B’stilla

Name: B’stilla
Cuisine: Moroccan
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups slivered blanched almonds; ¼ cup vegetable oil, or as needed; salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 8 tablespoons margarine, melted; 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar; 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon; ½ teaspoon ground turmeric; whole blanched almonds for garnish (optional); 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional); 1 teaspoon ground ginger; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; ⅛ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed; 1 cup water; 8 eggs, beaten; 1 pound filo dough; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 4 pounds squab or poussin with giblets, cut into halves or quarters, or 2 pounds chicken breasts; 3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil; ¼ cup chopped fresh coriander (cilantro); 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; 1 large onion, chopped (about 1 ½ cups); 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Moroccan Chicken and Almond Pie

Preparation info

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Saffron Shores

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2002

About

Ingredients

For the Poultry Filling

4 pounds squab or poussin with giblets, cut into halves or quarters, or 2 pounds chicken breasts
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Africa
Morocco
Starter
Main course
Mediterranean
Pie

Method

The bestel to top all bestels, b’stilla is a dish of celebration, served at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other festive occasions. The origins of this dish are hotly debated. Was it an Arabic dish brought to Spain, or a Hispano-Arabic dish brought to Morocco from Andalusia? Perhaps it was a Spanish dish that emigrated to the Ottoman Empire with the Jews. At this point, the origin of