Saturday night we had our friends Aamani and Kavin over for dinner. Kavin is a vegetarian and, of course, I wanted to make a menu that would be appealing to him. I wanted to integrate the dinner with my international cooking project but, alas, there are not many cuisines that are vegetarian friendly. I consulted my friend Regina, a semi-vegetarian herself, and she suggested Indian, Ethiopian or Mediterranean food. Indeed, she said I could make a vegetable couscous. And that’s when lightening struck – couscous, North Africa, Berbers. As I am working (still) on the “b’s” this seemed providencial. As it was, I did not have Berber cuisine in my list of cuisines to cook – and even today I’m not sure if there is such a thing as Berber cuisine distinct from North African cuisine – but it was easy enough to add it. After some time searching for recipes online I found enough to make a whole menu.
The food was all delicious, Aamani and Kavin were very impressed and I have a couple of new recipes to incorporate into my repertoire.
You can find my Berber menu at http://www.marga.org/food/int/berber/
Hi! Just wanting to let you know that I am looking for a recipe to make Couscous an easier way. My boyfriend is a Berber and he loves Couscous but only knows how to make it from scratch totally. I wanted to surprise him when he comes to visit. Anyway the reason I wrote is becasue he taught me how to make Tagine both in a Tagine pot and in a regualr pot and you NEVER, NEVER boil Tagine like that….it is not soup, it is a meal. It should never have that much liquid in it. It cannot be eaten in the Moroccan way if it does. And let me tell you, my boyfriend loves to eat Moroccan food in a Moroccan way, not with utensils! Anyway, I am sorry I was just trying to be helpful in your search for international reciepes. Those are 2 mistakes I made with my first Tagine and I got yelled at! Moroccans take their food very seriously! Good luck with your reciepes!