Algerian Tli Tli B Djedj Pasta With Chicken

This is our family recipe for the very traditional algerian dish tli tli. You can make tli tli with chicken or meat - the meat recipe is slightly different & i will post it later. You can use any tiny pasta for this but traditionally homemade tli til pasta or orzo / bird's tongue that is used. My kids love it when i use the tiny stars or shells also. traditionally we steam the pasta for this but you can cook it for 4 minutes or so in plenty of lighty salted water before adding the sauce - the pasta needs to absorb quite a bit of the sauce so keep it undercooked..

Steps

Cut chicken up into serving sizes.

Brown in a large pan with the ghee , finely chopped onions , cinnamon , ras el hanout & pepper.

Add 1 cup water & cook for 10 minutes.

Add chick peas & add enough water to cover.

Tomato puree & the stock cube.

Cover & cook on medium heat for 1 hour & a half in a pan or 40 mins in the pressure cooker on med-high.

If cooking in a pan , you may need to add a little extra water.

Whilst the sauce is cooking , prepare the pasta & eggs.

Hard boil the eggs , then peel & cut into halves.

In a bowl , mix the pasta with 1 / 2 cup water & a tiny bit of olive or sunflower oil.

Place in a steamer & steam for 15 minutes.

Remove from steamer & separate the pasta with a little water.

Put the pasta in a large pan & slowly spoon in a little sauce at a time until the pasta is fully cooked & the sauce has been absorbed nicely - the pasta should be moist with a little sauce coating it - not dry.

Place pasta in a large dish / platter & top with the chicken pi.

Ingredients

whole chicken, canned chick-peas, ghee, black pepper, cinnamon, tomato puree, onions, garlic clove, ras el hanout spice mix, salt, eggs, orzo pasta, chicken stock cube, olive oil