Moroccan table
Original traditionstewNational

Bourek (Moroccan Egg Rolls)

Crisp spring-roll-style pastries filled with seasoned ground meat, herbs, and a soft egg, deep-fried until golden — Morocco's favorite Ramadan iftar opener.

Next move
Turn this dish into a food-led stop, market idea, or itinerary constraint.
Moroccan table
+ Add to itinerary📍 MapNearby discovery needs a mapped location. This entry has no confirmed location.
More ▾
Story and taste

Bourek came to Morocco through the same Ottoman trade routes that brought sahlab, but Moroccan cooks adapted it to their own pantry: replacing the Turkish yufka with brik pastry, adding cumin and coriander, and folding in a whole egg. The dish is now the indispensable opener of the Ramadan iftar table across Morocco the moment when the cannon sounds at sunset, families break their fast with a date, a glass of milk, and a hot bourek. There is a Moroccan saying that a Ramadan without bourek is a Ramadan without joy. The running yolk inside is the surprise of the pastry: it must be soft enough to flow when the bourek is bitten, but set enough not to soak through the shell. Each family has its own filling - some add cheese, some potato, some tuna - but the egg is nonnegotiable.

Where to experience this

This dish is part of the shared national table — you will meet it across Morocco rather than in one region.

Open the Morocco mapMore dishes in the Moroccan table
Connected recipes
Recipe

Moroccan Seafood and Broccoli Salad

modified version of a jane brody recipe. you can substitute sliced surimi sticks for the shrimp or scallops but, if you do so, do not add until salad has been dressed and tossed or the surimi will shred. cooking (passive) time also includes chilling time.

broccoli florets, scallions, red bell peppers, currants, small shrimp…
Kitchen method
Recipe

Seafood Bastilla with Shrimp, Calamari and Fish

Swordfish, shrimp, and calamari are mixed with Chinese vermicelli, black mushrooms, and a spicy tomato sauce. The filling is enclosed in paper-thin warqa or phyllo dough and then baked.The measures below are for raw seafood prior to cleaning. Prep time does not include shelling or deveining shrimp or cleaning calamari. Save time by having your fishmonger do some of this for you.Seafood Bastilla can be assembled and frozen until baking time. Shape the bastilla into a single large pie as shown here or make small, individual-sized pies for easier serving.

For the Seafood:, 1 kilogram/2 pounds fresh medium shrimp (shelled, cleaned and tails removed), 1/2 kilogram/1 pound fresh calamari, cleaned and cut into 1/4" rings (tentacles chopped), 1/2 kilogram/1 pound fresh swordfish (or another firm, low-fat fish), 3 tablespoons butter (divided)…
Kitchen method
Recipe

Moroccan Shrimp Briwats Like Egg Rolls

in morocco, briwats can be stuffed with sweet or savory fillings. this is a savory filling that is somewhat modern in origin. this recipe is an adaptation of both my moroccan mother-in-law's version (though she adds garlic) and a recipe found in the book "cooking at the kasbah" by kitty norse. some people also add soy sauce to the mixture (a sure sign of the recipe's modernity; soy sauce, as you can imagine, is not "native" to morocco!) :) these are yummy snacks and surprisingly light, despite being fried. do try to find the lumpia wrappers--briwats should not be doughy, but instead light and crispy, and the lumpia wrappers do the job nicely.

rice vermicelli, olive oil, onion, shrimp, sweet paprika…
Kitchen method
Recipe

Moroccan Style Potato and Egg Sandwiches

typical of the street food in the grand plaza of marrakesh.

eggs, cumin seed, bell pepper, onion, boiling potato…
Kitchen method