As I said in a former post, Algerian cuisine has a big range of typically Algerian pasta that plays the role of rice in other countries . these dishes are so numerous that I am going to devote a separate category to detail them..
Algerian pasta dishes are very different from the Italian versions. the pasta is made out of semolina then shaped into numerous ways according to different regions . almost every province has its own speciality.
To prepare these dishes, meat ( chicken or lamb) are simmered in an aromatic broth along chickpeas and some vegetables, pasta is steamed couscous- style, then put to absorb the former broth before being served hot with chickpeas on top, and meat , vegetables around the outer rim.
Today, I am going to show you how to prepare the trida or mkartfa pasta, a speciality of the eastern part of the country. . hope my photos will contribute in shedding more lights onto this delicious dish .
I’ll post the recipe of the dish in a separate article, in the meantime, you can find it detailed in my french blog (clic)
Ingredients:
300g of fine semolina ( mine was a bit coarse, as it’s difficult to find good quality semolina, here in Asia)
200g of all purporse flour
a pinch of salt
1 egg
enough water to blend all the above ingredients
Procedure:
Mix the two flours, make a well in the center, incorporate salt and egg into the well. use your fingertips to blend the mixture together , adding water each time until the dough is well combined and a smooth dough is formed. knead the dough for 7 to 10 km without tearing it, pushing the dough with the palm of your hand each time. cut it into equal sized balls. deep each ball in cornstarch , cover and let them rest for half a day. the more they rest, the more they will be more easily worked with.
At this time, you need a pasta machine to help you roll the dough as thinly as possible. if not a rolling pin will work just fine.
with a rolling pin, flatten your pasta ball, as thin as possible making sure it is not wider than the slot of the pasta machine. pass the dough on the different slots of the machine, starting by the widest to the smallest one without skipping the numbers to avoid jamming the machine and tearing the pasta. sprinkle every sheet of pasta with cornstarch. . now that your dough is very thin, let it dry for 15 to 20 minutes until the sheets are dry enough to be cut without having the pasta squares stuck to each other .
superpose the pasta sheets, trim the edges and cut them into strips of 4/5cm large, then into small squares.let them dry for one entire day before cooking or freezing them.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a pasta machine,roll your pasta sheet very thinly then cut it into strips like we do for the fresh italian tagliatelle, only that the trida strips should be larger Cut s into small squares
Francais:
300g de semoule fine de bonne qualite’ . 200g de farine,( ou bien 500g de semouline) un oeuf ‘, sel, et eau pour ramaser.
mettre tous les ingrédients ensemble , pétrir ,( ds un robot / une map,) sinon a a la main sans dechirer la pate . partager en boules egales, saupoudrer de maizena couvrir et laisser quelques heures, ou une demi journee’ si vous le pouvez.
etaler les boules au rouleau puis les passer a la machine pour avoir de fines bandes , je ne donne pas les numeros qu’il faut utiliser puisque ca differe selon les marques des machines, mais faite en sorte que votre pate soit fine sans oublier de les saupoudrer de maizena pour qu’elles ne colent pas a la machine.
Laisser secher 15 a20 mn selon le climat. les bandes ne doivent etre ni trop seches pour qu’elles ne se cassent pas, ni trop fraiches sinon vous aurrez des difficultes a separer les cares. saupoudrer les bandes de maizena , les surperposer egaliser la bordure , couper en bandelettes de 4 a 5 cm de largeur puis en petits carres. laisser secher une journee’ sur un drap propre . le lendemain preparer le plat selon la methode traditionnelle.ou bien mettre au congelateur.
si vous n’avez pas de machine, vous pouvez proceder comme la recette des tagliatelle Italiennes, avec quelques details pres. etaler la pate en un fin rouleau , rouler le sur lui meme , puis couper des bandelettes qui doivent etre plus larges que les taglietelle puis chaque bandes en petits carres
Enjoy/ Beseha
more photos of the same dish :
Simply.... Algerian 