marokkanisch.com

Food and drink

Harcha

A semolina flatbread baked in a pan or an earthenware dish. It is eaten with tea, at breakfast and during Ramadan.

What it is

According to Morocco World News, harcha is a fluffy bread of fine semolina, oil and milk, shaped like an English muffin; it is stuffed as a savoury snack or eaten with honey.

In the Rif the semolina flatbread is called ḥarca; according to Fathia Benali in the encyclopaedia of the Amazigh, it is not served with the main meals but occasionally, above all with tea in the family or among women.

How it is made

Benali’s recipe: put three measures of semolina in hot water, add half a measure of olive oil and a little salt, stir until smooth, spread it out and bake it in a large earthenware dish. For a large harcha, Morocco World News lists 500 grams of fine semolina, oil, sugar, salt, baking powder, a little yeast and milk; the dough goes into a buttered heavy pan sprinkled with semolina, cooks over medium heat and is turned after about ten minutes.

How it is cooked

RecipeHarcha with milkAfter the Moroccan TV cook Choumicha · serves 6RecipeLarge pan harchaAfter Layla Dahamou in Morocco World NewsRecipeHarcha from the Rif (ḥarca)After Fathia Benali in the encyclopaedia of the Amazigh

When

Morocco World News names harcha for breakfast and as an afternoon or evening snack, with honey or dipped in olive oil, and as a year-round favourite that is also eaten at iftar and suhoor during Ramadan.

During Ramadan, harcha is on the table in Tangier beside msemen; in Khenifra it is made with medicinal plants. Saad Sarhane lists harcha with baghrir, matlou and meloui among the flatbreads usually eaten with smen and honey.

Where it comes from

At home throughout the country, with no place of origin named by a source.

When you come across it

Ramadan · Everyday

Goes with it

Food and drinkMsemenA flatbread from the Maghreb, folded into a square with many layers and cooked on a hot griddle. It is on the table to break the fast during Ramadan in many places in Morocco, in Fez together with khlii.Food and drinkBaghrirA soft, thick pancake, smooth on the side that lies in the pan and full of holes on top like a honeycomb. During Ramadan it is on the table to break the fast in many areas, for example in Beni Mellal, Ouarzazate and Taliouine.Food and drinkBatboutA soft flatbread cooked in an iron pan. Small and stuffed, as batbout maammar, it is now a fixture of the Ramadan iftar.Food and drinkKhobzMorocco’s round flatbread, which at the table often takes the place of knife and fork.

More from Food and drink

Pass it on

As a link, by WhatsApp or email.

WhatsAppEmailFacebookX

Last checked on 27 Oct 2026. 6 sources, 0 of them primary (authority, UNESCO, operator).

  1. Morocco World News (Layla Dahamou), 08.12.2019: How to Make Harsha, Moroccan Semolina Bread. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/12/74927/harsha-moroccan-semolina-bread/. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  2. Fathia Benali, Encyclopédie berbère 37 (2015), S. 6030–6034, OpenEdition Journals: Pain : Rif. Aɣrum : les différents pains rifains (Annexe). https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/3306. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  3. Fathia Benali, Encyclopédie berbère 37 (2015), S. 6030–6034, OpenEdition Journals: Pain : Rif. Aɣrum : les différents pains rifains (Annexe). https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/3306. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  4. Morocco World News (Layla Dahamou), 08.12.2019: How to Make Harsha, Moroccan Semolina Bread. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/12/74927/harsha-moroccan-semolina-bread/. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  5. Morocco World News (Layla Dahamou), 08.12.2019: How to Make Harsha, Moroccan Semolina Bread. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/12/74927/harsha-moroccan-semolina-bread/. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  6. Morocco World News (Maddy Raven), 31.05.2019: A Very Moroccan Ramadan: Harira, Dates and Chebakia Galore. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/05/80275/moroccan-ramadan-harira-dates-chebakia/. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  7. Hespress FR: Par région, voici les traditions culinaires marocaines du ramadan (16.04.2021). https://fr.hespress.com/198966-par-region-voici-les-traditions-culinaires-marocaines-du-ramadan.html. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  8. Hespress (Saad Sarhane, aus seinem Buch „Diwan al-Ma’ida“), 06.05.2020: "ديوان المائدة" ـ12ـ .. "كعب غزال" تاج الحلويات يغري المغربيات. https://www.hespress.com/ديوان-المائدة-ـ12ـ-كعب-غزال-تاج-الح-560567.html. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  9. Hespress FR: Par région, voici les traditions culinaires marocaines du ramadan (16.04.2021). https://fr.hespress.com/198966-par-region-voici-les-traditions-culinaires-marocaines-du-ramadan.html. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  10. Morocco World News (Layla Dahamou), 08.12.2019: How to Make Harsha, Moroccan Semolina Bread. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/12/74927/harsha-moroccan-semolina-bread/. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.