rfissa

{{Short description|Moroccan dish}}

{{Italic title}}{{Infobox food

| name = Rfissa

| image = Rfissa marocaine.jpg

| caption =

| alternate_name =

| country = Morocco

| region =

| creator =

| course =

| type = Tharid

| served =

| main_ingredient = msemmen, chicken, lentils, fenugreek, ras el-hanout

| variations =

| calories = 901{{cite web|url=http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/moroccan-dish-rfissa-108702956|title=Calories in Moroccan Dish Rfissa - Calories and Nutrition Facts - MyFitnessPal.com|website=www.myfitnesspal.com}}

| other = Sodium 1,437 mg, protein 37 g, vitamin A 6%, calcium 7%, vitamin C 12%, iron 50%

}}

Rfissa ({{langx|ar|رفيسة}}) is a Moroccan dish that is served during various traditional celebrations.{{cite web|url=https://www.themoroccanfood.com/recipe/moroccan-chicken-rfissa/|title=Rfissa Moroccan Chicken With Lentils) Recipe - Food.com|date=16 May 2023 |publisher=}}

It traditionally includes chicken, lentils, fenugreek seeds (helba in Arabic), msemmen, meloui or day-old bread, and the spice blend ras el-hanout.{{cite web|url=http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/Rfisa.htm|title=Rfissa Recipe - Moroccan Chicken and Lentils Over Shredded Pastry|publisher=}}

It is traditional to serve rfissa to a woman who has just given birth, as fenugreek is purported to be beneficial for women that are recovering from childbirth.

Rfissa is derived from tharid ({{Lang|ar|ثريد}}), a traditional Arab dish said to have been the Prophet Muhammad's favorite dish.{{Cite web|url=https://legation.ipower.com/blog/?p=1894|title=Anny Gaul: "The Cuisine of the City of Tetouan"|last=Jamal|first=Ayoub El|date=2018-12-18|website=Tangier American Legation|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-07}} The name rfissa goes back to the medieval rafis meaning dough kneaded with butter and dusted with sugar.{{Cite book |last=Al-Tujībī |first=Ibn Razīn |author-link=Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Exile_s_Cookbook/51XOEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Rfissa&pg=PT36&printsec=frontcover |title=The Exile's Cookbook: Medieval Gastronomic Treasures from al-Andalus and North Africa |date=2023-08-08 |publisher=Saqi Books |isbn=978-0-86356-997-5 |language=en |translator-last=Newman |translator-first=Daniel L |translator-link=Daniel Newman (academic)}}

This dish did not appear in Moroccan cookbooks until the 1990s. The cultural historian Anny Gaul suggests that this might be due to the fact that rfissa is related to rural culinary traditions, whereas the people writing cookbooks for a long time were mostly Fessi elites.{{Cite web|last=Idrissi|first=Abdelbaar Mounadi|date=2018-12-18|title=Anny Gaul: "The Cuisine of the City of Tetouan"|url=https://legation.org/anny-gaul-the-cuisine-of-the-city-of-tetouan/|access-date=2021-10-28|website=Tangier American Legation Museum|language=en-US}}