Steamed Pasta with Pine Nuts, Raisins, Almonds, and Liver: Makaruna Imbaukha bil Khalta مكرونة مبوخة بالخلطة

This pasta dish is a famous Shargawi recipe, and is often served at Weddings in Eastern Libya. Thin pasta is lightly grilled until golden then steamed over chicken stock. It is then fragrantly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. The topping is a mixture of fried liver, almonds, pine nuts, and  raisins. The raisins are traditional and add sweetness to the dish, but I had to omit them for a guest. With slight variations this mix is served over rice in many Arab countries, including Libya.
This is the original recipe for Makaruna Imbaukha bil Khalta, but nowadays most Libyans cut the amount of oil and samn used - unless it is made for a Wedding feast!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 kg pasta capellini or other thin wheat pasta
4 pieces of skinned chicken (thigh/wings)
4 tablespoons corn oil in 1/2 cup of warm water

1/2 cup samn (clarified butter also known as ghee)

1 medium onion chopped
1 medium tomato chopped
4 bay leaves
2/3 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon cardamom pods, crushed
1/2 tablespoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
salt, pepper
Ground spices:
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground dried ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon black pepper
Khalta Topping: 

1/2 kg lamb liver

1/2 cup samn (to fry the nuts and raisins)
1/2 cup blanched almonds 
1/2cup  pine nuts
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Ideally steamed dishes or Imbawakh (an important category in Libyan cuisine) should be cooked in a kaskas, but any pot with a fitted steamer is fine, especially for steamed rice and pasta.

In the bottom pot of a steamer (kaskas), add about 1 litre boiling water to the chicken, along with the chopped onion, chopped tomato, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, spices and salt. 

Break the pasta up and put it in tray under the the grill, until the top layer becomes golden. When it's mixed it will be two-coloured.

When the pasta has cooled down, sprinkle with 1 tb spoon oil mixed with 1/2 cup warm water.

When you can see steam  rising, place the pasta in the steamer.

Meanwhile melt a 1/2 cup of clarified butter (ghee) in a pan.

Fry the pine nuts first as they are the most sensitive to heat, then the almonds. If you like raisins with the khalta, fry the raisins next, taking them off the heat once they plump up. Set aside the left over samn (clarified butter).

Cube the liver and put in deep casserole. Pour boiling water on top leave about one minute then  strain well.

        This helps the liver cubes keep their shape.

Heat the samn used to fry the almonds and raisins. Add the liver and half the amount of ground spices. Stir constantly, make sure you don't overcook it or the liver will be rubbery. 

Drain the liver from the excess fat.

Set aside the fried liver, raisins and nuts to use as a topping later.

After about 45 minutes, remove the cooked chicken pieces and leave the stock in the bottom of the steamer. Remove the pasta from the steamer and put it in a deep bowl. Using a ladle, take about 3 cups of the stock from the bottom of the steamer, especially the oily top layer. Mix it into the pasta and return the pasta to the steamer. How long the pasta takes to cook depends on the pasta type. If the pasta is still not cooked , moisten it with another 1 or 2 cups of stock, and continue steaming.

Once the pasta is done place it in a heatproof bowl. Place the cooked chicken pieces under the grill or brown in a frying pan. Meanwhile add the remaining ground spices to the pasta. Heat up the  1/2 cup of samn until it just starts to smoke, then pour on top of the spices. It should be hot enough for a sizzling sound and bubbling. This  method of infusing flavour by 'burning' spices with hot samn is called the kawi, and is used in a lot of Shargawi recipes.

 Mix the spices and samn (clarified butter) through the pasta. 

Plate the pasta and cover it with the fried khalta of  liver, nuts and raisins then top with the browned chicken. Serve with Mseyer pickles.

Chard/Spinach Stew - Tabikhet Silq/Sabanikh طبيخة ورق السلق / طبيخة السبانخ

Tabikhet Silq is a flavorful stew and a staple of Libyan home cooking. Tabikhet Silq is made with chicken or meat. It can be served with rice, but is most often eaten with bread, which makes Tabikhet Silq an easy one-pot meal. Chard can be replaced with spinach for Tabikhet Sabanikh. Both the Chard and Spinach recipes use a little rice to thickens the stew.

Serves 6

Ingredients
6 portions of chicken/red meat (or omit and add 2 vegetable stock cubes with the spices)

1 chopped large tomato
2 tablespoons chopped onions
1/2 cup short grain rice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup chopped coriander leaves
2/3 garlic cloves
Chard or spinach, roughly chopped

Place the skinned chicken at the bottom, then add the spices, onion, chopped tomato, tomato paste and 1 cup pureed or canned tomato. Stir then leave covered on medium heat for about 15 minutes.

When the chicken has begun to cook and the rest of the ingredients have combined into a sauce, add the rice and mix well (you don't want it all at the bottom).

Whizz the coriander and garlic in the mixer, add it to the pot.

Once the chicken is cooked add the chard (or spinach). Lay the swiss chard leaves on top of each other and chop widthwise into broad strips. Some people like to remove the stems first.

Fill the pot to the brim with chard (or spinach) pressing down. Once the leaves wilt stir to coat in the sauce then leave for 10-15 minutes.

Leave the chicken whole or debone then return to the pot, Serve with bread or noddle rice.

Sufra Dayma!

Morrocan Chicken and Almond Pie - Bastilla بسطيلة بالدجاج

Bastila is a sumptuous Morrocan pie with layers of crushed almonds, cinnamon, egg and fowl, a heavenly mix of sweet and savory flavors. It is a dish fit for a Caliph's court, and popular history has it that it was brought to Morocco by the Muslim refugees from Andalusia. Traditionally, this pie is made with pigeon, but this cheaper version (adapted from a modern Moroccan Cookbook) uses chicken and omits the saffron.The authentic pastry used should also be home-maded waraqa, but in this recipe phyllo pastry is used instead. This pie is so rich that it is served as a meal in itself

Serves 8

Ingredients
20-25 sheets of phyllo pastry 
Chicken Layer
1 1/2 kilo chicken
3  cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 cup finely chopped coriander (cilantro) 
8 large eggs
200g butter
2 tsp cinnamon   
1 tsp of each, freshly grated nutmeg, ground ginger, black pepper, turmeric, ground saffron (optional)
Almond Layer 
4 tsp sugar
2tbsp cinnamon
250 g almonds, 
Garnish:
Powdered sugar and Cinnamon 

10 halved almonds

                                   

Skin the chicken, wash and cut into pieces, sprinkle with about 2tbsp lemon juice or vinegar set aside for 15 minutes, then wash and drain. Chop the onion finely. Put the chicken in a pot with the onion, and add all the spices.

Add a 1/2 litre of water and 100g of butter, and the fresh parsley and cilantro. Bring to boil, reduce the heat and cook for 45 minutes.

Remove and debone the chicken, then shred to small pieces set aside.

Reduce the chicken broth over high heat until you have a thick sauce. Beat 7 eggs into the broth mix well until the eggs are cooked and absorb any remaining liquid and set aside. 

Fry the almonds in hot oil until golden, set 10 almonds aside for decoration and process the rest with all the sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon until the almonds are roughly crushed but not reduced to a powder.

Melt the remaining 100g of butter. Now begin working with the phyllo dough. Keep the dough wrapped in a  towel while you work so it doesn't dry out.

Preheat the oven to 220°C degrees and grease the bottom of an oven-proof dish, about 30 cm in diameter. Cover the bottom with about 6 sheets of phyllo, brushing the layers with the melted butter and overlapping so a little less than half of the sheets drape over the edge of the dish.

Sprinkle a third of the crushed almonds mix over the pastry, then cover with a sheet of phyllo followed by the egg mixture. Press down then cover with a sheet of phyllo, follow with the chicken, press down with the palms of your hands then cover with a sheet of phyllo, and then finally add the remaining almond mixture, dust with cinnamon. 

Now carefully fold in the edges of the phyllo dough towards the center, brushing each corner with egg yolk before overlapping. 

Cover with the remaining phyllo dough for a neat finish (about 4 sheets). Tuck the edges into and under the pie, lifting gently with a butter knife. Brush the top with melted butter.

Bake until lightly browned. Carefully turn upside down, then return to the oven until the top is also golden brown.

Sift confectioner's sugar over the top.

Decorate with cinnamon and the 10 browned and halved almonds. Let the pie rest before serving.

Serve warm.