Middle East & North Africa

Morocco, the Levant & the wider region

The Middle East and North Africa is the world’s great crossroads of spice, where trade routes left their mark on every table. It is the slow tagines of Morocco, the mezze and grains of the Levant, and the spiced tomato-and-egg one-pan meals that turn up, in some form, across the whole region.

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Every recipe

9 recipes in this region.

A bowl of rich red-brown Moroccan harira thick with chickpeas, lentils and herbs, a swirl of steam rising, with lemon wedges, dates and a sticky chebakia pastry on the side.

Morocco (Maghreb) · Moroccan

Harira (Moroccan Chickpea, Lentil and Tomato Soup)

Morocco's beloved soup: a hearty, tangy broth of chickpeas, lentils and tomatoes thickened with a flour-and-water tadouira, fragrant with ginger, turmeric and a flurry of herbs. The traditional dish for breaking the Ramadan fast.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

Whole braised eggplant split open and stuffed with a glossy tangle of sweet onion, garlic and tomato, glistening in olive oil on a plate with parsley and a lemon wedge.

Vegan

Turkey (Ottoman / pan-Turkish) · Turkish

İmam Bayıldı (Turkish Stuffed Eggplant in Olive Oil)

The eggplant dish so good 'the imam fainted': whole eggplant braised soft in olive oil and stuffed with a sweet tangle of onion, garlic and tomato. Served at room temperature, it's the star of the Turkish olive-oil table.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

A small two-handled pan of menemen — soft eggs cooked into a thick red sauce of tomato and green peppers, dusted with red pepper flakes and parsley, with crusty bread alongside.

Veg

Aegean Turkey (Menemen, İzmir) · Turkish

Menemen (Turkish Eggs with Tomato and Peppers)

Turkey's beloved breakfast: eggs cooked soft and creamy in a simmer of tomatoes, green peppers and olive oil, gently spiced and eaten straight from the pan with plenty of bread. Quick, cheap and deeply comforting.

EasyBreakfastMediterranean

A traditional conical clay tagine open to reveal golden saffron-stained chicken pieces in a rich onion sauce, topped with slices of preserved lemon, green olives, and fresh coriander.

Keto

Morocco · Moroccan

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Olives

The classic of the Moroccan table: chicken slow-cooked with preserved lemon, green olives, ginger, and saffron until the meat slips off the bone in a golden, deeply savoury sauce. Aromatic, gently spiced, and far easier than it looks.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

A large platter mounded with pale fluffy couscous crowned with carrots, turnip, golden squash, courgette and chickpeas in a fragrant broth, steam rising, a bowl of red harissa beside it.

Vegan

Morocco (Maghreb) · Moroccan

Moroccan Vegetable Couscous (Seven-Vegetable Couscous)

The Friday couscous: fluffy steamed semolina mounded under a fragrant broth of seven vegetables — carrots, turnip, squash, courgette, chickpeas and more — gently spiced and slow-simmered. A celebratory one-pot for the table.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

A platter of mujaddara — fluffy rice flecked with brown lentils — crowned with a generous heap of deeply caramelized, crispy dark-brown onions, with a bowl of white yogurt and lemon wedges to the side.

Vegan

The Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine) · Middle Eastern

Mujaddara (Lentils and Rice with Crispy Caramelized Onions)

The Levantine dish of lentils, rice, and deeply caramelized onions — humble, ancient, and quietly luxurious. A handful of ingredients turned into something far greater than their cost, crowned with onions fried until almost black and sweet.

EasyMainsBeginner-friendly

A cast-iron skillet of shakshuka — eggs with runny yolks nestled in a bubbling red tomato-and-pepper sauce, topped with crumbled white feta and chopped green coriander, with bread alongside.

Veg

Maghreb & the Levant · Levantine / North African

Shakshuka (Eggs Poached in Spiced Tomato and Pepper Sauce)

The great brunch of the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa: eggs gently poached in a simmering sauce of tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and warm spices, served bubbling from the pan with bread for scooping. One skillet, endlessly satisfying.

EasyBreakfastOne-pan

Charred oval Turkish köfte on a platter with grilled green peppers and tomatoes, a sumac-dusted onion salad and a bowl of yogurt, warm flatbread tucked alongside.

Turkey (pan-Turkish) · Turkish

Turkish Köfte (Spiced Grilled Meatballs)

Turkey's everyday favourite: ground meat kneaded with onion, garlic and cumin, shaped into little ovals and grilled or pan-fried until charred outside and juicy within. Served with flatbread, grilled peppers and a cooling salad.

EasyMainsMediterranean

A shallow dish of jammy red-brown Moroccan zaalouk made of mashed smoky eggplant and tomato flecked with green coriander, glossy with olive oil, crusty bread alongside for scooping.

Vegan

Morocco (Maghreb) · Moroccan

Zaalouk (Moroccan Smoky Eggplant and Tomato Salad)

A Moroccan cooked salad to love: charred eggplant and tomato melted down with garlic, cumin, paprika and coriander into a smoky, jammy dip. Scooped with bread, warm or at room temperature, on every Moroccan table.

EasySidesMediterranean