Celebrating Moroccan Cuisine!
This is a “Chicken Pot Pie” – Moroccan style!
I have been trying to go around the world trying new cuisines, and since I was given this cookbook as a gift, it was time to cook Moroccan!
Chef Mourad Lahlou released an incredible cookbook that highlights the rich history and cuisine of his native Morocco!
In 2022, I cooked a new recipe from a different cookbook all year long as part of my “52 In 22” cooking challenge. The blog has grown quite a bit since then so I am sharing those recipes again, like this delicious Moroccan recipe – a classic “Basteeya!”
This is Chef’s photo of his “Basteeya”, what Chef Mourad says is the most traditional dish in Morocco: it’s their version of a “Chicken Pot Pie”, but it’s so much more!
As he describes it:
“On paper, this dish sounds odd, because it’s so sweet and so savory. You’ve got saffron-and-spice-braised chicken, lots of cinnamon-sugar toasted almonds perfumed with orange blossom water, and offs scrambled in the braising liquid, all layers inside a shell of flaky pastry and topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon.”
WOW! Let’s cook it!
There are three different steps to the dish: the beginning is easy, combining all of the seasonings that are used in the dish.
1/4 cup ground coriander
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 cinnamon stock, 3″ long
2-1/2 teaspoons saffron threads
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
This is easy. Combine these spices and set aside!
Next, let’s make the almond mixture that gives this dish a nutty sweetness!
This savory and sweet almond mixture will be used as part of the filling in the pot pie.
2-1/2 cups whole “skin on” almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
4-6 tablespoons clarified butter
1-1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water
9 phyllo sheets
lemon
Blend the almonds until they are dust-like, then add all of the other ingredients: sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. I held off on adding the clarified butter until we are ready to add the mixture to the dish.
So there you go: all of your flavors are ready to go, so it’s time to tackle the main course!
Next up, let’s make the chicken and egg mixture. This forms the filling of the basteeya.
Here are your ingredients:
2 cups grapeseed or canola oil
8 cups onion – about 3-4 whole onions….yes indeed!
1/2- cup minced garlic
6 chicken thighs
6 chicken drumsticks
1-1/4 cup water
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons parsley and the same amount cilantro
The star of the dish is chicken…but first we have to make a place for it! Saute the onion in olive oil for ten minutes, then put in all of those great spices we blended together earlier…
After the mixture has combined and cooked for ten minutes, put your chicken pieces on top, add a cup of water and cover and let simmer for an hour.
I moved the pieces every ten minutes, turning them over and letting the spices infuse the chicken…see those saffron threads slinging to the chicken? When cooked, take the chicken pieces out and set aside.
We are heading into the home stretch now!
Pre-heat your oven to 325 – oh, the day before I made this dish, my oven decided to stop working – it’s gas and it kept shutting off after a minute or two – so I was fearing that my oven might not work!
More on this in a moment!
After turning on your oven, simmer the onion spice sauce that you just cooked the chicken in, letting it reduce a bit and use an immersion blender to mix four large eggs:
The blender will make sure there are no clumps of egg white…pour your eggs into the mixture and stir it well over low heat….this egg mixture will form the bottom of the dish – which becomes the top after cooking!
I’ll explain what I mean in a moment, but now that all of the individual elements are ready to assemble – time to bring out the Phyllo!
Lay a folded sheet of Phyllo slightly off-center of the pan, with about 3 inches of overhang…do it again – it should take 4 sheets to completely encase the bottom like this:
Next, brush the bottom and side with a bit of butter clarified butter to keep the phyllo moist.
Take a cup of your egg mixture and spread it across the bottom, then add some of your chicken chunks…then add some clarified butter to your almond mixture and put it on top of the chicken like this…
After filling the “basteeya”, you take those overhanging ends of phyllo dough and encase the pie!
Paint the top with more butter and put it in the oven for a half hour or so…keep an eye on it as it gets toasty quickly…then, it was all about how to take it out!
Well, I was very frustrated that I stopped filming because when I flipped the dish, it came out easily!
Here it is before I flipped it – and here’s what it looked like after I flipped it!
I was very happy with how it looked, no leakage at all!
Now, it was just about dusting the top with powdered sugar and this Moroccan “Basteeya” was ready for its closeup!
Remember when I said that the egg mixture, put in on the bottom, was now on top? That’s because we flipped the dish after cooking….so the egg mixture soaked into the chicken and the almonds – and it was delicious!
This Moroccan “Basteeya” AKA “Chicken Pot Pie” was savory and sweet as well! The spices gave it a very moroccan feel, with cinnamon and nutmeg helping the almond flavor pop, and of course the saffron was rich and gave the chicken an enhanced flavor as well…add that powdered sugar as a sweet finish and the dish came together beautifully – and presented nicely as well!
Thanks for Chef Mourad Lahlou for a terrific, traditional Moroccan dish – I’ve had a blast cooking food from different cultures, like when I made a traditional “Tiffin” dish!
This terrific eggplant dish was healthy, delicious and portable as well…click here for this terrific recipe:
I have made everything from vegan eggplant rollups to a “Duck Pancetta Mustard” pie:
How did it turn out?
Click here for the recipe and the result!
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Categories: 52 In 22!, Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Travel, Recipes, Travel, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
This looks like a very tasty thing to eat. Did it take you the good part of the day to make? Where you tempted not to put on the sugar topping?
Two great questions! Yes, the layering process was time consuming and I never eat deserts, so the powdered sugar was unnecessary – if you look at my finished photo it’s not really on there nearly as much as the recipe called for – didn’t need it at all! Thanks for commenting!
Yum!
I have a bastila on my blog as well! It’s the only kind of chicken pot pie I’ll eat! We’ve eaten at a Moroccan restaurant once, and my husband didn’t care for the sugar component of many of the Moroccan foods. I certainly prefer savory over sweet, but the combination worked for me.
oh, yessssss!
There used to be some very good North African restaurants in London, and I have eaten that same pie in Marrakesh, on our honeymoon in 2009. I think you would love Marrakesh, John, if you haven’t already been there.
Best wishes, Pete.
Have never been, Pete but it’s on my list as a possible way to stop halfway to S. Africa for a safari….the flight to S.A. from the states is 20 hours and massive jet lag, so going to the Middle East first is what we are looking at!
Yum…I know a man who could eat a slice of that 🙂
Hi John, this really is a delicious looking pie.
It was unique to be sure – savory pie with a hint of sweetness!
Yes, it is an interesting and unique idea