Moroccan Yoghurt and Exotic Juices

Homemade yogurt

 After passing by this stall that sold refrigerated white drinks a couple of times, our curiosity finally got the better of us and we approached the lovely stall owners to ask what those white drinks in glasses were. "Raib - home-made yoghurt", they said. We were sold. It had the familiar taste of sweetened yoghurt but the consistency was less that of commercial smoothness and closer to that of a milkshake (reminiscent of India's lassi). Totally delicious!

All sorts of juices were available along the streets too. We had raisin juice and pistachio juice, among others. Isn't it interesting that they use raisins instead of fresh grapes? It looked so thick and the idea of raisins crushed into juice was so unnatural that I felt gutsy just for trying. The taste was certainly unique - much lighter than I'd imagined, surprisingly refreshing and intensely sweet. Pistachio juice was an equally surprising beverage - I never knew juices could be made from nuts and still taste this light and refreshing. Really interesting juices, though I'd have the yoghurt over these any day.

The Unapologetically Addictive Sidekick - Spicy Vermicelli

Snack AMINE sold a mean fried chicken. I was walking by the stall when the aroma of fried chicken and grilled meat stopped me in my tracks. A closer glance at what the locals were eating had me point at the fried chicken, and my friends and I have been fans ever since. It wasn't so much the chicken (though it was undeniably tasty, for sure), nor the fries. Instead, it was the inconspicuous noodles tucked beneath the chicken (you can see a glimpse of it in the picture, just beside the chicken on the left) - an orange-tinged seasoned rice vermicelli (bee hoon). Unassuming but so unapologetically addictive. The spicy, salty and sour flavour combination really kept us wanting more! I sincerely hope that one day, I'll find out exactly what they call this noodle and get a copy of its recipe.

Khobz (Flat Bread) with Fried Liver, anyone?

Khobz (flat bread) laced with all sorts of fillings (beef, chicken, etc) can be found almost everywhere in Morocco. We had a few of the beef ones when we were hungry - they were tasty, but hardly a revelation. Then one day we saw this stall completely enveloped by locals. When we closed in to "investigate", I was immediately intrigued. The three stall owners were operating like a single machine - two of them deep frying slices of livers, sunshine eggs, green chilli and potato cakes, while the other assembles the sandwich, slitting the middle of the Khobz to form a pocket, then stuffing it with freshly fried liver and additional fillings. I think I might have drooled a little. Alas, by the time the queue reached me, the fried livers were sold out and I had Ma'Quoda (potato puffs) in my Khobz instead. Tasty, yes, but not what I really needed to try. So I came back the next day and finally laid my hands on the fried liver sandwich! Had some fried green chilli to go with it too. The strong, distinct liver flavour punctuated with sharp, bright notes from the green chilli and a slight, sour tang from the red chilli sauce - just brilliant.

Article Previously published by View From Fez
Serhua Toh writes and takes photographs for Cravings and Wanderlust