Morocco · Moroccan festive cuisine (rfissa)
Moroccan rfissa with chicken and lentils
Tender spiced chicken and silky lentils with fenugreek, ladled over thin, torn flatbread that drinks up the golden onion sauce: a generous festive dish for sharing.
Cookhuddle Editorial Cookhuddle | Morocco
Editorial selection: recipes cross-checked against several documentary sources. They have not been tested in our kitchen: follow the precautions given and adapt times to your own oven.
translation Translated from French. Translation by Cookhuddle Editorial. Read the original
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- Servings
- 6
- Preparation
- 40 min
- Cooking
- 65 min
- Resting
- 5 min
- Total
- 110 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
Cuisine / tradition: Moroccan festive cuisine (rfissa) (MA) — declared by the author
- Main dish
- Celebration
Ingredients
For 6 servings
- 1.6 kg whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
- 3 piece large onions, thinly sliced
- 4 clove garlic cloves, whole
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 30 g butter (or smen: it may be salted)
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ras el hanout
- 1 pinch saffron threads
- 1 tsp salt, to start (adjust at the end)
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley and coriander, chopped
- 150 g green or brown lentils, rinsed
- 1 tbsp fenugreek seeds, soaked in cold water 2 hours to overnight, then drained
- 1 1/2 l water, for the sauce
- 300 ml hot water, to top up the sauce if needed
- 500 g plain wheat flour, for the trid
- 1 tsp fine salt, for the trid dough
- 270 ml lukewarm water, for the trid dough
- 4 tbsp neutral oil, to coat the balls and the work surface
Method
- Step 1. Ahead of time (2 hours to overnight): soak the fenugreek seeds in cold water, then drain them. Minute 0, the trid dough: mix the 500 g of flour with the fine salt, add the 270 ml of lukewarm water gradually and knead for 8 to 10 minutes into a smooth, soft, elastic dough.⏱ 10 min
- Step 2. Minute 10 to 15: divide the dough into 12 balls of about 65 g. Coat each ball generously with oil, set them on an oiled tray and cover with a cloth. Leave to rest for 30 minutes, from minute 15 to minute 45. The oil keeps them from drying and lets them stretch very thin.⏱ 30 min
- Step 3. Minute 15 to 22, during the rest: slice the onions and chop the herbs. Minute 22 to 35: in a large, heavy pot, heat the olive oil and the butter and brown the chicken pieces for about 8 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, pepper, ras el hanout, saffron, 1 teaspoon of salt and the chopped herbs, and stir for 5 minutes.
- Step 4. Minute 35 to 85: add the lentils and the drained fenugreek and pour in 1.5 litres of water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 50 minutes, until the chicken is very tender and the lentils are soft. The sauce must stay generous and flowing: top up with hot water (up to 300 ml in all) whenever it thickens too much. Check with a food thermometer: the thickest piece of chicken must reach at least 74 °C (165 °F) at the centre, without touching the bone. If it has not reached that temperature, keep cooking and check again.⏱ 50 min
- Step 5. Minute 45 to 85, while the chicken simmers: stretch the trid. On an oiled surface, with oiled hands, flatten each ball and stretch it by hand into a very thin round sheet of about 28 cm, almost transparent (you should be able to see your hand through it). Cook the sheets one at a time in a hot, dry non-stick pan for about 1 minute on each side, until just set and still pale, with no more than a few light spots of colour. Stack them under a cloth. Allow 3 to 4 minutes per sheet with one pan, so about 40 minutes for the 12 sheets (about 30 minutes with two pans); you get 12 sheets, two per person.
- Step 6. Minute 85 to 90: once the sheets have cooled a little, tear them into small pieces of about 3 cm and fluff them with your fingertips. Keep them covered.
- Step 7. Minute 90 to 100: reheat the torn trid for 10 minutes in the steamer basket of a couscoussier (over simmering water), until hot and soft. If you wish, lift the chicken from the sauce in the meantime and brown it for 5 to 8 minutes under a grill heated to 220 degrees C, brushed with a little sauce: this finish is optional, a traditional rfissa does not need it.⏱ 10 min
- Step 8. Minute 100: taste the sauce and adjust the salt and pepper now, because the smen and the butter may already be salted. Spread the hot trid in a large, deep dish and ladle over the sauce in three goes, turning the pieces gently, until it is well soaked but not floating in liquid. Keep the rest of the sauce hot in a bowl.
- Step 9. Place the chicken on the trid and spoon the remaining lentils and onions over it. Leave to rest for 5 minutes, then serve very hot, with the bowl of sauce at the table.⏱ 5 min
Story and cultural note
Rfissa is a Moroccan dish of chicken and lentils scented with fenugreek, served over trid: very thin sheets of homemade dough, cooked in a pan, torn and steamed, which soak up the sauce. Some families use layered msemen instead (given here as a variant, not mixed with this method). Cooks differ on the details: one source uses only a little fenugreek and no garlic, another uses 5 tablespoons of fenugreek, garlic, turmeric and nutmeg, and another adds fava beans. This version keeps the structure common to all.
Tips for success
Stretch the trid as thin as you can on an oiled surface and cook it only until pale, so that it stays supple and drinks the sauce. Fenugreek is bitter: soak it, drain it, and keep to one tablespoon; add more only to taste. Soak the trid in the sauce a little at a time and stop when it is moist, not floating. Season at the end, because smen and butter may already be salted. Assemble just before serving so the trid does not turn to paste. Browning the chicken under the grill is optional.
Serving and presentation
Serve in a large, deep dish at the table: the trid at the bottom, the chicken in the centre, the lentils and onions spooned over it. Scatter a little chopped coriander and bring extra hot sauce in a bowl.
Diet and allergens
Information declared by the author. CookHuddle does not verify or certify it. If you have an allergy, check the ingredients yourself.
ContainsGluten (cereals)Milk
