on a Moroccan goods importer. I was drooling all over the shop full of tagines, lanterns, etched bowls, cook books..oh all sorts of lovely things that I wanted to move into my place as quickly as possible. We left with a gorgeous blue bowl and a set of mint tea glasses. With my newly acquired Moroccan stuff I felt the need to put it to use. I wanted to try and make my absolute FAVORITE thing I ate in Tangier, the Pastilla (aka bastilla, bisteeya, b'stilla or bstilla). We went back to KASBAH (the store) and picked up some spices and a cookbook. I did quite a 
bit of reading and it was all sounding a bit complicated but I still wanted to give it a go so off to the grocery store we went. It sounds like this North African pie was more traditionally made with pigeon but I went for the easy access chicken option. One thing I love about Moroccan cooking is the blend off spices that I normally wouldn't think of putting together (ie the heavy use of cinnamon in savory dishes). Actually the first time I saw a pastilla in a tiny restaurant in the medina of Tangier I must admit I wrinkled my nose up. Who would like a savory, spicy chicken pie covered in confectioner's sugar and cinnamon? It turns out ME!! So I set to cooking the chicken with lots of cinnamon sticks of course. That part was easy but after that it all got a bit more tricky. Roasting almonds, grinding almonds, cooking up eggs in the manor of egg drop soup for the filling, draining the eggs, accidentally flinging a good portion of the egg mixture on the floor. All good stuff!!
bit of reading and it was all sounding a bit complicated but I still wanted to give it a go so off to the grocery store we went. It sounds like this North African pie was more traditionally made with pigeon but I went for the easy access chicken option. One thing I love about Moroccan cooking is the blend off spices that I normally wouldn't think of putting together (ie the heavy use of cinnamon in savory dishes). Actually the first time I saw a pastilla in a tiny restaurant in the medina of Tangier I must admit I wrinkled my nose up. Who would like a savory, spicy chicken pie covered in confectioner's sugar and cinnamon? It turns out ME!! So I set to cooking the chicken with lots of cinnamon sticks of course. That part was easy but after that it all got a bit more tricky. Roasting almonds, grinding almonds, cooking up eggs in the manor of egg drop soup for the filling, draining the eggs, accidentally flinging a good portion of the egg mixture on the floor. All good stuff!! The most difficult part was the pastry. The traditional pastry for pastila is called wa
rka and is a cooked ultra thin crepe like pastry. Warka isn't easily accessible in Melbourne and I wasn't quite ready to embark on the warka making myself so I cheated and used filo. Ahh the filo. What a battle we had. At least I won the war and finally had a sort of a pie ready to cook. I need to do a little more practice before I would call myself a master of the pastilla but for a first attempt it wasn't half bad. It was all topped off with a tagine full of veggies, apricots and cous cous and of course, yummy mint tea.
rka and is a cooked ultra thin crepe like pastry. Warka isn't easily accessible in Melbourne and I wasn't quite ready to embark on the warka making myself so I cheated and used filo. Ahh the filo. What a battle we had. At least I won the war and finally had a sort of a pie ready to cook. I need to do a little more practice before I would call myself a master of the pastilla but for a first attempt it wasn't half bad. It was all topped off with a tagine full of veggies, apricots and cous cous and of course, yummy mint tea. 