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B'Stilla
I'd wanted to make some version of this dish for many years...since I first had it in a restaurant in Los Angeles. It fascinates me and so finally I decided to try it. First I had to decide on a recipe to use which took some time. I chose two recipes to work from; one that uses a spice profile I prefer, although there are many that use a ras-el-hanout blend and I'm sure that would be every bit as good, just different. The other is more about the method - I was serving two and the recipe makes an entire pie. Since it's pastry which makes re-heating complex, I decided to make individual pies and made up 3 the first time. Here's what I came up with...we loved it!
What you need
- »«For the chicken»«
- 1 whole 3-4 lb chicken cut in pieces - legs, thighs, breasts - (reserve backs, wings and necks to roast for soup)
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 3 finely minced or ground onions
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro (coriander)
- 7 Tablespoons butter, divided
- 7 eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground turmeric
- 3/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- Large pinch saffron threads, crushed in your palm
- »«For the almond mixture»«
- 1 cup almonds
- 4 tsp sugar
- 1 T ground cinnamon
- »«For the pastry»«
- 18-20 sheets phyllo pastry
- 7 Tablespoons butter, melted
How you make it
Chicken
- Remove skin from chicken pieces and place in a large bowl
- Pour lemon juice over and massage in - let stand 15 minutes
- Rinse the chicken and put it into a large stock pot with the spices, onion, garlic, 7 Tablespoons of butter, parsley and cilantro - add 2 cups water
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked (approx. 45 min.)
- Remove chicken to cool and reduce the sauce over high heat until very thick
- Reduce heat to medium and whisk in the eggs, cooking until done - turn off heat
- Meanwhile, remove chicken meat from bones and shred
- If there is still liquid in the sauce, it can be drained briefly in a colander set over a large bowl
- Mix egg mixture with shredded chicken
Almond Mixture
- Fry almonds in oil until golden - cool slightly then chop in a food processor with sugar and 1 T cinnamon until almonds are roughly crushed - don't go to powder state
Assemble B'Stilla
- Preheat oven to 425º
- When working with phyllo dough, be sure to keep the sheets you're no working with yet between waxed paper and covered with a cloth!
- Melt the remaining 7 Tablespoons butter
- Prepare a baking pan by brushing the bottom with melted butter
- Take one sheet of phyllo and place it on a board in front of you with the short edge at the left and right, long edge at top/bottom
- Cut through the middle top to bottom to create two rectangles as shown in image 1 below
- Brush one with melted butter, then lay the other on top and brush also with melted butter
- Take another sheet of phyllo and repeat the cut and brushing with butter - you now have four layers of phyllo
- Position the narrow end next to you and sprinkle about 1-2 T almond cinnamon sugar mixture over about 2 in. x 4 in. starting one inch in from you and one inch border at either edge as shown in image 2 below
- Place a layer of chicken 2-3 T over the almond mixture, then sprinkle more almond mixture over chicken
- Fold edge nearest you over filling and fold over once
- After the first roll, fold in the sides and continue rolling as you would a burrito
- Place bstilla into the baking pan seam side down
- Repeat for as many pies as you wish to make
- Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown on top, remove from oven and transfer to a rack for about 5 minutes
Image 1
Image 2
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