Bastilla - Moroccan Chicken Pie
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Cook time: 
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Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 large onions, sliced
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 2 oz blanched slivered almonds
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 10 oz boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
  • salt and pepper
  • large bunch cilantro, chopped
  • 7 large sheets phyllo
  • about 3oz melted butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • powdered sugar and ground cinnamon, to decorate
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Saute onions in a large saucepan with the oil and cook over medium low heat until translucent and just beginning to color. Meanwhile, toast the almonds until golden brown and chop coarsely.
  3. When the onions are cooked, stir in the ginger and cinnamon, then add the chicken, and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat up to medium, and cook,uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the onions are a pale golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. The liquid should be entirely absorbed. Add the cilantro and the almonds and mix well.
  4. Brush some of the melted butter into a 9 inch cake pan, and lay in the first sheet of phyllo (if it tears, just overlap the two pieces slightly along the seam.) Brush the phyllo with more butter, and lay another sheet on top with the overhang rotated about 90 degrees. Repeat, brushing each layer with butter, until you have 5 layers.
  5. Spread the chicken mixture into the center of the pan, then bring up the phyllo overhang. Lay the remaing two sheets of phyllo on the top, separating them with another brush of melted butter, and fold the phyllo into a crust at the top. Brush the top of the pie with the egg yolk mixed with a drop of water, and bake the pie in the oven for 40-50 minutes until puffed up, crisp and golden.
  6. Sift the powdered sugar and cinnamon over the top and serve hot.
Notes
adapted from Arabesque by Claudia Roden
Recipe by The Domestic Front at https://www.thedomesticfront.com/rock-the-casbah-bastilla/