Recipe ingredients and directions:
Chicken Pastry (b’stila)
1 chicken
salt
fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
pinch saffron
1 tablespoon of mixed herbs or "bouquet garni"
3 large onions, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup butter, clarified
7 eggs beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
2 cups ground toasted almonds
1 tablespoon cinnamon
12 filo dough sheets
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Place chicken in a roasting pan. If you use saffron threads, let
them soak in half a cup of water. pour on fowl. Sprinkle salt,
pepper, turmeric and mixed herbs on top. Roast chicken in oven at
400 f for 45 minutes to an hour. Cool. Remove skin and all bones.
Cube chicKen. keep giblets, except for the neck, with all the
spicy, herbed juice. Set aside.
In a skillet, saute minced onions in oil. Place in a bowl.
In the same skillet, with a little oil, fry the beaten eggs mixed
with salt and chopped cilantro. Place in another small bowl.
Still in the same oiled skillet, toast almonds until slightly brown
and grind them in a food processor. Set aside.
Clarify the shortening, and everything is ready to be put together
now.
On the bottom of the pan used to roast the chicken, after washing
and greasing it, stack 2 sheets of filo dough, letting edges
overhang. Brush on top some of the clarified shortening. at broil,
rapidly brown these 2 sheets. Then add cubed chicken, with all
spices and juice. Spread again 2 more dough sheets with some
shortening brushed on.
Broil rapidly. Add soft mixture of eggs with cilantro. Cover with
2 more greased sheets. Broil rapidly. Add almonds mixed with
cinnamon and sugar. finish with your best-looking greased sheets.
Tuck in all dough and bake 25 to 30 minutes at 400 F until golden
grown. Cool slightly. Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar,
making a decorative crisscross with cinnamon on top. Serve hot.
Category: African Recipes
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