View source for Seffa

{{short description|Sweetened couscous dish with butter and spices}}
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| name = Seffa {{lang|ar|السفة}}
| image = Seffa (Maroc).jpg
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| caption = Moroccan vermicelli-based ''seffa''
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| region = [[Maghreb]]
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| serving_size = 100 g
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'''''Seffa''''' ({{Langx|ar|السفة}}) is a Maghrebi term<ref name="Walker1990">{{cite book|author=Harlan Walker|title=Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, 1989: Staplefoods : Proceedings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I15eJt6U3gMC&pg=PA176|year=1990|publisher=Oxford Symposium|isbn=978-0-907325-44-4|page=176}}</ref> for a dish of sweetened [[semolina]] [[Couscous|cuscus]] with butter, cinnamon, and almonds.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Albala|first=Ken|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTo6c_PJWRgC&pg=PA235 |title=Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37626-9|language=en}}</ref> The dish may incorporate meat,<ref name=Got20/> and also alternatively be made with [[vermicelli]] or [[rice]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2m.ma/ar/mag/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B5%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-20180208/|title=القيمة الغذائية ل "السفة" المغربية يعرفنا عليها نبيل العياشي في "صباحيات"|website=2M|language=ar|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://machahid24.com/lifestyle/11940.html|title=طريقة تحضير السفة المغربية|last=صبري|first=كتبه: صفاء|date=2014-05-19|website=مشاهد 24|language=ar|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> This dish is generally consumed at the end of a meal, before dessert. It is often served at traditional marriage ceremonies and family gatherings.{{cn|date=November 2021}}
''Seffa'' can also be served with chicken ({{Lang|ar|السفة بالدجاج}}) or with raisins ({{Lang|ar|السفة الحلوة بالزبيب}}).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dziriya.net/seffa-mesfous-zbib-couscous-sucre-aux-raisins-secs/|title=Seffa, Mesfous Zbib : couscous sucré aux raisins secs - Dziriya.net|website=dziriya.net|language=fr-FR|access-date=2017-09-05|archive-date=2017-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905232227/http://dziriya.net/seffa-mesfous-zbib-couscous-sucre-aux-raisins-secs/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
According to Emily Gottreich, the version of ''seffa'' involving a mixture of butter with chicken, or other meat, is a "distinctively Moroccan dish" traditionally only found in Muslim homes owing to the Jewish dietary prohibition on the mixing of meat and dairy in a single meal.<ref name=Got20>{{cite book|title=Jewish Morocco: A History from Pre-Islamic to Postcolonial Times|first=Emily Benichou|last=Gottreich|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|date=2020|isbn=9781838603618|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1uTMDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>
However, ''seffa'' in its simpler form, flavoured with just sugar and cinnamon, is prepared by Moroccan Jewish communities on the
night of the Mimouna. This dish is also known by the French: ''Couscous Sucré et Sec'' (sweet and dry couscous).<ref>{{cite web|title=Mufleta, Zaban and Sushi: The Development of the Mimouna and its Foodways from Morocco to Montreal |author=Katherine Romanow|publisher=Concordia University |date=September 2013|url=https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/977745/1/Romanow_MA_F2013.pdf }}</ref>
There are also sweetened cuscus dishes besides ''seffa'', such as ''[[mesfouf]]''.
== See also ==
* [[Algerian cuisine]]
* [[Moroccan cuisine]]
== References ==
<references />
==Further reading==
*{{Cite book|isbn=9781408827468|title=Food of Morocco|author-link=Paula Wolfert|first=Paula |last=Wolfert|language=en|year=2012|publisher=Bloomsbury}}
{{Cuisine}}
[[Category:Pastries]]
[[Category:Algerian cuisine]]
[[Category:Moroccan cuisine]]
{{Algeria-cuisine-stub}}
{{Morocco-cuisine-stub}}