Maakouda (Moroccan Potato Cakes)
Morocco
Senior Editor
Abuja, Nigeria ·
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Abuja, Nigeria ·
Maakouda is a Moroccan potato cake, mashed potato bound with egg and herbs, floured and deep fried until the outside crisps and the inside stays soft. It is street food, sold cheap and eaten either on its own or stuffed into a small baguette. Meknes is where it is most associated, and the city is described as the wine capital of North Africa. Maakouda is sold from stalls there and across the country, and it appears in Algeria and Tunisia too under the same set of spellings: maaqouda, maqouda, makouda. The comparison the source draws is with falafel, and it holds up: a cheap fried snack, sold from a stall, eaten in bread. It has simply never travelled the way falafel has. Ras el hanout is what marks it as Moroccan rather than a generic potato cake. The blend is optional in this recipe and the source strongly recommends it, and turmeric gives the colour. It is also a practical way to use up leftover mashed or baked potato, which is much of how it is made at home. Deep frying is traditional; the oven and the air fryer both work and are given as alternatives.
Maakouda is a Moroccan fried potato cake associated particularly with Meknes, and eaten across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. It is also written maaqouda, maqouda and makouda.
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself.
Peel and dice the potatoes into roughly 1 inch cubes. Cook until soft, either in a covered microwave-safe bowl on high for about 8 minutes, or in boiling water.
Finely chop the coriander, or another fresh herb you prefer, and set aside.
Let the potatoes cool enough to handle, then mash until completely smooth.
Add the egg and chopped coriander to the cooled mashed potato.
Add the salt, turmeric, ras el hanout, pepper and baking powder and mix thoroughly.
Put half the flour on a plate, keeping the rest to hand.
Shape equal amounts of the mixture into balls and flatten slightly.
Coat each flattened cake in flour and set aside. Repeat until the mixture is used up.
Heat the frying oil in a small pot, wok or saucepan over medium-high heat.
Fry 3 or 4 at a time, turning until golden, about 3 minutes.
Drain on a cooling rack and continue with the next batch.
2 reviews
couldn't get ras el hanout at the heb near me so I had to go to the halal grocery in Richardson. used cilantro instead of coriander. that 1 tsp of baking powder is the secret, made the potato mash puff up so nice in the oil! e sweet sha, we finished everything before it even cooled down.
Made these for Iftar yesterday to serve alongside our usual koesisters. The turmeric gives them such a lovely yellow colour. Only thing is 1/4 tsp of ras el hanout was a bit too mild for our taste, so I will double the spice next time, but adding baking powder into the potato mash made them so light.