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:
beseha , wa takabala Allahou mina wa minkoum saliha a3mal