Bissara

Bissara is dried split fava beans soaked, boiled with garlic and salt until they collapse, and blended to a thick smooth puree - nothing else is required, and the finishing is done in the bowl: a well of olive oil poured into the middle, cumin, paprika and often chilli scattered over, and bread to push it with. It is the cheap breakfast of northern Morocco above all, sold from small counters in the medinas of Tangier, Tetouan, Chefchaouen and Fes from early morning through the cold months, and it costs almost nothing. A version made with dried green peas is sold alongside. It is filling, warming and, in a country where a great deal of the food a visitor meets is elaborate, entirely plain - which is why it is worth having: it is what a large number of Moroccans actually eat in the morning, and the quality lies in the beans and the oil rather than in any technique.

Highlights

• Two ingredients - dried fava beans and garlic, boiled and blended.
• Finished in the bowl - olive oil, cumin and paprika added at the table.
• A morning counter - sold from small stalls in the medinas from early.
• Genuinely cheap - one of the least expensive meals in the country.

When to go

October to April, in the morning. Half an hour.

Good to know

It is plain by design - visitors expecting spice or complexity will find it dull. Stalls close by mid-morning. Hygiene varies; choose a busy counter. Fava beans cause a serious reaction in people with G6PD deficiency, who should avoid them.

Nearby

Northern medinas - Tangier, Tetouan, Chefchaouen and Fes.