Newcastle business owner Ihssane Zouikir is taking his Moroccan hand-made craft business, Koutchi, to new heights with his cooking class endeavours.
Originally from Marrakech, Zouikr lived all over the world before moving to Newcastle for his PhD in 2009. Now he, his wife and two children live in Maitland. The longer he stays in the region, the more he wants to share his culture. Plus, he has always been a foodie
"I left Morocco at 18. Since then, in these 20 plus years, I would communicate with my mum. She would give me new recipes to try. I love what food brings; it's like a therapy," Ihssane says. "The more I spend time in the West, the more my ethnic identity increases, through artisanal craft and also food. I also miss my country."
I met Ihssane in 2020 when he had his cute craft shop on Beaumont Street, with leather belts, beautiful shoes, and colourful ottomans and rugs for sale. What I remember most about meeting him is having Moroccan tea at his shop. We sat low to the floor and enjoyed each other's company while sipping gunpowder green tea, boiled with fresh mint from his garden.
"Tea is always a ritual. Moroccan tea ceremony is something we do with the guests. Back home you'll see the oldest people preparing the tea; they call him the tea master. You're not allowed to take the cup, he needs to serve you. My personal touch, because I'm from Marrakech, my mother puts the oranges blossom in, you add a little bit of that," he says.
Ihssane's business has changed since we had tea together. He no longer has his shop as he's found better opportunities at local markets. He's proud to be a winner of this year's Hunter Local Business Awards.
After witnessing his hospitality in his shop, I'm not at all surprised he's started teaching cooking.
I attended his cooking class on Saturday at The Essential Ingredient at The Junction. It's Ihssane's fourth time teaching the class and he had a crowd of 15. We washed our hands, put on our aprons and split up into groups where we chopped and grated vegetables, smashed spices with mortar and pestle and fried eggplant. I chatted with Michelle and Jules, my new cooking buddies.
We started by making the carrot and orange juice dessert, giving it time to refrigerate while we cooked the eggplant dip entrees, zaalouk and then on to the mains.
You don't find many measuring cups or spoons in Ihssane's kitchen. But the ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric are beautifully displayed in delicate ceramic canisters. Ihssane encourages us to use big pinches of spice, pours of orange juice, dashes of this and that.
"You have to feel what you're doing and make mistakes. I don't like the rigid recipes; you have to be flexible, but everyone is different. Food is great in that the smell, the touch, the vision of different colours, the taste. It's an emotional entity and connection to your homeland. Such a powerful tool to connect us to our cultural identity," he says.
Each cooking class is different, but he tries to incorporate as much local and seasonal food as he can to the dishes. The cost is $179 for a three-hour hands-on class. On Saturday he had Wild Teragline from the Hunter River and olives and olive oil from Wollombi. He used cured lemons and mint from his garden. He happily worked with my vegetarian diet, showing me how to prepare shakshuka. I've attempted this egg dish before, but never with a red capsicum over flame and then cooked in the tagine.
He explains that Moroccan food has influences from many foreign countries, from the Roman Empire to the Portuguese, the Spanish, French, Arabic.
"We have a Mediterranean diet that has a lot of veggies and Morocco has the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea," he says. "The three main ingredients to Moroccan food, you know the French have wine, bread and cheese? We have oven baked bread, quality olive oil and Moroccan tea."
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While we waited for the food to cook, Ihssane showed everyone the special tea ritual, and we all drank tea while learning more about each other. Then we feasted together, everyone else tucking into massive fish dishes while I enjoy my own personal tagine of organic eggs in a rich fire-roasted capsicum stew.
It was educational, entertaining and delicious.
Ihssane is now organising cooking classes for 2023. Keep an eye out on his social media for more details. He also hosts private events.
