Briouat

What it is

According to Hespress, briouats are a starter for which Moroccan cuisine is known: golden triangles with a savoury or sweet filling.¹ Sweet briouats come, for example, with almonds² or with rice, then coated in honey.³

Where it comes from

In their survey of the sweets of Tetouan, Hassan Akdi and Noureddine Achboun list almond briouats as a local pastry made of almonds and warqa pastry sheets.⁴

What it is made of

One sweet version is filled with rice, cinnamon, sugar and orange blossom water, wrapped in pastilla sheets or filo pastry and coated with honey; Hespress suggests it for the table when the fast is broken.⁵

How it is cooked

When

During Ramadan, briouats are on the table in Marrakesh and Rabat when the fast is broken, beside harira, dates and chebakia.⁶ In Fez many streets turn into an open market for sweets such as chebakia, briouats and kaab el ghazal during this month; most of the sellers are women who bake at home.⁷ A reporter for Morocco World News writes that every kind of briouat appears with Ramadan and that her neighbour baked almond briouats to last the whole month.⁸

For méchoui, the feast dish par excellence, briouats are placed on the platter, according to the study for WIPO and OMPIC, beside olives, cherry tomatoes and cheese.⁹