Traditional Meals of Morocco - Ramadan sweets and cookies – with detailed recipes Part 1

Traditional Meals of Morocco

Ramadan sweets and cookies – with detailed recipes

Part 1

The Sellou




I ’ve started with the representing of various traditional meals of Morocco which are cooked especially during the Ramadan period, thanks to their qualities, for being copious, full of vitamins, minerals and being fulfilling. Now, I’d like to continue this series by concentrating specifically on the sweets which are cooked and consumed, especially during the Ramadan period. I’ve decided to share the full recipes and making methods of these cookies from this point on and will carry on with the representing of the most popular Moroccan sweets in multiple blog posts.

As an addition I will soon release the Part 2 and Part 3 of my Morocco’s herbs and spices making a special edition only about the watious waters used in Moroccan cuisine.

But now, let’s see some of the sweets which are mostly associated with the Ramadan season.

Moroccan Sellou or Zmita

I ought to start with this sweet because this is one of the sweets mostly associated with the Ramadan season, they are also especially popular to be made for the Eid celebration, which means the official end of Ramadan and is indeed a huge celebration all across the Islamic world. Sellou is exceptionally rich in taste, packed with sugar, honey and almonds – which gives it its nutritious qualities, otherwise you can count on this being sweeter than sweet. This time around, I will introduce you to the traditional recipe over here, but the dosing of sugar is eventually up to your own personal taste.


Ingredients:

1 kg white flour
500g almond
500g toasted sesame
2tbsp anis
2tbsp fennel seeds
1tbsp cinnamon powder
200g iced sugar
  ¼ tsp salt
1/2 cup of honey
200g of butter
1 cup vegetable oil

Preparation:
  • Start up with putting the flour in a heat-resistant pan, spread it out as much as you can and heat it in the oven on a mid-light temperature, slowly until its colour becomes light brown.
  • Divide the sesame into two parts – 150 g and 350 g and blend the bigger quantity in a blender 
Attention: you either buy pre-toasted sesame seeds, or if you buy raw sesame seeds you need to wash them well, dry them out then toast them in an oven on 200 C ( 400F) for 15-20 mins.

  • Blanche the almonds ( click here to learn how to do this quick and easy) 
  • But them in a pan and fry them on just a hint of oil then divide them, take out one cup then ground the rest making sure they remain nubbly.
  • Put the anise and fennel seeds together in a pan and fry them slightly then ground them
  • Put the butter and oil together and heat them, until they are blended together then let this cool down to being only warm
  • Get a big bowl, put all the fried seeds and the sugar inside –except for the cup of almonds - and mix them properly then continue mixing while adding the warmed up mix of butter and oil little by little until the whole becomes one mass and then proceed to add the honey too.
  • Your Zmita is ready to serve! Before serving decorate it with the fried almonds and serve it with a tasteful mint tea! Click here to learn more about Mint tea.

How to blanche almonds:  Find the quick and easy way to try it yourself by clicking here

Click here for a step by step guide as to how to prepare the dough. 

Hope you find this recipe relatively easy to make. It's definitely a great addition to any meals if you want to spice up your cooking habits.

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