Algerian Tli Tli B'djedj - Pasta With Chicken!

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 whole chicken (or 6-8 pieces bone-in chicken)
• 3/4-1 cup canned chick-peas
• 2 tablespoons ghee or 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2-3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon tomato puree, concentrate
• 2 onions
• 1 -2 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ras el hanout spice mix
• salt
• 3 -4 eggs
• 500 g orzo pasta (or homemade tli tli )
• 1 chicken stock cube
• olive oil or sunflower oil

Recipe

• 1 cut chicken up into serving sizes (6-8 pieces)
• 2 brown in a large pan with the ghee, finely chopped onions, cinnamon, ras el hanout & pepper. add 1 cup water & cook for 10 minutes
• 3 add chick peas & add enough water to cover. tomato puree & the stock cube.
• 4 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.
• 5 whilst the sauce is cooking, prepare the pasta & eggs.
• 6 hard boil the eggs, then peel & cut into halves.
• 7 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.
• 8 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.
• 9 place pasta in a large dish / platter & top with the chicken pieces, egg halves & a some more sauce.
• 10 serve immediately with a green salad & crusty bread.