-roasted in the oven to buttery tenderness. The optional basting with honey at the end of cooking adds sticky, finger-licking sweetness. Serve the spareribs with salt and cumin for dipping.

7. Beef or Lamb Feet with Chickpeas, Raisins and Wheat

This traditional Moroccan dish calls for beef feet or lamb feet, a cut of meat referred to as kour3ine in Moroccan Arabic, and which Moroccans will have on hand at eid time. It includes the hoof and lowermost portion of the leg. Goat feet may also be used.

Beef and lamb feet have relatively little meat but the tendons, fat and connective tissue around the joints are flavorful thickeners for the sauce.