Algerian Cuisine Cuisine Algerienne by Farid ZADI

Algerian Preserved Limes

When I first started this blog a reader asked me about preserving limes like lemons in the North African manner. At the time I was not aware that we make preserved limes. I knew about preserved oranges, but the limes I had not seen before. Since then I've learned that we do indeed make preserved limes in Algeria and they are used much the same way as preserved lemons or oranges in savory dishes. We also make sweet and salty or just sweet citrus preserves.

I used this this jar for the sake of taking the photo. I'm going to transfer it to a jar with a plastic lid. You don't want to use anything with metal because it will corrode.

There's really nothing to do making these, I sprinkled 1/4 cup of coarse sea salt over every 1-2 layers of limes. You'll notice that I usually cut my citrus in half or quarters, whereas lots of other recipes call for making incisions into the citrus. I prefer my method because I rarely use a whole citrus in my recipes.

Top with water. I find the suggestion to top with citrus juice to be a bit of overkill. Salt preserved citrus has quite a bit of flavor, there's really no need to add more.

During the winter don't forget to make preserves with small sweet lemons and blood oranges!

Le Creuset Tagine- Cookware Review

First of all I'd prefer a larger and deeper base. The shallow, small base limits the kind of tagines that can be prepared in it. It performs best for braised tagines with very little liquid added, but is simply not large enough for layered tagines or tagines that call for lots of sauce.

Basic Chick pea Recipe- Algerian Pantry Item

I'm finding some great bargains on slightly soft tomatoes, less than 50 cents per pound for vine ripened tomatoes that are getting late in the season. They're not exactly overripe just a little too soft for salads. They are perfect for making fresh salsas and tomato sauces.

I grated 2 pounds of tomatoes on the side of a box grater and discarded the skin. I didn't strain out the seeds, you can if they bother you. I cooked 1 pound of chick peas that I had soaked overnight in water for about 2 hours, drained and added my fresh tomato puree. And cooked the chick peas in the tomato sauce seasoned with salt for another 30 minutes. I wanted very tender cooked chick peas and a simple base to make other dishes from.

I made a big batch for freezing. I portioned the chick peas into small sandwich bags, wrapped the bags in parchment paper to keep them from freezing together and tossed them in a large zipper lock bag.

Algerian Tadjines (Tagine, Tajine, Tajeen)

I'm bumping up this post because I've added lots of photos and more information about Algerian tagine cooking. I'll probably add more as my schedule permits. This is one of the most popular posts on this blog.

The question of what exactly tagine means seems to come up often The stock answers are that it is an Algerian or Moroccan cooking vessel of Berber origin with a conical lid and the name of dishes cooked in such a vessel or a thick Tunisian omelette.

From Medieval Arab Cookery: Essays and Translations by Maxime Rodinson, A.J. Arberry and Charles Perry, "This book distinguishes between qalaya, fried in a pan called miqla and mutajjanat, fried in a pan called tajin (from the Greek tagenos, teganos*)."

TAGINE POTS AND PANS
In Algeria the word tagine (tajine, tajin, tadjine, etc...) still refers to pans. Bread pans, frying pans, pans with conical lids, pans without lids, pans with flat lids, baking pans, pans of different depths, clay pans, copper pans and cast iron pans. Tagine also refers to pots like tandjiyas (tangias) and couchas.

TAGINE DISHES COOKED IN POTS AND PANS CALLED TAGINES
Dishes that are cooked in pans and pots that are called tagines usually have a qualifier. Like chicken and apricot tagine, bread tagine (for bread cooked in a comal like pan or a skillet), tagine with eggs, tagine with lamb and prunes, tagine with chicken and preserved blood orange, and tagine warka or tagine malsouka (also called a pastilla or torta). 

TAGINES THAT ARE MADE IN COOKWARE NOT CALLED TAGINES
Soups and stews cooked in a bottom tier of a couscousier are also called tagines (or NOT). In some cases meat or poultry dishes steamed in the top tier of a couscousier are called tagines.

Occasionally I read an article comparing moisture loss between handmade clay tagines, commercially produced enamel coated tagines and casserole pots. The conclusions vary as to whether or not the magical conical lid does indeed help retain moisture better. The problem with many of these articles is that although the writers comment on lids that don't fit well they don't know enough about clay tagine cooking to know that a simple paste of flour and water is used to seal ill fitting lids.

The writers simply don't know enough about what a tagine vessel is or rather what they are. A clay tagine is not one type of vessel with a conical lid. And they're not all cooked on top of a brazier. Some are cooked in a taboona (oven) or buried in hot ashes. Tagines cooked on a brazier don't all have conical lids either. One method uses a flat lid on top of which hot coals are place to simulate oven cooking with heat from all sides.

Algerian Samsa

I used the same dough and stuffing for these samsas that I prepared for my meloui

Ramadan is the month for fried foods! Especially fried sweets or savory pastries like these samsas. These are fried in just a little bit of oil and are quite light compared to most fried pastries or turnovers. They taste rather like a semolina pizza dough stuffed with spiced potatoes.

I serve these with a spicy chermoula or a salsa tomatish. A mixed green salad or a sweet and peppery orange and arugala salad. A spicy chick pea or lentil soup is also quite nice with these samsas.

According to The Oxford Companion to Food 10th and 13th century Arab cookbooks call these sanbusak derived from the Persian sanbosag. South Asian samosas, Afghani sambosas, Central Asian waraqi samsa or sambusai varaqi, and Turkish samsas all belong to the same family of turnovers.

Samsa is an Ottoman influence in Algerian cooking, but that doesn't mean we didn't have stuffed turnovers before the Turks. We had Moorish pastillas (beestiya), Arab trid, and Berber kesrettes. And post Ottoman rule, Algerians added cocas from Catalan to our culinary lexicon.

 

Algerian Meloui- Layered Bread

Ramadan is also the month for special breads and savory pastries in Algeria. Breads, boureks and samsas perfumed with spices or stuffed with a variety of vegetables or meats.

Meloui is a layered flatbread, some versions are similar to South Asian parathas or Malaysian roti canais. It can made with durum wheat semolina, whole wheat flour or all purpose flour. I prefer to use semolina or Indian durum atta which is the closest thing to Algerian whole wheat flour I can find in the states. White flour is becoming increasingly available in urban areas in Algeria. I don't like to use it, the flavor and texture just isn't doesn't sing bled (countryside) to me.

I made a very large batch of dough because I used the same dough to make samsas (my next post). I used 4 cups of fine semolina, salt, and 1 package of yeast (you can use natural starter or a piece of leftover dough from a previous batch of bread dough), but I used packaged yeast because it was convenient for me. Besides, most North African cookbooks call for packaged yeast.

I only kneaded the dough for 10-15 minutes because I wanted a very tender meloui. The addition of yeast also helps make for a lighter meloui. Some versions of meloui call for 30-40 minutes of kneading to really build up the gluten.

Raisins on The Vine

Raisins on the vine

I was pleasantly surprised to find these at a local Armenian market. The last time I saw raisins on the vine was when I was in Algeria. They have them in France as well.

Raisins dried on the vine have a complexity of flavor that tray dried raisins don't have. These have an earthiness, a hint of smokiness and what I'm tempted to describe as sour tannin flavors. They have a caramel flavor that isn't has cloying as the tray dried raisins.

These are my raisins of choice for sweet meat tagines, but I would also use them on a cheese platter for a rustic and elegant touch.

Marqa Recipe for Ramadan (Marka, Maraq or Marak)

This is my entry for Super Soup Challenge another food blogging event via Is My Blog Burning.

Marqa is the Algerian derja (dialect) word for Arabic maraq (marak or marag). I was curious about the variations in pronunciation and meaning, so I looked up the word in Medieval Arab Cookery and Delights from The Garden of Eden by Nawal Nasarallah.

In Algerian derja marqa means sauce. Medieval Arab Cookery confirms my understanding of the word. I found a South Asian food blog that refers to marag as a stew (Hyderabad marag). In Delights from The Garden of Eden Nawal Nasrallah tells us that marga or marag in Iraq is a stew "of meat and vegetables simmered in tomato sauce". In Tunisia marqa usually refers to braises or stews cooked in tagines.

In The Middle of The Mix- blog interview with me in French

In The Middle of The Mix  (Algerian blog in French by Jilal), click on the link to read the Q&A interview. The Algerian blogsphere has grown considerably since I started my blogs. I was surprised to find more and more in English because there aren't that many of us in anglophone countries. I did a little googling and found this page on the Algerian Embassy in the U.K's. website

By the 1980s, Great Britain came in second place, after France, as a  destination for students in training. At the beginning of the nineties,   Glasgow, Sheffield, Salford, Leeds and Nottingham universities had work     programmes with their Algerian counterparts in Blida, Tizi Ouzou,  Constantine, Annaba and Oran.

I can't resist posting a bit of trivia about Algerian Coffee Stores in London.

Algerian Coffee Stores

Did you know that the first Algerian Coffee Stores were opened in London in 1887? One can be found at 52 Old Compton Street, London W1D 4PB and continues to offer its customers teas and coffees  imported from around the world.

Trading in coffee, tea, spices, silk and gold flourished between Algeria and England for    centuries.

I wish I had known about Algerian Coffee Stores when I lived in London.  Apparently it is well known and receives quite favorable reviews. I wonder my English mates neglected to tell me about it?  But I'm digressing considerably.

Back to the Algerian blogsphere. It seems that every major Algerian region, University or cultural group has at least one website and an online forum. They're in French, Tamazight (berber languages), Arabic or English.

Almost all of the Algerian professionals I know speak at least 3-4 languages, usually French, English, Maghrebi or MSA Arabic, and a Tamazight dialect. Which makes sense considering our country's history and the trend for Algerian professionals to be educated abroad.

 

Foodie Blog Roll

Foodie Blog Roll I joined the foodie blogroll a week or so ago and forgot to post about it as promised. There are several food blog aggregators. Is My Blog Burning lists 3 or 4. You can google for more. A special thanks to KIPlog who was the first, as far as I know. Each blog roll is a bit different, you can join all of them if you like, so there's no need to think too hard about the matter.