My Algerian cooking teacher is called Caroline. Yes right – she´s not born in Algeria. Originally Caroline comes from Texas. During a long travel trip about 10 years ago she fell in love with an Algerian guy. Now she´s living in two countries.
Caroline is almost vegan and loves to cook. One of the first Algerian recipes she made herself was Mhadjeb – it´s also called M´hadjeb or Mahdjouba. You can buy those filled Algerian flat breads everywhere in Algeria. It´s one of the most delicious street food you can find there and vegan on its own.
Mhadjeb is made from semolina and you need a lot of time and patience to knead the dough. It takes a while until it is elastic enough to make the dish. Although Mhadjeb is not one of the easy and fast recipes I offer usually – it´s worth trying. It´s not that hard to make and very, very delicious.
Mhadjeb
- 500 g semolina
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- water
- oil
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- harissa
- salt & pepper
Combine salt and semolina. Add 1 cup water. Mix together and start kneading the dough. Wet your hands from time to time and add enough water to get a smooth, soft and elastic dough. Not too much water though. It should be soft but not sticky. Knead for about 1/2 hour.
Divide dough into small balls. Let stand for about 30 minutes. In the meantime you can prepare the filling.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Add onions. Fry for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes. Fry another 5 minutes. Add harissa, salt & pepper to taste. Cover and cook over low heat.
Flatten each ball of dough on your lightly oiled working surface. Stretch and form it to a very thin sheet. The dough should be as flat as possible.
Spread a tablespoon of stuffing in the middle of the sheet. Fold the edges over the top like shown in the pictures.
Fry in a pan until brown on both sides.
صادق
If you like this dish you should try this one as well! I swear you´ll love it!
