Chicken Pastilla (Bastilla)

Name: Chicken Pastilla (Bastilla)
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Moroccan Imperial & Coastal
Ingredients: 1.2 kg chicken (or traditionally squab/pigeon); 6 eggs; onion, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, ras el hanout; 200 g toasted almonds; 1 tbsp orange-blossom water; 1 warqa or phyllo pastry; icing sugar + cinnamon

The jewel of Moroccan feast cooking: shatteringly crisp warqa pastry wrapped around saffron-spiced poultry and a layer of almonds, dusted with sugar and cinnamon — the sweet-savory masterpiece of the Andalusi inheritance.

2 hr · Serves 8 · Takes some skill

Recipe by Halal Gourmet Editorial Team

Ingredients

Filling

1.2 kgchicken (or traditionally squab/pigeon), zabiha
6 eggs, for the curd layer
onion, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, ras el hanout
200 gtoasted almonds, ground with a little sugar
1 tbsporange-blossom water

Pastry

1 warqa or phyllo pastry

Finish

icing sugar + cinnamon

Method

Start cooking mode

Time: Prep 60 min · Cook 60 min · 120 min total
Difficulty: hard

1
Braise poultry with onion, saffron, ginger, cinnamon; shred. Reduce the spiced cooking liquid and set it with beaten egg into a soft curd.
50 min
2
Layer buttered warqa/phyllo in a round; add shredded meat, egg curd, then sweetened ground almonds; enclose in more pastry.
25 min
3
Bake (or shallow-fry) until deep golden and crisp; dust with icing sugar and cinnamon in a lattice.
45 min