Moroccan Chicken and Almond Bastilla

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Wrapping Dough

1. 1
   Thaw the phyllo dough in the fridge overnight, until pliable but still cold.

   Refrigerator

   💡Work with store-bought dough while it's cold: warm puff pastry gets sticky and won't puff in the oven, and phyllo sheets dry out fast, so keep the waiting sheets covered with a damp towel.

For the Pastry Filling

1. 2
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan
2. 3
   Add the onion and fry 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 4
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
4. 5
   Add the cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and baharat and fry about a minute, until fragrant.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
5. 6
   Add the chicken, season with salt and black pepper and cook for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.

   Stove
6. 7
   Take out the chicken, shred the meat into small pieces and return it to the onion.

   Fork
7. 8
   Add the eggs and cook, stirring, until the eggs set and the mixture is dry.

   Stove

   💡Cook the eggs into the chicken until no liquid is left: a wet filling softens the phyllo from the inside and the pie won't be crisp.
8. 9
   Remove from the heat, stir in the almonds, parsley and cilantro and let the filling cool completely.

To assemble

1. 10
   Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

   ⚙ Preheating the OvenOven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
2. 11
   Grease Pan and lay in it 5 phyllo sheets, spreading a little the oil on each sheet.

   Baking panPastry brush
3. 12
   Fill with the cooled filling and smooth the top.
4. 13
   Cover with 5 more phyllo sheets, brushing each one with a little the oil as well.

   Pastry brush
5. 14
   Bake 25–30 minutes, until the pie is golden.

   ⚙ BakingOvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.
6. 15
   Sprinkle the powdered sugar and cinnamon over the top and serve.