Bakoula

Please note that the original bakoula is not made from spinach, the true bakoula uses common Mallow (malva sylvestris) grande mauve in french. However I see that it is most often made with spinach now. Bakoula is the Moroccan Arabic word for Mallow.

Moroccan

Type of Dish Appetizer

Ingredients

  • 500-600 g (3 bunch) spinach (chopped finely)
  • 30 ml (2 Tbsp) olive oil
  • 2 to 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
  • 15 ml (1 Tbsp) lemon juice
  • 10 g (3/4 Tbsp) tomato puree
  • 2 g (1/2 tsp) cumin powder
  • 2 g (1/2 tsp) sweet paprika powder
  • to taste sea salt
  • 1/4 bunch parsley
  • 1/4 bunch coriander (cilantro)
  • 50 g (2 oz) red olives for garnish
  • 1 piece preserved lemon for garnish

Preparation

  1. Wash and coarsely chop the spinach.
  2. Add olive oil to a large frying over medium heat, add the crushed garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Careful not to colour or burn the garlic.
  3. Add the spinach and sauté for 5 minutes stirring often.
  4. Add tomato puree, the herbs and spices. (chopped parsley, chopped coriander, cumin, paprika and salt).
  5. Add the lemon juice and continue to cook for 10 minutes over medium to low heat.
  6. Leave to cool and garnish with sliced preserved lemons and red olives.
  7. Of course, as with so many recipes... you will find countless different versions for this dish. I'm sure that each Moroccan house wife and her mother and even her grandmother will surely have their own versions for this. My recipe is quite a typical version I believe. Some people add in a little bit of harissa, other spices that some people include are ginger powder, turmeric, black pepper, hot paprika powder etc. This dish is extremely healthy and is one of my all time favourites! I like to include it as part of a meze.

Further Information

Yield 4

Preparation Time is approxmiately 30 minutes.

Cooking Time is approxmiately 30 minutes.

Rating:
88
5 votes
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