Algerian Cuisine Cuisine Algerienne by Farid ZADI

Algerian Home Cooking

On my family farm in Setif we make olive oil from the fruits of our own trees. We hand pick the olives, remove the leaves and twigs, wash and pat them dry. The olives are then taken to a mill to be crushed in an ancient stone mill.  The oil is separated from the paste without the use of heat, it is all natural..

This sort of olive oil is beyond extra-virgin. Dip a little bread into it and you are eating the unctuous soul of the olive itself. I have never seen or heard of anything like it outside of North Africa and the Middle East.

My Aunt Farida also brines and cures her own olives.

The Zadi farm cooking also uses fresh butter, we make smen too but use it more as a flavoring agent. The butter is freshly churned daily from raw milk resulting in a rich, nutty flavor. This is where we get lben a type of buttermilk.

Qares Mraqqed, Algerian Preserved Lemons, Citrons Confits

Preserved lemons are a common Algerian pantry item. It's also very popular in France and not just amongst Algerian immigrants.

Preserved lemons are showing up in temples of French haute cuisine as citron confit.

Unleavened Khobz el Dar

Khobz el dar is pain maison, as the name suggests every home prepares its own version. The most basic form is unleavened and cooked in a skillet. Other versions are leavened and are cooked in a skillet, home oven or communal oven.

Whole Wheat Khobz

My beloved Aunt Farida had green eyes and blond hair. She was generous in figure and very affectionate with arms twice as thick as mine.

She made a flat khobz with whole wheat flour and cooked it on a large steel pan over a natural fire. Sometimes she would finish or reheat the bread over the fire to give an even more smoky flavor.

She stacked them in a cloth and covered them to prevent them from drying out.

This type of bread is best eaten as made, but that is not always possible. Sometimes a little extra virgin olive oil or butter is spread on them to keep them supple.

My favorite way to eat flat khobz is with lben and maybe some dates. It's also used as a scoop or wrap for a range of condiments, vegetable dishes, grilled meats, soups and stews.

Durum Wheat Semolina Flour

Durum wheat semolina flour is not only used for couscous it is also used for a range of breads, crepes and pasta dishes.

Kesra is about 3/4" thick and is usually eaten with lben  (buttermilk) or kefir. I will post more extensively about lben and kefir later.

The thinner version are sometimes called Kabylie crepes, but the name will vary depending on the region. Kabylie crepes often times serve as a base for bean and vegetable toppings or are used to scoop food.

The thinnest are rougag, which are torn after cooking and serve as a base for a range of stews and sauces.

There are many more preparations using durum wheat semolina flour which I will discuss later. At the moment I want to focus on the fundamentals.

Note the thin kesra that I call Kabylie crepes are called kessar el yabssa "dry bread" or "la baguette sec" in Dellys, Bouremedes, Algeria. In Palestro they are called el fitira and 5km SE in Kadiria it's called kessra r'kika according to Hichem and Jilal. Jilal runs a hybrid forum blog. It is in French.

Cooking on a farm in Setif

I do not know how long we will spend on my family farm in Setif before moving on to other parts of Algeria. We can stay here for at least a year learning about the backbone of Algerian cuisine, 100% bled.

I will try to post at least one recipe a day, if not more. I already have most of them cataloged anyway.  Many recipes will have step by step photo tutorials. Eventually I will invest in equipment to do video presentations. Every week or so I will pick a theme such as breads or couscous and explore it in detail. Or I'll pick a set of ingredients such as chicken, olives and preserved lemons and use them in different dishes to highlight the ingenuity and creativity of Algerian cooking. I will take you from nose to tail with lamb dishes and 101 ways to prepare eggs and chicken. I will cover the range of pastas, sweets, preserves and more.

I will take you to France to visit Algerian restaurants, pastry shops, butchers and halal charcuteries. I also hope to take you on a trip with me to Algeria next year.

All the recipes will eventually be translated into French and Arabic.

Life on a farm in Setif

The village the Zadi family farm is located in is not even on the map.

We are not sure how we settled there. My grandfathers dressed in blue like the Tuaregs, my cousins wore Kabylie coats as children and we are sure we are Badwi Bedouin as well. We speak Arabic and an Arabized version of Tachawit, we do not speak any "pure" dialect of Tamazight (Berber)..

Our words for food are sprinkled with Tamazight words. We call bread made from semolina flour Kesra (bread made from wheat flour is called Khobz, Arabic for bread) and couscous seksu.

 

Setif

(Djemila has some of greatest Roman ruins in North Africa)

My book of rai on Algeria begins in the Wilaya of Setif in North East Algeria where my family is from. Setif is south of the Babor mountains of the Kabylie.

The Romans called Setif Sitfis. The province of Mauretania Sitifensis was established around 300, with Sitifis as the main city.

The Moderrn city of Setif was built by the French colonials. The amusement park in the center of the city is a more recent addition. There is a Byzantine ruin next to it.