Lovely Moroccan dish- Chicken Pastilla

This recipe comes from chef  Mouchine from Morocco, a super talented chef I have the pleasure to work with. This chicken and onion pie or BstillaBil Djaj is a famous Moroccan dish brought back by the Moors from Andalucia. It seems complicated but actually not hard but definitely delicious. In Morocco the pie is made with trid, an oily puffy pastry but use fillo as a substitute available in packages from middle eastern stores around the world.

Chicken Pastilla

Ingredients:

500 g thinly sliced white onions

 75 ml Olive Oil

 80 g   Blanched Almonds

½    Teaspoon Ground Ginger

½    Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

300 g Boneless skinless chicken thigh (Cut to bite-size pieces)

Sea Salt to taste

Freshly Ground Black pepper to taste

½ Cup Chopped Cilantro

7 large Sheets Fillo Dough (readily available in Frozen section of supermarkets)

150 ml melted butter

1 egg yolk

For Finishing

Icing Sugar + Cinnamon

Method:

1 in a preheated large saucepan place the olive oil followed by sliced onions, reduce heat and cover stirring frequently for appx 25 minutes until soft and golden caramelized.

2. Fry the almonds in more olive oil until toasty and fragrant sauteing constantly to prevent burning golden brown.  Drain on kitchen cloth.

3Stir in Cinnamon and ginger powder to cooked onions add seasoned boneless chicken, return to low heat, Cook uncovered stirring frequently until chicken cooked appx 15 minutes

4. Remove chicken pieces and continue to cook onions until no moisture left (important mixture is dry).

5. Return the chicken to the pan and mix leave off the heat.

6. with 4 pieces of filo and a pan that will allow appx ¼ overlap of leaves when placed in a circular pattern. Brush fully between each layer repeating steps 3 more times.

8. Cut t around edges of overlapping filo just enough to round. Then push this inside the edge of the pan to form the decorative bottom when served.

9. Add the Chicken onion mixture and spread out to help shape the pie, Topp with all the toasted almonds.

10. Continue with last 3 pieces of filo to close the pie (do not brush the last outside layer with butter. Tuck in excess around the edge of pan as previous

11. Brush the top with egg yolk water mixture bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30-40 minutes until puffed up golden and crispy. Move pie to bottom of oven for 10-15 minutes to evenly brown the bottom, it is a good idea to take a peek underneath to prevent scorching during this process

12. Turn out onto presentation platter and dust in a geometric pattern with a mix of cinnamon and icing sugar.

Suggestion: Serve with vegetable couscous.