Let the Moroccan food parade begin! Today we're starting off with an appetizer, the M'hancha, or vegetable pastilla. During our time in Marrakech, boyfriend and I signed up for a Moroccan cooking class, to learn the ways of tagine and couscous. First we had to locate the riad within the twisting maze of the medina. Located just off the main place, at the end of a small alley, Riad Monceau boasts a heavy door with multiple locks and a beautiful central pool.
We were joined at the riad by two couples from the Netherlands and eight Parisian women. There was a lot of gabbing in multiple languages going on. I even got to practice my french a bit! Luckily everyone spoke impeccable english while helping to teach me a little bit of culinary french and dutch.
We were in for a long day of chopping, shredding, cooking, sauteing and tangining. Is that a word? Maybe not an english word. One of the most dangerous thing we cooked all day was the m'hancha, because of all the shredding involved and those dangerous box graters! (When making this at home, the food processor is much more finger friendly.)
The m'hancha came together pretty quickly, probably because all we had to do was shred vegetables, then roll up the coils. Our chef/instructor took care of sauteing the vegetables and baking the finished m'hanchas. It may be a whole other story when I go to make these again in my own kitchen! Give these a try, they were deilcious!
