I finally got around to searching for the recipe to this amazing almond and honey energy paste that they eat for breakfast during Ramadan in Morocco. It started niggling at me a few months ago, but the truth was I couldn’t even remember the name of it. I soon found results coming up that were pointing to a treat called Sellou. Soon I was on youtube watching this video by cookingwithalia.com:

Many years ago I lived with a Moroccan family in Rabat. The family had a son and daughter who were around my age. The daughter was wiry, smart and a black belt in taekwondo. The son was refusing to follow the Ramadan fast as he was as skinny as a rake and in the middle of intense exams at his school which are highly competitive. The mother was possessive and passionate, an amazing cook, the father was rarely seen but seemed a very quiet mild-mannered fellow.

Sellou is eaten before the sun rises during Ramadan and is power-packed with energy to get you through a long day of fasting. Each family has their own recipe and whenever I asked for it they would always wave me off, saying that it was so easy just almonds, roasted flour, sesame and honey so I never bothered to write it down. Perhaps this was just their way of keeping their household sellou recipe their own special secret.