Algerian Recipes

Algerian Hariri

Hariri is a rich North African soup made in both Algeria and Morocco, and the Algerian version differs from its Moroccan neighbour in one clear respect: it contains no lentils. Lamb, chickpeas, tomato and a heavy hand of warm spices carry it instead. Ramadan is when it matters most. Hariri is iftar food, the substantial thing eaten to break a day's fast, and it is made in quantity across Algeria through the month. It is also eaten at other times as a starter or a light meal in its own right, and it is served with potatoes or rice as well as on its own. It is not a quick soup, and the source is direct about starting early: the total cooking time runs to around two hours and twenty minutes, most of it slow and unattended, which is what softens the lamb and lets the spices settle into the broth. The spicing is characteristic rather than fierce: turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, paprika and black pepper together, with coriander added near the end so its aroma survives, and lemon wedges served alongside for a sharpness that cuts the richness.

3 hrEasyAlgeria

Recipe by Deborah · Africook

Tajine Zitoun

Tajine zitoun is an Algerian chicken and olive dish, zitoun meaning olives in Arabic, and it is a fixture at iftar during Ramadan and at occasions generally. Chicken, green olives, onion and carrot are cooked together and the sauce is finished with lemon juice and, in most versions, a little flour to thicken it. It looks like a Moroccan tagine and is not one, though both countries cook in earthenware and the resemblance is real. What distinguishes Algerian cooking, and this dish in particular, is the spice handling: restrained rather than layered, letting the olives and lemon carry the flavour instead of burying them under a heavy blend. Saffron or turmeric provides the colour. The olives need attention. Two cups of green olives brings a lot of salt with it, and the recipe is explicit about washing them well before use. Some cooks blanch them briefly for the same reason. Cooking the chicken bones in the broth and removing them before serving is the other technique worth noting: the source describes deboning the breast first, using the bones to build the sauce, then returning the browned meat at the end, which gives depth without anyone having to negotiate bones at the table.

★★★★★Highest Rated

55 minEasyAlgeria

Recipe by Blessing · Africook

Berkoukes

Berkoukes is both a pasta and the dish made from it. The pasta is hand-rolled semolina in small balls, larger than couscous and smaller than a pea, and the dish is the Algerian Berber stew built around it with meat, seasonal vegetables and pulses. It has several names depending on region: aïche, m'hamessa, abazine. The distinction between berkoukes and m'hamsa is size, with berkoukes the larger balls and m'hamsa the smaller. The grains are rolled by hand in a wide dish, traditionally wood or earthenware and now usually metal, which is slow work and why most households buy it ready made. It is winter food and it carries a season. Berkoukes is eaten in Algeria and northeastern Morocco through the cold months and particularly in January, when it marks the harvest of beans, dried fruit and meats, and it reads as a dish of abundance and generosity. The Kabylia version includes quedid, the dried meat also called achadhelouh, along with khlili, the dried mutton fat, and cultured smen. It is served with kesra or another rustic country bread. The source struggles for a word for its consistency and settles on scoup, which is fair: it is too thick for soup and too brothy for stew.

★★★★★Highest Rated

1 hr 20 minMediumAlgeria

Recipe by Blessing · Africook

Chtitha Batata

Chtitha batata is the Algerian potato stew, and it is built on dersa. Dersa is a paste of garlic and chilli ground in a mortar with cumin, paprika, black pepper and cayenne, and it is the starting point for a whole family of Algerian dishes, chtitha among them. The technique is straightforward and the order matters. The dersa is fried first until fragrant, which is what opens up the spices, and the potatoes go in and are turned through it so every surface is coated before any liquid arrives. Tomato paste follows, then just enough water to cover, and it cooks until the potatoes are soft and the sauce has thickened around them. It is vegan as written and eaten as a main course on its own terms, not as a compromise, which is unusual for a stew of this kind. Meat can go into the sauce and often does, and chickpeas are a common addition that the source's prose mentions though the recipe itself does not include them. It keeps four days refrigerated and reheats well, and the flavour improves overnight as the dersa works into the potatoes.

55 minEasyAlgeria

Recipe by Blessing · Africook