Ramadan Iftar in Fes menu
Ramadan Iftar in Fes — The Old City's Fast-Breaking Table
Fes is the spiritual and culinary capital of Morocco, and its iftar table carries that refinement. The old medina breaks the fast much as the rest of the country does — dates first, then harira — but Fassi cooks lean into the sweet-savoury signatures the city is famous for: delicate briouats, sticky chebakia made weeks ahead, and a plate of sellou to restore energy. This menu lays out a genuine Fassi iftar in the order it reaches the table, with a shopping list and timeline built around the maghrib call. See the full recipes and a how-to for getting the harira right.
The menu
To break the fast
Dates and a glass of milk
An odd number of soft dates, eaten first, followed by a few sips of milk to settle an empty stomach.
Soup
Fassi harira
Richer than most — the Fes version leans on smen and a generous tadouira thickener for a velvety body.
Sweet
Chebakia and sellou
Honey-soaked sesame flowers alongside sellou, the toasted-flour, almond and honey energy paste unique to this season.
Savoury pastry
Chicken-and-almond briouats
Fassi briouats often carry a whisper of cinnamon and icing sugar — the city's hallmark sweet-savoury note.
Protein
Boiled eggs with cumin and harcha
Eggs for restoration, warm harcha semolina bread to dip and tear.
Drink
Mint tea and almond-milk juice
Sweet gunpowder-and-mint tea, plus a thick blended almond milk that drinks like a dessert.
Shopping list
- Soft dates and fresh milk
- Tomatoes, onion, celery, coriander and parsley (for harira)
- Brown lentils and dried chickpeas
- Lamb on the bone and a spoon of smen (for a Fassi harira)
- Flour, semolina and tomato paste (harira base and tadouira)
- Warqa pastry, chicken and blanched almonds (for briouats)
- Sesame seeds, honey, anise and orange-blossom water (for chebakia)
- Toasted flour, almonds, sesame and honey (for sellou)
- Eggs, ground cumin and semolina (for harcha)
- Gunpowder green tea and fresh mint
Prep timeline
-
1 week before
Make sellou — it keeps in a sealed jar all through Ramadan and improves as it rests.
-
2-3 days before
Fry and soak the chebakia; store in a tin.
-
Day before
Soak chickpeas and lentils overnight; shape and freeze the briouats raw.
-
2 hours before
Build the Fassi harira with smen; simmer the pulses and finish with the flour-water tadouira.
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10 minutes before maghrib
Fry briouats fresh, griddle the harcha, boil the eggs, brew the tea and lay the table.
Host's tips
- Fassi harira is defined by smen — even a small spoon lifts the whole pot with a fermented, buttery depth.
- Make sellou at the very start of Ramadan; it is the energy food families dip into all month.
- Dust the briouats with a little icing sugar and cinnamon for the true Fassi sweet-savoury finish.
- Set the entire table before the call to prayer so nobody is cooking at the moment of breaking the fast.
- Almond-milk juice is a Fassi treat — blend soaked almonds with milk, sugar and orange-blossom water.
Questions about this menu
How is a Fes iftar different from other Moroccan iftars?
The bones are the same — dates, harira, chebakia — but Fassi cooking is more refined and sweet-savoury: smen-rich harira, delicate almond briouats dusted with cinnamon and sugar, and sellou made from scratch.
What is sellou and why is it eaten in Ramadan?
Sellou (also called sfouf) is a dense paste of toasted flour, ground almonds, sesame, honey and butter. It keeps for weeks and delivers slow-release energy, which is why Moroccan families make it for Ramadan and after childbirth.
Can I make a Fassi iftar ahead of time?
Most of it. Sellou and chebakia keep for weeks, briouats freeze raw, and harira is better made a couple of hours ahead and gently reheated. Only the frying and juices are last-minute.
What makes Fassi harira special?
The use of smen (aged, salted butter) and a generous, silky tadouira thickener. It is richer and more perfumed than a plain everyday harira.
What sweets belong on a Fes iftar table?
Chebakia above all, plus sellou, and often briouats dusted with sugar. Fes is famous for its pastry work, so the sweet corner of the table is taken seriously.
Learn to cook this menu with a local in Marrakech
Every dish here is taught, hands-on, in a Marrakech cooking class — or taste them across the medina on a guided food tour.