Briouat (Chicken & Almond Pastry Cigars)

Poach the chicken thighs in lightly salted water for 20 minutes, until cooked through. Keep 100 ml of the liquid.

Lift the chicken out, let it cool, then shred it finely with two forks.

💡 Shred, do not chop. Long fine strands pack into a cigar; cubes make lumpy pastries that tear the warqa from inside.

Toast the almonds in a dry pan 4–5 minutes until golden, then chop them roughly.

Soften the onion in the olive oil over medium heat for 8 minutes, until translucent and sweet.

Add the cinnamon, ginger and saffron and stir for 30 seconds.

Add the shredded chicken, the reserved cooking liquid, the herbs, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Cook 8–10 minutes over medium heat, until the liquid has gone completely and the filling is dry and clumping.

💡 Bone dry is the target. Any moisture left in the filling turns to steam in the fryer, blows the pastry open and floods your oil. This is the single most important step.

Stir in the chopped almonds and let the filling cool completely.

💡 Warm filling melts the pastry into a sticky mess before you can roll it. Spread it on a plate to speed it up.

Cut the pastry sheets into strips about 8 cm wide, and keep them under a damp cloth as you work.

💡 Filo dries out and turns to cornflakes in about 90 seconds of open air. The damp cloth is not optional.

Put a heaped teaspoon of filling at one end of a strip and fold the corner over it into a triangle.

Keep folding the triangle over and over along the strip, like folding a flag.

Seal the final flap with beaten egg and press it down firmly.

💡 Check every seam before it goes near the oil. One open edge lets oil in and filling out, and a single burst briouat will ruin the whole pan of oil.

Heat the frying oil to 175°C.

Fry in small batches for 2–3 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and audibly crisp.

💡 They colour fast because the filling is already cooked — you are only crisping pastry. Two minutes is often enough.

Drain on paper towel, dust with icing sugar and cinnamon if you like, and serve hot.