I'm bumping up this almost two year old post because there's a recent question about the recipe which I've answered and because I've been thinking a lot about Mexican moles recently.
The blogger of the week is from Spain, Cocinalia. To my pleasant surprise cocinalia has a Curso de Cocina Maghrebi.
When I think of Spain in relation to North Africa, I think of my days in Oran. One of my favorite cities in Algeria.
The most significant culinary interplay between Spain and North Africa begins with the Moors. After more than 700 years of reign on the Iberian peninsula they returned to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia with Spanish influences that are still evident in the Maghreb.
Seventeen years after Christopher Columbus set sail for the Americas the Spanish captured the port of Oran in 1509.
Rachel Lauden has written a thoroughly researched piece on The Mexican Kitchen's Islamic Connection. What intrigues for the moment are the moles.
The most common ingredients for the endless varieties of mole include: tomato, onion, cinnamon, tortillas, chiles—including anchos, pasillas, mulattos and chipotles—pumpkin seeds, raisins, star anise, cloves, sesame seeds, almonds, tablets of chocolate, tomatillos, oil, garlic, salt, allspice and serrano chiles. Nearly half these ingredients arrived in the New World with the Spanish.
The Spanish also quickly transported ingredients from The Americas throughout the Mediterranean making possible the chicken dish I had in Oran. Actually that's a bit of an overstatement since I recognize only tomatoes and chili peppers as being from the "New World" in the dish.
I present a recipe that I've recreated from memory.
3 chicken thighs.
3 chicken legs (you can also use a whole chicken or a jointed chicken).
3 cuisses de Poulet
1/2 a large onion grated.
1/2 gros oignon râpé
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced.
2 gousses d'ail emincees
3 dried apricots coarsely chopped.
3 abricots secs haches
3 prunes coarsely chopped.
3 pruneaux haches
8-12 raisins coarsely chopped
8-12 raisins haches
1 1/2 cups of homemade tomato sauce.
1 1/2 tasse de sauce tomate
2 tablespoons of white vinegar or lemon juice
2 cuilleres de vinaigre blanc ou jus de citron
1 cup of toasted nuts and seeds very finely chopped. I used walnuts, pine nuts, almonds and sesame seeds.
1 tasse de noix et graines haches. Noix, pignon, amande et sesame.
Spice blend Ras el Hanout
Cumin
Cumin
Fennel
Fenouil
Fenugreek
Fenugrec
Mustard seeds
Grain de moutarde
Cloves
Girofle
Cardamom
Cardomome
Cinnamon
Cannelle
Coriander
Coriandre
Black pepper
Poivre
Dried hot red chili (soaked in water until soft and pounded into a paste in a mortar with a pestle)
Piment rouge
Nigella seeds
Nigelle
Paprika
Paprika
Turmeric
Curcuma
Cayenne pepper
Cayenne
1 tablespoon honey
1 cuillere de miel
2- 3 tablepoons of Salt to taste
Sel
1 1/2 cups of water
1 1/2 tasse d'eau
1 dozen green olives for garnish.
12 olives vertes
I did not measure the quantities I used for each spice, if you look at the photo you will see that some spices were used in minute quantities. For instance I used only three cloves. Grind the spices in a mortar with a pestle or spice grinder.
I wrote about Algerian spice blends here. You can choose your favorite blend for this chicken recipe.
I chopped the nuts by hand and pounded them gently with a mallet. I prefer the texture and flavor to the commercially packaged pre-ground nuts.
Add all the ingredients, except the olives, to a baking dish and mix well, place the chicken pieces on top and coat with the sauce. After doing this I discovered that my oven is broken. So I transfered everything to a big pot and cooked it on the stove over very low heat for about 2 hours. Turn the chicken pieces and stir the sauce occassionally to prevent burning.
ETA: Add the olives as a garnish before serving. They do not need to be cooked.
Serve with saffron pilav or bread. Some people eat this with buttered pasta.
Note: You can also add ground peanuts and other dried fruits such as figs and dates.
If you are serving this dish in a restaurant I suggest roasting it as I did for Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives.
I usually add spices in stages with slow cooked dishes, but thes recipe has a lot of contrasting flavors so I add the spices at the beginning of cooking and leave it at that. It seems like there are lots of spices in this dish, true but in very small quanitites. The dish is perfumed with spices, not masked by the them.
Some cooks add chopped fresh herbs. I recommend flat leaf parsely or coriandor leaf for this dish.
You can also had a couple of tablespoons of semolina flour or bulghur wheat at the beginning of cooking for a thicker sauce.
Algeria Algerian Cuisine Algerian Recipes Algerian Food Algerian dishes Cuisine Algerienne Recettes Algerienne North African cuisine Maghreb Cuisine
Couscous would be perfect for this dish. I use preserved lemons instead of vinegar, I make the preserved lemons myself.
Posted by: canister set | April 29, 2011 at 05:50 PM
Interesting recepie. I didnt know something like this one.
Thanks
Posted by: the garlic guy | April 08, 2011 at 09:50 AM
That chicken looks beautiful, mouthwatering even. Some of the ingredients will be hard to source but I will try to make it. Yummy.
Posted by: Madrid Museums | April 03, 2011 at 12:43 PM
I agree with you , there is spanish influence in west algeria, especially like oran that goes back hunderds of year ago, I love medeterranian food especially olive chicken tajine with cinamon flavor, lamb tajine and liver, they are just amazing.
presto pressure cooker
Posted by: benbes | December 24, 2009 at 09:04 AM
Hello,
We bumped into your blog and we really liked it - great recipes
We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us,
enjoy your recipes.
Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com.
To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on "Add your site"
Best regards,
Vincent
petitchef.com
Posted by: vincent | March 13, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Hello,
We bumped into your blog and we really liked it - great recipes
We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us,
enjoy your recipes.
Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com.
To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on "Add your site"
Best regards,
Vincent
petitchef.com
Posted by: vincent | March 13, 2009 at 12:46 PM
I recently visited a French restaurant in Denver which used a spice called magreb or mahgreb for a lamb dish. I assume this is a spice blend. Does anyone know what it contains? Please E-Mail me at [email protected]
Posted by: Tom Kresler | October 18, 2007 at 11:03 AM
It is impossible to seperate algerian cuisine from spanish cuisine. They are not only similar in term of dishes but also the term that they use are quite the same. Thanks for this recipe and for sharing with us some spices that I 've never heard of. And thanks for the article on the mexican cuisine...who knew? Saha ramdanek.
Posted by: Rose | September 27, 2007 at 12:50 PM
These are some really wonderful posts. I love learning about the history behind foods. Very wonderful indeed. I am going to be learning a lot from blog I can see.
Posted by: JennDZ_The Leftover Queen | September 27, 2007 at 04:11 AM
When do you add the olives?
Posted by: Iman | September 25, 2007 at 10:04 AM
Schukeran!!!!
Thanks for your blog of the week!!!
Curso de Cocina Maghrebi was fantastic, I love this food and I learn a lot.
Thanks again Brigitte!!
Posted by: saomai | September 10, 2005 at 01:02 AM
Les espagnoles ou les italiens ou les grecs..leurs cuisines est d'apres tout medeteranienne..
En algerie les gens fonts la DOLMA
si tu va en espagne .;la dolam tu l'a trouve en grece pareille en italie méme chose..
j'ai etait impressionné l'autre fois a barcelone,fonts el karentikA.
Posted by: jilal | September 09, 2005 at 02:19 PM
J'étais verte de jalousie quand Cocinalia était en train de faire ce stage.
ses articles sur la mer cet été étaient captivants.
Posted by: brigitte | September 09, 2005 at 02:09 PM