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Chermoula. Photo: Alan Sheffield
Georgia Public Broadcasting, Linda Poon (Washington, DC, August 8, 2014) ― If you weren’t on the guest list for Tuesday’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit dinner, no need to feel left out. We’ve got the inside scoop and a few recipes for one of the meal highlights. The White House served tender slabs of Wagyu beef, with a side of sweet potato puree and braised collard greens. To add a bit of African flair, the chefs rubbed on a marinade native to North Africa: chermoula.
Born in Morocco, chermoula is a blend of spices like coriander and cumin along with fresh chilies, giving it a rich herby and spicy taste. Olive oil turns the combo into a paste. The blend is the heart of Moroccan food, says Marcus Samuelsson, the renowned Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised chef who specializes in African cuisine. “It has a hint of floral and it has flavor, but it’s not super spicy,” he says. “That’s why it’s not offensive.” From its traditional use to flavor grilled fish, chermoula has spread to beef, chicken, even vegetables.
It’s also spread beyond its country of origin, used in Tunisia, Algeria, even the south of France (not to mention Washington, D.C.). Each region makes it a bit differently. “There is no one recipe for charmoula,” writes the James Beard award-winning cookbook author Paula Wolfert in The Food of Morocco. [Clearly, there is no one spelling, either, since it's a transliteration of an Arabic word.] “In Marrakech, a cook might add some ginger to the spice mix. In Agadir, creamed onions are often added. In Tetouan, a little hot red pepper oil, and in Tangier, our housekeeper always added a little thyme.”
[Continue Reading at GPB News…]
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