Moroccan bastilla – a meat-filled pie enclosed within an elegantly thin and crispy shell – has gained worldwide popularity due to its incredible blend of tastes and textures. But did you know that this Moroccan food is also a great do-ahead dish? It can be prepared up to the baking point and then stored a day in the refrigerator (or much longer in the freezer). Think busy schedules or entertaining, and that’s not an understated value.
The pastry dough used to make bastilla is called warqa (sometimes spelled ourka). In Arabic, warqa literally means “paper,” and indeed this Moroccan pastry dough is paper-thin. Warqa is widely used in Moroccan cooking to make bastilla, braewat (small pastries stuffed with a variety of fillings) and desserts.
Phyllo dough may be substituted for the warqa in Moroccan recipes. Like phyllo dough, warqa is fragile and will dry out quickly if not kept covered.
The traditional Moroccan recipe for bastilla called for pigeons, but today bastilla is much more likely to be filled with chicken or seafood. In the chicken version, aromatic cinnamon, exotic saffron, sweet cilantro, and the pungent additions of white and black pepper and ginger all combine to give this sweet and spicy dish well-earned fame in the culinary world.
Chicken bastilla offers a unique mix of textures. The delicate, crispy crust perfectly complements the savory chicken filling, spicy omelet stuffing, and crunchy ground almonds sweetened and flavored with orange flower water. A garnish of powdered sugar and cinnamon, often presented in a geometric design, adds to the fusion of flavors.
Seafood bastilla is also a favorite dish among Moroccans. In this version of the Moroccan classic, the paper-thin pastry encloses a filling of shrimp, calamari and swordfish or whiting. An Asian influence is evident with the addition of black mushrooms, rice vermicelli, hot sauce and soy sauce.
Despite bastilla’s popularity, not all Moroccan cooks know how to make bastilla, and even fewer excel at it. Bastilla is often served as a first course at formal parties or to celebrate a wedding or birth. For such special occasions, where guests typically number a hundred or more, families might hire professional cooks to prepare this elaborate dish over fire and coals on rooftop terraces. Once assembled, the bastillas are sent to a street oven for browning.
You don’t need a rooftop terrace and a professional chef to get the same great results. Here is a fail-proof and authentic Moroccan recipe for Chicken Bastilla, sure to earn compliments from even the pickiest Moroccan diner. Also try this Seafood Bastilla recipe.
Bastilla can be cut into individual servings, but Moroccans are more apt to follow tradition and gather round a single large bastilla, each person breaking off portions from the side nearest to them.
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