Pastilla is a recipe from Moroccan cuisine and its preparation is spread a lot in the Maghreb, so it is considered the national food there, it is prepared with chicken and almonds, or fish as desired and is presented on Moroccan occasions such as weddings and banquets, and pastilla is a name for a very thin paper of dough called pastilla paper, and it is called pastilla. It bears the name of paper in Morocco, and it is originally phyllo dough or golash, during this article we will present you an easy way to prepare chicken pastilla.
The ingredients :
500 grams of large size pastilla paper.
A medium-sized chicken, cleaned, washed and chopped.
A kilo and a half of chopped onions. 250 grams of almonds.
A tablespoon of salt.
One teaspoon of white pepper.
Half a teaspoon of ginger.
Two tablespoons of finely chopped coriander.
Two tablespoons of finely chopped parsley.
A cup of vegetable oil. One and a half cups of melted butter.
Ten eggs.
200 grams of fine sugar.
Two tablespoons of ground cinnamon.
How to prepare :
Put the chicken in a pot on the fire, then add the vegetable oil, stir the chicken pieces in the oil a little, then add the chopped onions. Add salt, pepper, saffron, ginger and butter and stir the ingredients together until well blended. Add the cilantro and parsley and stir, then add a quantity of boiling water so that it completely covers the chicken pieces. Cover the pot and leave the chicken on the fire until it is completely cooked. We take out the chicken pieces from the broth, then leave them to cool a little, and we begin to remove the bone from the chicken and cut it into small pieces. Put the chicken broth on the fire to boil until it thickens a little. Beat the eggs a little with a fork and then add them gradually over the broth, taking into account the rapid stirring. Fry the almonds in the oil on the fire and then leave it aside to cool. Put the almonds in a food processor and grind them until very smooth.We add 100 grams of sugar and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and stir the mixture well. In the tray to be baked in, we put five sheets of pastilla so that the edges of the sheet remain outside the tray, taking into account that each sheet of paper is coated with a thin layer of melted butter. Spread a layer of shredded chicken, then place a sheet of paper over it. We add a layer of chicken broth and eggs, then put a sheet of pastilla, and finally distribute a layer of the ground almond mixture and cover it with a sheet of pastilla. We bend the edges of the pastilla paper inward and then grease it with a layer of melted butter and put a final layer of pastilla paper so that it covers the last layer, taking into account that it is greased with butter. We can stick the paper with a whisked egg so that the paper does not open during grilling.
We put the tray in the oven until it turns golden brown. It can be decorated with honey, chopped almonds, or powdered sugar and cinnamon.
N.B : The name pastilla paper is also used to refer to thin sheets of dough called “warqa” in Morocco, which is similar to “diol” in Algeria and “barouak” in Tunisia, and it is necessary for the manufacture of pastilla.