Inspired by a recipe in the guardian
I made my modifications and added /changed some spices but still kept the middle eastern flavours as thats at the heart of this recipe!
This was seriously delicious
Something i’d be making again!
Chicken thighs or legs 6-8 with skin and bones
salt 2 tsp
pepper 1 tsp
pitted dates 1 cup
onions 3, peeled and sliced
cinnamon stick 1
dried red chilli 2-3
Nine spice mix -recipe in my highlights 2 tbsp
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
water 1 cup
filo pastry 1 packet
melted butter 4tbsp
Pre heat oven to 400 F
Heat a frying pan or cast iron pan
Place the chicken skin-side down in it and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. Dont need to add oil
Cook till skin is crisp and gold, remove and keep aside
in the same frying and add the sliced onions and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add a bit of butter if needed ,it didn’t as v there was enough oil from chicken skin/
fat.Cook the onions until they are soft and slightly brown Add the cinnamon stick, dried chilli ,nine spice mix ,ginger powder and cayenne and mix well. Add dates and cook for 1 minute add water Once boiling, pour over the chicken thighs in an ovenproof pan. Cover the pan and place in oven and bake for 80 minutes or so till chicken is almost fall off the bone soft!
Pull the chicken from the bones and discard bones
Separate cooking liquid and add chicken back to the rest of onion and date mix
Remove the chilli and the cinnamon stick. Mix the chicken meat together with the cooked dates and onions, using little bit of the cooking liquid use your hands to roughly mix
Divide the phyllo into 4-5 sheets
And lay them in the baking pan crisscrossing over each other at the base and the rest hanging out the sides of the pan
This way basically layers are over lapping at base to make it thicker
Fill with the chicken mixture and fold the corners over to cover itt Brush the top of the pastry with some melted butter and put in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp.
Use the extra cooking liquid reserved as sauce
I also used the oranges seasoned with mint salt pepper and olive oil with it
Enjoy!!
Let me know if you try it😊
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