Month: November 2020

First, prepare the sauce.

In a saucepan over medium heat, put olive oil.

Add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, Ras al Hanout, paprika, tomato paste and let cook for 5 minutes.

Add grated tomato and chickpeas and let cook for 10 to 15 minutes.

Add Jalapeño or any other hot pepper(optional)

Add boiled water to slightly cover the meat.

Let cook for about 45 minutes or until the meat and chickpeas are cooked.

In meanwhile, tear the sheets of Rougag with hands into small pieces (picture shown above).

Place the pieces of Rougag in the top of a steamer and steam for about 5 minutes.

Put them in a serving dish and set aside.

Chech on the meat sauce and adjust the seasoning. Add salt if needed.

Once the meat and chickpeas are cooked, turn off the heat (the sauce should be reduced and thick).

Place the meat and chickpeas on the Rougag pieces in the serving dish.

Add the sauce on top.

Serve this dish with the sauce aside.

Enjoy.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, put semolina, flour, salt and 1 1/2 cups warm water. 

Mix with a spoon or hand first until the dough gets together. The dough is hard at this point.

Use the stand mixer with the hook attachment and add water little by little in small amount (1 tablespoon at the time)while kneading (you can knead the dough by hands).

Keep kneading the dough at medium to low speed for 15 to 25 minutes while adding water as needed until obtain a nice smooth dough. Depending of your semolina and flour, you may need to add more or less water. In this recipe I used about 2 3/4 cups water.

Oil your hands with olive oil (about 1 tbsp) and gather the dough into a ball.

Pour about ¼ cup olive oil in a small bowl and oil your hands with it to form small balls of dough, the size of small tangerines or less.

Place the balls of dough in a large plate or platter(make sure to grease the dish with olive oil to prevent the dough from sticking.

Coat the balls of dough with olive oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 1/2 hour. The more the balls of dough rest, the better they will stretch. I prefer to knead the dough in the morning and cook the Rougag or Trid in the afternoon.

Oil your working board (with olive oil) and take 1 ball of dough at the time.

Flatten the ball of dough with your hand and make sure to work on the edges.

Put your hand in olive oil from time to time. Use your 2 hands to gently stretch the dough.

Gently stretch the dough in 2 close spots with 2 hands, then move to the next 2 spots with your 2 hands clockwise or counter clockwise until you make a large thin circle of dough or sheet (it does not have to be perfect). The large sheet of dough is transparent at this point.

Sprinkle the large sheet of dough with olive oil.

Heat up a large cast iron skillet or Tajine over medium low heat.

Place the large sheet of dough on the skillet. The tricky part is how to transport it to the skillet. If you are a beginner just use parchment paper on the working board and form the sheet of dough on it, then transport it by lifting the parchment paper.

Cook one side for a minute then turn it to cook the other side.

Work at the same time on the second ball of dough and form a large sheet the same way you did with the first one.

Place the second sheet of dough on the first one that is on the skillet. Sprinkle with olive oil.

Turn the 2 sheets to cook the second one.

Place a third disc on the first disc that is on the skillet.

Turn to cook it.

Do the same steps to all the balls of dough.

You will end up having a pile of large sheets or Rougag on the skillet. You may need to reduce the heat and make sure to cook the edges.

Take the cooked pile of Rougag and place on a working board.

Fold the pile in half then in another half.

Reserve.