Algerian Tli Tli B'djedj - Pasta With Chicken! |
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Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Minutes |
Ready In: 16 Minutes Servings: 6 |
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This is our family recipe for the very traditional Algerian dish tli tli. You can make tli tli with chicken or meat - the meat recipe is slightly different & I will post it later. You can use any tiny pasta for this but traditionally homemade tli til pasta OR orzo / bird's tongue that is used. My kids love it when I use the tiny stars or shells also. Traditionally we steam the pasta for this but you can cook it for 4 minutes or so in plenty of lighty salted water before adding the sauce - the pasta needs to absorb quite a bit of the sauce so keep it undercooked.. Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (or 6-8 pieces bone-in chicken) |
3/4-1 cup canned chick-peas |
2 tablespoons ghee or 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons oil |
1/4 teaspoon black pepper |
1/2-3/4 teaspoon cinnamon |
1 teaspoon tomato puree, concentrate |
2 onions |
1 -2 garlic clove, minced |
1/2 teaspoon ras el hanout spice mix |
salt |
3 -4 eggs |
500 g orzo pasta (or homemade tli tli ) |
1 chicken stock cube |
olive oil or sunflower oil |
Directions:
1. Cut chicken up into serving sizes (6-8 pieces)
2. Brown in a large pan with the ghee, finely chopped onions, cinnamon, ras el hanout & pepper. Add 1 cup water & cook for 10 minutes
3. Add chick peas & add enough water to cover. tomato puree & the stock cube.
4. Cover & cook on medium heat for 1 hour & a half in a pan or 40 mins in the pressure cooker on med-high. If cooking in a pan, you may need to add a little extra water.
5. Whilst the sauce is cooking, prepare the pasta & eggs.
6. Hard boil the eggs, then peel & cut into halves.
7. In a bowl, mix the pasta with 1/2 cup water & a tiny bit of olive or sunflower oil. Place in a steamer & steam for 15 minutes. Remove from steamer & separate the pasta with a little water.
8. Put the pasta in a large pan & slowly spoon in a little sauce at a time until the pasta is fully cooked & the sauce has been absorbed nicely - the pasta should be moist with a little sauce coating it - not dry.
9. Place pasta in a large dish / platter & top with the chicken pieces, egg halves & a some more sauce.
10. Serve immediately with a green salad & crusty bread.
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