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Nabila's Kitchen: Chicken Bastilla


Do you want something that's as satisfying to the eye at as it delicious to taste? Try this bastilla. I've asked Nabila to make it at least half a dozen times, but never found the time to write down the recipe. Lissa & Natasha are a mother and daughter who stayed at Dar Al Hajj for a week and a half during the beginning of Ramadan, and we agreed to have the bastilla for ftour, the breaking of the fast. This year (2014) the month of Ramadan began only a week after the summer solstice, so ftour, the breaking of the fast, did not begin until around 8 P.M. Lissa and Natasha were not fasting, but I was, at least at the time. So, thanks, ladies, for agreeing to delay your meal, and thanks for writing down the recipe, and thanks as always to Nabila for doing what you do so brilliantly. Bastilla, with its dusting of powdered sugar and cinnamon over a filo-encrusted chicken pie filled with a savory egg roux and crushed almonds, is normally a dinner for special occasions, but I think that the bastilla is the occasion in itself.





Chicken bastilla is a sweet and savory dish, a bit labor intensive, but worth the fuss. I use a whole chicken, red onions, a bunch of parsley and a bunch of cilantro, 8-10 eggs, 1/4 kg of crushed almonds, confectioners sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric, and 8 sheets of filo dough, known as "warqa", the Arabic word for paper, in Morocco, where it is made fresh daily in the souks.
   
The list of ingredients are grouped into 3 sections for each of the layers of the bastilla, and each sub-list is highlighted in red.
  • the chicken (which is the middle layer, but takes the longest so start this first) 
  • the almond paste (which is the top layer, but start this second because peeling the almonds takes awhile)
  • the egg roux (which is the first layer, but doesn't take very long to cook and uses the reduce chicken stock liquid, so start this last).
Ingredients for the chicken layer:
  • 1 medium chicken (2 kg)--cut up and wash. Remove extra fat. Marinate overnight in the juice of 1 lemon + 2 tsp. salt
  • 4 large red onions, sliced onto strips along the grain
  • 1 bunch each of parsley and cilantro, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp ginger powder
  • 1/2 Tbsp salt
  • 1/2 Tbsp black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp turmeric
  • 1 cinnamon stick (other recipes call for ground coriander and paprika, no turmeric or cinnamon stick)
  • 1 c. olive oil
  • 1 1/2 c. water
Boil the chicken and all the other ingredients for 45 minutes. Add a large cup of water after 20 minutes, to thin the sauce, and cook until soft--about 25 minutes longer. If you are using a pressure cooker, bring to a boil loosely covered, simmer 10 minutes, then pressurize on setting 2 (high) and cook for 1/2 hour.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the almond paste: 

Ingredients for the almond paste:
  • 1 tbsp confectioner's sugar
  • 1/4 kg almonds (luz), about 1 and 3/4 cups
  • sunflower oil
Boil 250 g almonds to loosen skins, then remove skins...if you squeeze the almond from the point, it will pop right out of its skin, in a cleanly satisfying way, a bonus, considering you'll need to squeeze between 150 and 200 almonds. By the 150th almond, you pretty much hate splootzing almonds. So call a friend and share the burden.

Fry the almonds in sunflower oil (start in cold oil) until slightly browned.

Combine the almonds with the powdered sugar in a blender, and blend the mixture to a paste.


 De-pressurize the chicken, remove the lid, and prepare the egg roux:

 Take chicken out of pot and continue boiling the sauce until thick and brown, until there is no water remaining. Remove the bones.

Ingredients for the egg roux:
  • ~ 6 tbsp confectioners sugar 
  • ~ 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
  • 8-10 eggs (set aside 1 egg yolk to brush over the bastilla)
  • filo dough (waraqa)
Add 3 Tbsp sugar to the reduced sauce, + 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Add 10 eggs to sauce. mix while cooking on medium. Stir constantly, until it starts to separate and create dry "balls".

Add another 2 1/2 Tbsp sugar and stir while cooking.

Drain through a collander to make a roux. 

Take chicken off bones and shred. Dust with a little cinnamon and sugar, and mix.

Place 4 layers of filo dough on a large greased serving dish (use the one you're going to serve it in).




Spread egg roux in middle of the filo dough.





Then spread the chicken in a circular layer.




Sprinkle almond paste over the top.



Tuck the base layers of filo dough over the layers of filling.




Place one sheet over and tuck under, baste with egg where you've tucked it under and across the surface. Repeat with three more sheets, tucking and basting.




Place in oven at 180 degree celsius (about 360 Fahrenheit) till brown on top, about 20 minutes. 

Remove from the oven, carefully hold a greased pan over the bastilla, then carefully turn both the pan and the service dish over. Put the greased pan with the bastilla back in the oven and brown about 20 more minutes.

Remove the greased pan with the bastilla, then carefully fit the original serving dish over the bastilla, and carefully turn the pan, bastilla, and serving dish over once again so that the egg-washed side of the bastilla faces up, and the bastilla is back in the original serving tray. It's just prettier that way.




Now you're ready to dust the bastilla. 
  • confectioner's sugar
  • cinnamon
Lightly dust the surface with powdered sugar, then cross-hatch with light lines of powdered cinnamon--this is the hard part. I use an 3x5 index card creased down the middle lengthwise, sprinkle a good bit of cinnamon along the crease of the card, then tap the card as I draw it in as straight a line as I can across the surface, in parallel, equidistant rows and columns. It easily serves 8-12.






You can of course reduce the amount of each ingredient to make individual Bastillat (my Moroccan wife tells me this is the plural form, although some Moroccans would use an irregular plural form, Basaatil, بَساطِل in Arabic). I had a single-serving for lunch at Le Sud, one of the great  restaurants in Lyon that were previously owned and operated by the late chef Paul Bocuse, a favorite son of Lyon. It hit the spot, a near bulls-eye, on a cold and rainy late December afternoon in 2021. It is commonly sold in Moroccan restaurants as well, minus the fancy presentation.




Let me know how you like this. Your comments are welcome.

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