Algerian Chicken Chtit’ha

I don’t cook Algerian food very often, the meals we eat are quite eclectic so it seems that hubby is missing all the Algerian delights he would be enjoying if he were spending the month of Ramadan back in Algeria with his mum, sisters, brothers and extended family. Today he made a special request for Chicken Chtit’ha which is a very simple Algerian dish which is essentially chicken cooked in a tomato and garlic sauce.

You need:

1 small onion

3 cloves garlic 

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon chicken spices/baharat/ra’s al-hanout

1/8 teaspoon paprika

2 whole Allspice (the round ones that look like large peppercorns)

2 teaspoons tomato paste concentrate

1/2 can chickpeas

pieces of skinless chicken – this amount of sauce should be good for 2 or 3 whole legs

water

To make:

• Use a cheesegrater (with the largest holes) and shred the onion into a pan containing 1 tablespoon oil then using a finer grater, grate in the garlic.
• Saute on a medium heat taking care not to over colour the onions.
• When soft, add the chicken pieces and fry to seal.
• Add the spices and tomato paste, stir well and add 1/4 cup of water and the chickpeas.
• After a short while add another cup of water and bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to low-medium.
• Stir regularly and add small amounts of water if and when necessary.
• If you like it hot, add 1 teaspoon of harissa with the tomato paste.

The end result should be tender pieces of chicken in a thickish sauce that you can eat with bread; you don’t want it to dry out but also you don’t want it tobe too runny and soupy.

More traditional craft stuff!

More traditional crafty stuff…

The turquoise set that I want but we didn’t get because we don’t know how to get it home intact. There were far more pieces than this though; there were also couscous dish, oval fish plates, laban jug and mugs, large serving plates, beautiful latticed fruit bowl. I’m so disappointed! I now wish we’d bought it and brought it back a few pieces at a time, leaving the rest at my in-laws to collect later!

And some traditional Kabylie jewellery:

Hammam Melouane

Hammam Melouane is a small town at the foot of the Blidean Atlas mountains; 37km south west of Algiers. Hammam is the Arabic for baths and it is the presence of the baths with thermal spring water that gives the town it’s name.

The drive from Algiers to Hammam Melouane is a beautiful one; as you turn inland away from the coast the scenery quickly becomes mountainous and you drive past fields upon fields of olive trees, apricot trees, orange groves already bearing tiny green spheres which will grow and become ripe by December, fig trees which have already been harvested for the first batch of larger figs – the smaller sweeter ones will come later, grape vines and prickly pear cacti which are interestingly named in Algerian although I am unsure as to why: they are called Qarnous Nasaara (Pears of the Christians) or Hindi (Indian).

As you enter the town of Hammam Melouane, you drive along a narrow road through the mountains and arrive in a populated valley with green mountains rising on all sides; these mountains are covered in snow during the winter.

If you pass right through the town, you will come to another mountain road and the stream which comes from higher in the mountains and people enjoy bathing there.

The actual hammam, Station Thermale, is reasonably priced at 120Dinars (6Riyals/75p) for adults and 60Dinars for children. The men’s section is to one side and ladies’ section to the other side. There are private rooms with a chair and bath so there’s no need for communal bathing.

The water is hot and salty and full of minerals, rare gases, nitrogen, magnesium and iron. It is especially recommended for those with any kind of rheumatism; illnesses of the bones; joint pain; problems with the intestines, liver, pancreas and kidneys; circulation problems in addition to other conditions.

It is not recommended for those in the final stages of cancer, those with advanced tuberculosis and those with acute infections. *

On the main road through the town there is a busy street market and shops selling seasonal fruits, traditional clayware and other souvenirs and novelties.

Traditional Algerian crafts

I love all the traditional Algerian/North African handicrafts – there’s just too much that I want to buy! We went to a market this week for a browse and there was just so much to see and at such reasonable prices.

The traditional clay dinner services were gorgeous; the one I want is like the orange and lime ones in the pic below but in turquoise. The plate with a pyramid lid is for serving cous cous and the lidded bowl beneath that is for shorba (soup).

The clay plates in the photo below are tagines for baking traditional Algerian semoline bread, matlou’. There is the type with a plain base or the spotted one has a patterned base so the underneath of the bread comes out with a nice pattern.

Clay couscousieres… the bottom part is for making the stew and the top part is a steamer for the couscous, it has holes in it.

Beautiful, intricate woollen woven rugs:

Random tiling that you see around the place on walls and even around the outside tap in my in-laws house. This was just a tiled area on a wall and you buy this sort of thing framed to hang at home:

La Grande Poste

This beautiful piece of Arabesque architecture surprisingly is La Grande Poste in central Algiers and was built in 1910.

The steps you can see leading down in the photograph below lead to the metro station although Algiers is still awaiting completion of that project.

Amir Abdelkader

Briefly, Amir Abdel Kader was, “… a political and military leader who led a struggle against the French invasion in the mid-nineteenth century, for which he is seen by the Algerians as their national hero.” He lived from 1808 – 1883 and died in Damascus.

The monument below is a statue of the Amir and stands in Algiers on the Rue Larbi.

Algeria’s first international fast food restaurant, ‘Quick’ is right next to the monument along with other icecream shops and cafes.

Oh yes, and we did go into Quick as dd12 was desperate for a cheeseburger (kids!). It was packed in there contrary to what I had heard about the place being unpopular and too expensive. A Double cheeseburger with french fries and a Coke was 270Dinars (13.5Riyals; £1.70) – maybe a little expensive by Algerian standards but in line with the price in Saudi and Europe.

Ketchaoua mosque

I have posted photographs of various mosques in Saudi Arabia and UAE but none of any mosques in Algeria yet so here are two which are very close together and both in the capital, Algiers. We went to Algiers during the week and our walk started from the Rue de la Lyre where the Ketchaoua mosque is situated.

Ketchaoua mosque (pronounced ‘Ketchowa’) which is at the foot of the Casbah has quite an interesting history. It was mosque then cathedral and then later, mosque once again. Originally it was built by the Ottomans but was coverted into a cathedral during French colonial times; it was restored back to a mosque in 1962.

“The Ketchaoua mosque (Djamaa Ketchaoua جامع كتشاوة), at the foot of the Casbah, was before independence in 1962 the cathedral of St Philippe, itself made in 1845 from a mosque dating from 1612. ” *

The mosque has some very beautiful architecture as can be seen in the photographs I managed to snap.

You can just see the mosque in the picture below; there are crowds of people because the street just near to the mosque is the site of a popular market selling dates, clothing and other items.

Looking in the other direction you can see the Masjid El-kabir; it is the oldest mosque in Algiers apparently dating back to at least 1097.

M’hadjeb

Yesterday morning I sat with my sister-in-law for practical lessons in how to make M’hadjeb. It’s something I have wanted to learn to make for a long time now so it’s about time! M’hadjeb is similar in principle to the Pakistani/Indian Paratha in that it is a flat chapatti type of bread with a filling; in the case of M’hadjeb though, the dough is made from semolina rather than regular flour.

It is a very economical recipe at this time of year since semolina is a staple of North Africa and onions, tomatoes and peppers are in season and are cheap. Tomatoes are around 10Dinars/kilo (50halala/kg; 7p/kg)

The filling is made from equal quantities of chopped onions and peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes. Sauté the onions until soft, add salt and the tomatoes, some chopped green pepper if desired and you can also add chili powder or caraway seed if you like. Cook until reduced and rich in flavour.

For the dough, pour semolina of medium coarseness into a large bowl – for my trial run I just used about 1 kilo of semolina and a teaspoon of salt. Pour on some tepid water and mix briskly with the hands and add enough water to obtain a dough that comes together and is kneadable.

Turn the dough out onto the table and start kneading and keep sprinkling with drops of water and pummeling, stretching and kneading. You probably need to sprinkle with water every minute. Knead really well for at least half an hour. We kneaded for about 20 minutes, covered and refrigerated and then continued in the morning for another 15 minutes.

You should finally have a soft, elastic dough that is quite sticky. You’ll find that it is easy to knead but if you leave it for a moment, it sticks to the work surface. To test, break off a small piece and stretch into a rectangle, it should stretch easily and become quite sheer.

Form the dough into even sized balls, about the size of a tennis ball.

Oil the table and your hands and then take one piece of dough and with the hands smooth out and flatten the dough into a large square/rectangle. Holes don’t matter too much but try to make it as even as possible and avoid very thick areas. Stretch any thick edges.

Bring the top edge down and fold to the middle of the square and then add a tablespoon of the filling and spread out to cover what will be the middle section.

Next, fold up the bottom edge, then the left side over as far as the final edge of the filling and then the right side. Pat down gently and make sure none of the filling is oozing out. Sprinkle with oil.

Carefully lift up the M’hadjeb and place on the hot plate which should be set over a medium to high heat.

Turn over with a palette knife and cook evenly on both sides.

They can also be made with no filling, and then sprinkled with sugar and eaten with coffee; these are Ma’aarek.

I’m hoping that these instructions will be an adequate reminder for me when I get back home in order to replicate what I made yesterday!

Cherchell

Cherchell Port

We took a drive along the coast to Cherchell during the week. It was a two and a half hour drive through some beautiful scenery: the Mediterranean sea to the right and fertile, green hills to the left. After Tipaza the road to Cherchell turned inland and the landscape became more lush: fields growing tomatoes, figs, plums and lots more besides. There were children at the sides of the roads selling baskets of freshly picked produce such as prickly pears and tomatoes.

My 4 year old son was delighted every time we drove past donkeys which are used quite a lot for labour in the area.

The actual town of Cherchell is quite old and run down like most towns I have visited in Algeria but it has a long and rich history dating back to 1500BC and the Ancient Egyptians. However it is best known for it’s Roman ruins and the modern name Cherchell is the ‘Berberisation‘ of the Roman name for the town, Caesarea.

The Masjid Er-Rahmane is quite a strange building built in the style of the Pantheon complete with Romanesque pillars.

We also drove past a Roman aquaduct coming back out of Cherchell going back to Tipaza but I missed the opportunity to photograph it. See a photograph here. Amazingly intact piece of architecture.

Hijab in Algeria

It’s quite a change being in Algeria after Saudi Arabia as regards the hijab and abaya. Wherever you see a lot of women in Saudi, it is a sea of black. The abaya shops are just a variation of black in different designs but I have noticed that black, particularly head to toe black, is really uncommon in Algeria. If a woman wears a black abaya she will usually wear a colourful head scarf. Abayas (long flowing coat-like garment) come in all colours here and are usually completed with a contrasting head scarf.

Whilst it is still not common, I have noticed over the past 7 years that more and more ladies are wearing the Algerian Djelbab which is similar to the Saudi head abaya or Iranian chador. Unlike the Saudi and Iranian counterparts they are generally not black but brown, navy or green and almost always with a white scarf underneath – sometimes with niqab, most often without. The lady on the right of the photograph below is wearing the Algerian Djelbab in sage green with a white scarf underneath.