Asmaa (a Moroccan artist in the thirties) is working hard in her preparation for the reception of Ramadan, and what she learned from Ramadan Moroccan recipes is almost not empty of a Moroccan house (most notably Slaw and Shabakia, which is prepared before Ramadan), where mothers in Morocco are keen to bequeath them to generations, and are privacy at the table Moroccan breakfast par excellence.

Moroccan women strive to renew and simplify Moroccan food (Al-Jazeera)

Asma turns to YouTube (internet videos) whenever she forgot a detail or is difficult for her to apply a specific recipe, or to discover a new recipe and try it, and she has a reference in that so that she does not get lost in the many cooking channels, according to what she told Al-Jazeera Net.

A renewed diversity

It is known that Moroccan cuisine is distinguished by its diversity, and the Ramadan Iftar table in Morocco reflects this diversity and increases its richness every year.

The Moroccan breakfast table includes - at different standards of living - milk, dates, harira, chebakia, eggs, fish, pancakes of all kinds, juices, and salts.

Mmlhat and pies are varied and renewed, but chebakia and slaw are among the constants of the Moroccan table (Al-Jazeera)

The food consumption bill rises in light of food habits characterized by increased spending, as the average household spending on food increases by 28% in Ramadan compared to the rest of the year.

During Ramadan, the food menus change, and families make every effort to prepare tribal dishes (in advance), and buy needs of food items that are essential to the breakfast table.

Moroccan women are keen to enrich the breakfast table by introducing new things and creating new dishes, and innovation in mixing juices, salted fillings and presentation methods.

Halima Al-Falali, owner of the Shahyoat Dari YouTube channel, is watched by more than 5 million people (Al-Jazeera)

New rivalry

A new eagerness accompanies the preparation for Ramadan, and another kind of competition, which has become led by the introductions of the content on YouTube, as most of the channels offer Ramadan nutritional recipes, as well as the channels with cooking content.

YouTube in Morocco is distinguished by the presence of experts in cooking in its various schools, and the channels know a race to present new Ramadan tables, and compete to satisfy the audience of observers, some of which adopt the approach of simplification, some of which adopt the entrance to Jeddah (renewal), and another type that adopts the entrance to luxury and banquets (Prestige).

Media Laila Al-Abidi says - to Al-Jazeera Net - that YouTube has become her first choice about 4 years ago, after she left cooking books that she previously relied on, especially on some special occasions.

Leila is looking for easy ways and simple techniques to prepare and present traditional Moroccan dishes in an easy and simple way that saves time and effort.

Amateurs and specialists

On YouTube, Leila searches for the owners of cooking channels with their names, as she considers them a reliable reference, including the Shmeisheh channel (the chef of cooking that became famous through the second local channel and is considered a reference in her field), and the channel "Shahyoat Dari" of its owner Halima Al-Filali, which has more than 5 million followers. Person.

Silo or Alsofuf, one of the constants of the Moroccan Ramadan table (Al Jazeera)

Moroccan journalist Leila Abdi records that many of the widespread channels are content makers who offer more dishes than specialized cooking channels, despite the great development that accompanied the channels from year to year.

The media adds - in her interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that the channels are abundant in amateur channels, lacking the skill of presenting the content, and adopting spontaneity, verbosity, and sometimes repetition, and did not move to professionalism.

Among the most followed names, whose star in the culinary field shone on YouTube in Morocco, Halima Al-Falali (38 years old) registered her name with more than 5 million followers and more than 900 videos, and she serves a variety of dishes, mostly from Moroccan cuisine.

Halima Al-Falali told Al-Jazeera Net that she works to simplify the dishes, and present them in an easy way.

Despite its specialization in Moroccan cuisine, it opens up to various international kitchens, with an emphasis on the simple ones that are accessible to everyone.

Momentum and raced

Al-Filali, who launched her channel since 2016, said that YouTube has witnessed a great momentum in the presentation of dishes recently.

She pointed out that there is competition, recurrence and a racing fever, whose degree has risen since the complete closure due to the Corona epidemic, during which most of the YouTube channels have witnessed a steady increase, especially the cooking channels from them.

In turn, Al-Abdi recorded a feverish race between the content creators on YouTube to present new dishes and create a variety of preparation methods.

Channels providing cooking have proliferated, especially during the preparation phase for Ramadan, and the openness to methods of freezing food (freezing) and preservation increased.

The authentic Moroccan dishes remain the most popular in the YouTube shows, especially in Ramadan and holidays, and Al-Falali stresses that the Moroccan dishes are the most requested and the most popular by those who follow them.

Saltwater (Kish) from Halima Filali Kitchen (Al-Jazeera)

Selected recipes

Chebakia - Chef Shmeishah's recipe

Ingredients: A

kilogram of flour, two grams of soft yeast, two eggs, 125 ml of oil, 125 ml of melted butter, 125 ml of orange blossom water, 100 grams of roasted sesame, 60 ml of vinegar, two tablespoons of ground anise, two tablespoons of Coarse sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a quarter of a teaspoon of saffron, a quarter of a teaspoon of mastiha, half a teaspoon of salt, 60 ml of water, and frying oil.

To decorate:

50 g of sesame, 1 kg of honey.

Method:

Finely grind sesame in an electric grinder.

In a bowl, mix flour, sesame, anise, salt, mastic, cinnamon and sugar, and add to the mixture vinegar, olive oil, butter, yeast and saffron.

The dough is massaged well until it becomes soft, and you get balls from it. Wrapped in a plastic lunch and kept for 10 minutes to rest.

Each dough ball is stretched with the rolling pin (the dough stock), and cut into squares that are divided into 5 strips, taking care to leave the strips intact in the square, and the reamer cutter can also be used.

We take the square cut into strips, raise one strip of dough and leave another, stick the top of the square and enter the center of the strips to get the shape of a rose.

Repeat the same process until the dough runs out.

Fry the chebakia (the makqeh) in a lot of hot oil until golden, then dip it in hot honey (syrup) for a few minutes.

Remove the honeycomb from the honeycomb, place it in a plate and garnish with toasted sesame

Leaves with an innovative filling without oil - recipe by Chef Ibrahim Afshko

Ingredients: Bastille leaves (very thin dough flakes), 200 grams of dates, 250 grams of karka (walnuts), 200 grams of black chocolate, 100 grams of butter, 300 grams of roasted almonds.

Method of preparation in the accompanying video.

How to prepare pastilla leaves in the accompanying video, by Chef Ibrahim Afshko.

This is a new method without using pastilla paper.

Salty Tacos Bread Rolls - Chef Ibrahim Afshko's recipe

In Morocco, it is called sikar or linim (rolls or fingers), with a salty filling in tacos (a thin, easy-to-roll bread).

Ingredients: tacos bread, 500 grams of chicken, 2 grated carrots, 3 chopped onions, olive oil, a tablespoon of tomato sauce, a pinch of salt, black pepper, ginger.

How to prepare in the following video link: