Algerian Pied -Noire Cocas

Though far from  being rosy , Algeria and spain have always been tied by a  a long history of political and cultural relations ,…  since the early times  of the spanish conquests of Algerian  shores   , passing by   Miguel De Cervantes, the father of the spanish litterature and the author of Don Qui Xot    who was captured and  put to slavery for  5 long years in Algiers  ……up until the  Andalusian period   and the Spanish Pied Noire  presence during the French occupation …….
Today, The Spanish and Andalusian legacy are still clearly seen  in modern Algeria , be in in architecture, linguistics or  food…..
from the Spanish fortresses of  Oran and  the Andalusian palaces of Tlemen , to the Iconic tajine lahlou and the « andalusian  »  music, Algerian food , culture and language have absorbed elements of Andalusian and Spanish heritage  and recasted them into local moulds.

and because this blog attempts  to epitomize the amazing variety of Algerian  cultures , let me shed the light on some linguistic  Andalusian -Spanish influences  in Algerian dialect…..

when searching the etimology of certain  words ,  I found  a long list of lexicon  coming direcly  from spanish   like  » senariya » which is  the name of  carrot  in the eastern province of Algeria as well as   Tunisia. the word comes from Andalusian Arabic « senarya »  which  in turn derives  from the Spanish  » « zanahoria » .

 » Tchina »  or  Orange in Algerian dialect also comes from Spanish language.

While, for  the rest of the arab world,  » orange » translates into  » bourtoukal », Algerians  use the term tchina to designate the fruit….
it seems that  during the middle ages, mediterranean  countries knew only the bitter type of oranges called « naranje » ,  when the Spanish and Portugese sailed  to China and dicovered the sweet type, they called it, « NARANJA   DE CHINA » meaning  » oranges of China » or  « Chinese oranges… »
and as it is the norm in Linguistics , people have this  tendency of dropping long  words or swallowing  heavy letters…. Algerians who probably dicovered the sweet oranges via  the Spanish , dropped the word « naranja » and kept the word  » china ». without  altering its  spanish pronunciation i.e, /tchina/…..
from a culinary perspective,
creponet ( a pied noire lemon sorbet inventred by a Spanish family in Oran  and some say Annaba ? )  karantina  ( cheak peas pudding ) and cocas  ( spanish turnover ) are among the various iconic  Algerian street food that  continue to testify to a bygone Spanish era.

ALGERIAN PIED-NOIRE COCAS:

To change from the more classic  Ramadanese bourek, I  prepared these cocas by slightly changing this filling  ( clic) ang giving them   this shape (clic)  It was very delicious  !

here is the way I proceeded:

INGREDIENTS:

few puff pastry squares

1 pepper diced
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 ripe tomato diced,
3 to 4 vache qui rit
a handfull of chredded cheese
1 can of tuna
1 boiled and diced egg
1 tbsp of parsley
2 tbsp Olive oil
salt, pepper, paprika

PROCEDURE:

Heat the  oil in a frying pan add onion, pepper  and garlic,  cook, stirring over low heat for 2-3mn.or until soft and slighlty coloured. add diced tomato, cover ans stir occasionally until soft, add one or two tbsp of water if necessary. add the drained can of tuna, and the rest of the ingredients. season to taste. set aside to cool.

spoon one tbs of the mixtue in the centre of the puff pastry. fold over to enclose half the filling , cover with the opposide side to form a cone. brush with egg , decorate with olives, and bake for 15 to 20mn until browned and puffed. serve hot.

Francais :

les cocas sont des chaussons Algeriennes , d’origine  Espagnoles.

pour realiser ces chaussons , je me suis inspiree’ de la farce  d’eryn que j’ai legerement modifie’ ( clic) et leur donne’ la forme de babouches  (clic)

INGREDIENTS:

1oignon
2 gousses d’ail
un poivron coupe’ en des,
1tomate mure, coupee’ en des
1 boite de thon egoutee’
3 a 4 vaches qui rit
une poignee’ de fromage rapee’
une cas de persil hache;
sel, poivre, paprika
un oeuf dur coupe’ en des
2cas d’huile d’olive

 PROCEDURE:

– Raper l’ail finement, couper les oignons et le poivron   en petits dés.- Egoutter le thon, l’émietter grossièrement, réserver.- Dans une poele, faire revenir l’ail, le poivron  et l’oignon dans  l’huile d’olive .remuer de temps en temps jusqu’a ce que l’oignon devienne  translucide et le poivron tendre.ajouter la tomate coupee’ en des.couvrir  laisser cuire sur feu doux.ajouter 2 cas d’eau si necessaire. retirer du feu.ajouter le thon emiette’ ,puis  le reste des ingredients. assaisoner de sel ( tres peu) , poivre et paprika. reserver.

prendre des carres de pate feuilletes. etaler la farce au milieu, comme sur les photos ci-dessus, fermer la moitie’ de la pate sur la farce puis couvrir avec l’autre moitie’ afin d’avoir la forme d’un cornet ou babouche. badigeonner d’oeuf et decorer avec des olives. enfourner et faites cuire dans un four chaud pd 15 a 20 mn jusqu’a ce que les feuilletes gagnent une couleur doree’. servir chaud avec une soupe ou une bonne salade estivale.

beseha , wa takabala Allahou mina wa minkoum saliha a3mal