Bissara
Dried broad beans cooked with garlic and puréed to a thick soup, finished with olive oil, cumin and paprika.
What makes it bissara
- Dried, skinned broad beans — or split peas — cooked soft and puréed.
- Garlic in the pot.
- Olive oil, cumin and paprika poured and sprinkled over at the table.
Where it comes from
A poor man's breakfast and a cold morning's comfort, sold by the bowl in the medinas of Fes, Tangier, Tetouan and Chefchaouen and eaten with bread. Split, skinned dried broad beans are simmered soft with garlic, then puréed — some cooks make it with split peas instead.
What goes on top is the point: a slick of good olive oil, a dusting of cumin and paprika, sometimes chilli, at the table.
How it varies
- Thick bissara
- Cooked down to a dip, scooped with bread, in the north.
- Bissara with split peas
- Greener and sweeter, and common in some families.
Be the first here
Start your own bissaraNo one here has made bissara yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.
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