Left Over Roast Chicken and Vegetable B'Stilla

Not everybody loves leftovers. Too often they are zapped in the microwave and chucked on a plate. Not to appetising and where's the love?
A great way to jazz up left over roast chicken is to make combination of Chicken, filo pastry, almonds and other stuff into a pasty/pie called a B"Stilla or Besteeya.
There's often left over roast chicken  in our house. Sometimes deliberately, sometimes because some of the kids forget they are coming for dinner. This week we also had some leftover roasted pumpkin and sweet potato.
I made vegatarian for the Husband by leaving out the chicken, increasing the almonds and using nuttelex instead of butter (this made it vegan).
Traditionally B'Stilla was a feast dish and when it came out of the hot oven it was covered in a layer of sugar and cinnamon. I don't do that.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 leek finely sliced
1 potato finely sliced
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads microwaved for 15 seconds and soaked in 60 mls water or stock
1/2 bunch of finely sliced spring onions
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons Ras El Hanout - see recipe below
1 teaspoon sumac
12 sheets of filo pastry
80 g butter melted
3 tablespoons toasted almonds - chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon Ras El Hanout250 g roasted pumpkin
4 cooked chicken thigh fillets sliced or 3 cups shredded leftover roast chicken



Method

Heat the oil in a frypan.
Add the leeks and fry until softened.
Add the saffron threads and water and potato. Cover and allow to steam until the pototoes are cooked. Remove the lid.
Add the spring onions, parsley, lemon zest, Ras El Hanout and sumac and combine.
Cut the sheets of filo in half and stack between sheets of wax paper. Cover with a damp tea towel.
Combine the toasted almonds with the extra Ras El Hanout.
Brush one 1/2 sheet of filo with melted butter, top with another 1/2 sheet, brush with melted butter - sprinkle with 1/4 of the almond and spice mix and top with another sheet of filo.Repeat so you have 8 stacks of 3 - 1/2 sheets





Layer 1/4 of the leek and potato mix + 1/4 of the pumpkin + 1/4 of the chicken (or extra almonds) on top of 4 stacks of the pastry



Brush the edges with more melted butter. Top each with another stack of 3 sheets and turn the edges in.



Brush with more melted butter.
Bake in a 200° Celsius oven until golden.
I like mine cut open with a big dollop of yogurt on the top.


There are an infinite number of recipes for Ras El Hanout. I make it by by combing the following spices

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamon
• 2 teaspoons ground mace
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix well and store in a glass jar. Or buy it already mixed at a good shop like Goodies and Grains in the Adelaide Central Market.