I made a chicken bastilla yesterday 😋

It's a little technical but I'll try to explain. Some ingredients might be exotic to you –yet if you stick to the basics it'll do.

First you sprinkle chicken pieces with salt + generous amounts of basic spices (turmeric+ginger powder+black pepper). A bit of saffron + cardamom can be added too (optional).

Fry that in some oil then toss lots of diced onion over it + some fresh parsley & coriander. Let everything cook on low heat. Once done take out the chicken and remove the skin & bone then shred it.

On high heat continue to cook the onion then add sugar + cinnamon and cook until thickened & slightly caramelized. Beat some eggs (optional), mix and keep cooking until you reach the desired texture.

Meanwhile, fry some almonds then crush them & mix with powdered sugar + cinnamon + caramel (optional). I added a few drops of orange blossom water too.

So you'll have these three components as a stuffing now. Let them cool then build your pie using each as a separate layer.


For the pie I used bastilla sheets but filo works too. You will have to oil up every sheet with oil+melted butter (optional) and brush the surface with egg. Bake on low heat ~160°C until fully cooked and golden.

Garnish as desired. I used powdered sugar+cinnamon+almonds+small rose.

I followed this recipe but if you need help with translating some bits let me know.

[media=https://youtu.be/gJO1qTzzKXs]



@ninalanyon

@SW-User No exotic ingredients in there as far as I'm concerned. Cinnamon and cardamom are very commonly used here. I think the only one that is hard to find here is saffron, and fresh coriander isn't very common. But saffron's not exotic to me, the county my mother's family comes from is a big producer of it.
The pastry sounds like a lot of work though. Still I might give it a try one day. I'll watch the video too.

Thanks!

@ninalanyon I thought maybe bastilla sheets + orange blossom water are not commonly available everywhere. You're welcome.

@SW-User Well yes, you're right about those but you did mention that filo would do and wasn't the orange blossom water optional?
:-)

@ninalanyon Yeah. Those optional ingredients are nice touches that take the dish to another level ~ but again you can make a simple, standard version with the basics.