Today we will talk about a Moroccan dish that takes you instantly to their markets: the cinnamon smell, the contrast between the sweet touch of the pastelas and the crunchy savoury flavour you’ll find inside… Do you want to experience it? Then take a peek at this recipe! Also perfect to cook if you have friends over to your house or children, they will be a nice help and will greatly enjoy themselves!
To recreate this recipe you will need:
Ingredients (Serves 6 – 8)
3-4 onions
1.5 kg skinned chicken thighs, halved
1 teaspoon Curcuma
4 cinnamon sticks
Ground black pepper, salt
½ litre parsley “tea” (infusion)
Ground toasted almonds
2 hard boiled eggs, crushed
Powdered sugar and cinnamon
Pastry leaves or filo
Preparation:
- First, you will need to prepare the parsley “tea”, because we will be using it to boil our chicken:
3. Now it’s time to nicely chop the eggs, and keep them aside with the ground toasted almonds and the powder cinnamon. We will use them later!
4. Next step: add the chicken and continue frying, stirring to avoid meat burning and sticking to the pan, till nicely golden.
5. Add parsley “tea”, which should just cover the chicken, cinnamon sticks and curcuma, stew till chicken is cooked through and liquid has reduced to a nice thick sauce.
6. Let it cool, bone and cut chicken in small pieces. Set aside.
Folding the pastelas
1. Pre-heat oven at 180 °C while preparing the little “packages”
2. Cut pastry leaves in half and halve again horizontally. Drop a spoonful of chicken, ½ teaspoon ground almonds, ½ teaspoon egg and a touch of powdered cinnamon and sugar. Fold nicely to get triangles and place on ovenproof dish.
3. Bake till golden brown. Eat warm!
Look at this! Doesn’t it look delicious? For the final touch, spring the pastelas with a touch of Glass Sugar and Cinnamon. Enjoy!