[.ca] Cooking Moroccan (ISBN 1740454480)

Great Pictures, Clear Instructions, Delicious Food:
I ordered this book after flipping through it at the library and seeing the picture of the semolina pancakes. I was a little worried that it would be a very western take on Moroccan cooking, but instead I have been thoroughly impressed by the useability of the cookbook and the quality of the food I have produced using it. I have made 5 of the recipes so far, and all of them have turned out somewhere between really well and droolifically delicious. The book has sections that cover appetizers, simple dishes, "dishes from the palace," and sweets, pastries, and drinks. I have mainly cooked from the simple dishes section, with tremendous success. I am still using the hot, spicy, garlicky harissa spice blend I made up - I'm smearing it on everything, it is such a tasty addition to marinades and salad dressings. Couscous with chicken and vegetables turned out amazingly well, it's one of the most delicious things I've ever made - despite the plain title, it was a delight to the senses, and tasted amazingly healthy. I made the semolina pancakes today and they are yummy. "Moroccan Cooking" has a good recipe- and ingredient-based index. The recipe directions are easy to follow and fairly complete. They use a similar format to other Murdoch Books cookbooks, give clear explanations about unusual ingredients and suggest substitutes, and have measurements in both weight and volume, so the book can be used equally well by North American and European or Australian cooks. If I have one caveat, it is that the ingredients list does not usually include water, so you don't find out how much water you need until reading through the directions. Some people find this irritating (my boyfriend). The book has one recipe per page, with occasional sections on "Three Ways with Chickpeas/Almonds/Flower Waters/Olives/Tomatoes etc" that cover three options for each ingredient. The pictures are large and beautiful; most of them cover an entire page. The dishes I have made actually look like the photos. I knew this would be a very useable cookbook because I have other cookbooks by the same publisher, but I did not expect that the recipes would work out so extremely well - to the point that my mom - who seldom spices anything - even asked me for the recipe for the beef tagine with sweet potatoes after eating it at my place one night. I'm not sure whether this has ever happened before!