About this Dish
The most spectacular dish in Moroccan cuisine — a large round pie of paper-thin warqa pastry filled with spiced pigeon or chicken, eggs and almonds, dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. The combination of sweet and savoury is jarring to first-timers and revelatory thereafter. Traditionally served at celebrations.
IngredientsServes 8
🐔Whole chicken, 1.5kg cut into pieces
🧅Large onions, 3 finely grated
🥚Eggs, 6 lightly beaten
🌿Fresh coriander and flat-leaf parsley, large bunch of each, chopped
🫙Ras el hanout, 1.5 tsp plus ground cinnamon 1 tsp, ground ginger 1 tsp, turmeric ½ tsp, saffron pinch
🧈Unsalted butter, 100g melted, plus extra for brushing
🥜Blanched almonds, 200g toasted and roughly chopped
🍬Icing sugar, 3 tbsp plus extra for dusting
📄Filo pastry sheets, 10-12 large sheets (substitute for warqa)
🍋Preserved lemon, 1 rind only, finely chopped
Method
1
In a deep pot, combine the chicken pieces with the grated onions, all the spices, preserved lemon, coriander, parsley, and 60g of the butter. Add 200ml water, season generously with salt and pepper, cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 45 minutes until the chicken is very tender.2
Lift the chicken out and shred all the meat finely, discarding bones and skin. Reduce the remaining sauce in the pot over high heat until it thickens to roughly 3-4 tablespoons of liquid, then pour the beaten eggs into the pot and stir continuously over medium heat until the eggs are just set and creamy — they should be moist, not dry. Remove from heat and fold in the shredded chicken.3
Toast the almonds in a dry pan until golden, then roughly chop and mix with the icing sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon to make the sweet almond layer.4
Preheat your oven to 190°C. Brush a 30cm round baking dish or oven-safe frying pan generously with melted butter. Layer 5-6 filo sheets into the dish, each brushed with melted butter and overlapping the edges of the pan like a flower — you want enough overhang to fold back over the top.5
Spread the chicken and egg filling evenly over the base, then scatter the spiced almond mixture on top in an even layer. Fold the overhanging pastry sheets up and over the filling to seal it, brushing each fold with butter. Layer the remaining filo sheets on top, tucking the edges down the sides neatly and brushing each sheet with butter to finish.6
Bake for 25-30 minutes until deeply golden and crisp all over. If the top is browning too fast, loosely cover with foil for the first 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes.7
Dust generously with icing sugar, then use a fine sieve to add a decorative lattice of cinnamon on top. Bastilla is traditionally served immediately as a starter or centrepiece, eaten communally straight from the dish.User Reviews
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