Sudden Obsession with Morocco

Well, the title of this post says it all. For some reason I can't fully explain, I've been fascinated with dishes alleged to be Moroccan in origin. I blame my love affair with couscous. I suppose, Gentle Reader, you could dub couscous the gateway dish that leads you down an arduous but damned delicious path.

Of course, these recipes I've cooked up may have "Morocco" or "Moroccan" in their titles only by some whim of the persons submitting them just to make the dishes seem exotic. Hey, for folks like me who grew up on chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans out of a can and a slice of white sandwich bread, spices that aren't salt and pepper are exotic. Authenticity should, I'm sure, be one of my goals, but it isn't. I'm just looking for tasty spice combinations.

Moroccan Lentil Soup2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t grated fresh ginger
6 C water
1 C red lentils
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans, drained
1 19-oz. can cannellini beans
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 C diced carrots
1/2 C chopped celery
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground cayenne pepper
1/2 t ground cumin
1 t garam masala

1. In large pot saute the onions, garlic and ginger in a little olive oil for about 5 min.
   
2. Add the water, lentils, chickpeas, white kidney beans, diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, garam masala, cardamom, cayenne pepper and cumin.
   
3. Bring the mixture to a boil for a few min. then simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours or longer, until the lentils are soft.
   
4. Puree half the soup in a food processor or blender, and then return the pureed soup to the pot, stir and enjoy.

Yield: 6 servings of unknown size

Nutritional Info
Calories: 273
Fat: 3.1 g
Protein: 16 g
Carbs: 46 g
Fiber: 15.9 g
Na: 185 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
I studied this recipe off and on for about a week before deciding to make it. I read its comments, some of which are not terribly kind, some of which are...revealing of a certain lack of experience with some ethnic cooking techniques and flavor profiles and some are utterly useless in their glowing praise. Noting the number of folks disappointed with the final flavor given what spices go into its preparation, I drew on my own experience with these spices and with certain Indian preparation techniques gleaned from Madhur Jaffrey and others and got to work.

• After heating about 1.5 t of olive oil in my nonstick Dutchie over medium-low heat, I tossed in the onions to saute. Once they began to soften, I added the garlic and ginger and stirred fairly frequently lest these more delicate "foundation" flavors burn.
  
• Once the garlic and ginger became fragrant, I tossed in the celery and onion to become tender, trusting my nose largely to know when they were ready to be spiced.
  
• Garam masala is not a spice you throw in during the initial cooking stages. I can't remember where I read that (probably a nugget of wisdom from Ms. Jaffrey), but it's meant to be added at the end of cooking. If you throw it in too soon, the flavors vanish. For that reason, I added only the cayenne, cumin and cardamom and let them grow fragrant. I'm still not entirely sure the cardamom should go in at this point, if it can be destroyed by prolonged cooking time, but I put it in here rather than at the end since it makes up the bulk of the flavor profile.
  
• As my nostrils filled with heady smells emanating from the Dutchie, I tossed in the lentils (forgetting completely to pick through them) then added the diced tomatoes, juice and all, and then added 4 cups of low-sodium chicken brother plus 2 cups of water, on the advice on some of the comments. I was afraid water alone would wash out the flavors I'd been carefully building.
  
• I almost forgot to toss in the chickpeas, which I'd prepared myself. As always, I prepared too many chickpeas and wound up with a very, very full Dutchie. So full was my Dutchie that I realistically had no room for the can of Great Northern beans I'd planned to throw in. I'd already been a tad reluctant to throw them in, fearful they'd disintegrate during the simmer time needed for the lentil to grow tender, so the overabundance of chickpeas was just the excuse I needed to skip the white beans.
  
• The stew simmered uncovered for just over an hour, I believe. I can't say for sure since I failed to pay close attention to the time. I thought I'd turn the burner down low enough, but I hadn't and counted myself lucky the tad-too-high heat and the potentially-too-long cooking time hadn't rendered my red lentils into mush.
  
• After turning off the heat, I added the garam masala, stirred two or three times very gently and declared the stew done.

Because I'd let the stew simmer a bit too long over heat that was probably a bit too high with too many chickpeas for the liquid content, I wound up with a stew that wasn't terribly juicy. Lacking a lot of juice and being lazy, I skipped the puree step, put some cold, leftover brown rice in a small bowl over which I ladled a portion of unknown size.

My verdict of the result: Yummy! I'm not sure why some folks bitched about the cayenne used being too much. I found it balanced nicely with the amount of "sweet" flavor from the cardamom. I could see potentially adding some turmeric with the initial spice infusion, but that could radically alter the final flavor profile. Plus I don't think turmeric is used as much in Moroccan dishes as it is in Indian ones. A bit of an attempt at authenticity is good, right, Gentle Reader?