As you bite into a crisp, buttery pastilla, the sugar and cinnamon activates your sweet taste receptors, but the sweetness quickly fades as the savory filling hits your tongue. The tender chicken and onions flood your mouth with an umami rich burst of flavor that carries with it notes of ginger, turmeric, and cardamom. Add to that the crunchy butter-fried almonds, and you’ll start to get a picture of just how magnificent this humble pastry can be. It’s important to use clarified butter in this recipe since the milk solids in regular butter will burn before the almonds are fully toasted. Using clarified butter for the phyllo will also prevent your finished pastillas from taking on a mottled appearance. If you’re anything like me and are too lazy to clarify your own butter, you can buy it in jars at Indian groceries labeled as “ghee”. If portability isn’t important, this recipe could be used to make a more traditional pie shaped pastilla. Just put down a few layers of phyllo and butter into a round pan, fill with almonds and chicken, then cover with more buttered phyllo.
📖 Recipe
