Maya—A REGAL Queen!
Maya’s Brika
You can learn a lot about someone when cooking together: how they communicate, share, give/take feedback, and occupy space. I've had the pleasure of cooking professionally and casually with folks from all over the world. Each experience requires observation, receptiveness, calibration, and understanding. Yet, with Maya—Parisian friend of Tunisian descent & REGAL Queen—cooking together is comfortable, as if we'd been sharing a kitchen for years. Perhaps it's the shared experience of navigating our first-generation third culture kid lives; the stories we share to keep the connections to our ancestral homes that our families left behind in search of opportunities. Or, the realization that despite vast geographic and cultural differences, both Tunisians and Koreans love the spice and acidity that harissa/pickled chilis and kimchis provide to balance a meal.
Our Tunisian Inspired Feast
During a recent dinner party with Maya and her husband, Andy, Romaine and I decided to make a Tunisian-inspired feast. On the menu: A big green salad, rotisserie lamb shoulder with a liberal sprinkling of ras-el-hanout rouge and summer garlic nestled in teeny incisions in the meat, potatoes and scotch bonnet peppers roasted in the lamb fat, harissa, pickled chilis, Maya’s homemade flatbread (called mlawi or chapati depending on how it’s folded), and brika. Brika (بريك— in Arabic) is a Tunisian triangle-shaped fried pastry with a potato-chip-crispy pastry filled with savory fillings.
Maya associates brika with Ramadan because her family (and Maghrebi Muslims she knows) breaks their fast with brika and chorba (شوربة)—tomato soup with chickpeas and orzo—each night. To Maya, brika represents celebration, family, gathering, and the joys in sharing food with loved ones. Because Ramadan is based on the Hejira lunar calendar, the dates change every year. This year—2020, Ramadan occurred on April 23 - May 23, meaning the sun rose around 4 am and set around 9:30 pm in Paris. During this time, those who are fasting do not drink water or eat any food until the sun has set. When I asked Maya what Ramadan signifies to her, she shared,
"Ramadan feels like a reset, spiritually and physically. Fasting changes my daily routine so much and makes me feel closer to other Muslims all around the world who are fasting too. I feel this sense of community. Ramadan helps me reflect and learn more about myself; about my relationship to my beliefs and spirituality. I feel closer to my ancestors when I practice something that many have done before me, but the experience is the same. Fasting is a way of getting closer to God and my family, and I realize how thankful I am for all that I have access to in this world. Ramadan is a month of generosity: where you become generous, share your meals, share your money, and share your home to any person in need. The last day of Ramadan is a day of celebration. We gather around food and share it with the neighborhood. After a month of fasting, you begin to truly feel and understand how food is a pure blessing. Even the act of drinking water as you wish is something so luxurious."
Brika is popular in food in France and along the Mediterranean and is consumed year-round. A staple in Maghrabi cuisine, Brika's origins lie in the Maghreb region of Northern Africa (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia). I learned from Maya that the region is often conflated with being Arabic (with influences from the Phonecians, Ottomans, Romans, and French—hello colonization!). This conflation can be considered offensive to some of the indigenous people of the Maghreb—the Berbers (self-named Amazigh). Maya's paternal grandmother was a nomadic Berber, and her family decided to settle in Tunisia. Her grandmother maintained her strong Berber (Amazigh) heritage and signified her pride by pitching a tent in front of their family home to exhibit their nomadic heritage. Maya said,
"Tunisians have Berber (Amazigh) blood we speak Arabic and practice Islam. We received some of our art and culture from the Arabic and many other cultures, but we are Berbers (Amazigh). Of course we have a rich history. Tunisia is sitting on the Mediterranean."
The dough that is used for brika is called warqet malssouka (ورقة ملسوقة) in Tunisian Arabic and feuille de brick in French. In Tunisia, Maya's family purchases fresh dough from a lady in the neighborhood who makes it to order in about twenty minutes. Malssouka is a distinctive dough that looks like a translucent flexible sheet of paper and is similar to filo, but thinner. This dough is a vehicle for an endless combination of fillings often dependent on familial tradition and regional variation. When fried, brika transforms from a nearly transparent paper-like dough into a delightfully crisp pocket, sturdy enough to withstand its hearty filling. Maya makes a mouthwatering brika with a combination of chicken, potato, various aromatics, and ras el hanout—a regional spice blend that varies according to the shop you buy it from or the family’s recipe. She then places a generous spoonful of filling onto a prepared sheet of dough. Meticulously, she folds the filling into a neat triangle taking care to ensure that the succulent beauty-filling nestles securely within. Finally, she pan-fries these beauty queens until lightly golden. It takes a bit of practice to get the hang of folding brika. While at first it seemed daunting, with each repetition it became easier and more satisfying.
When I make brika, I will think of Maya; how this food is an extension of her family, a record of their history. I will think of Maya and Andy breaking their fast during Ramadan, and Maya’s stories about cooking with her grandma and mom. How making brika is an act of love. To those with whom I share brika, I will consider how to share what I’ve learned about Maya, the Maghrebi people, and how I can contextualize this food. I’ll acknowledge that what I’ve learned is a mere sliver of what there is to learn about Tunisian culture and cuisine.
I'm incredibly grateful to Maya for teaching me how to make this fabulous dish (twice!), and for allowing me to share her story and recipe with you. I hope that you make this dish and feel connected to Maya and her family. I encourage you to always contextualize the recipes you cook. Commit to honoring traditions, ingredients, and people.
Quotes have been edited for clarity.
Maya teaching me how to make brika
Recipe Type: Appetizers
Time: 1.5 hours
Servings: 20 brikas
Ingredients
1 small (or half large) onion diced ¼ inch pieces
250 grams (one small) chicken breast diced ¼ inch pieces
4 small or 3 medium starchy potatoes peeled and diced into ½ inch pieces
2 eggs
2 cloves minced garlic
3-4 tablespoons cream cheese
5 slices Gouda or Gruyere cheese
1 tablespoon harissa
1 tablespoon ras el hanout
1 teaspoon turmeric
A handful of parsley leaves roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
Neutral oil for frying (I used sunflower oil)
Olive oil
Feuille de brick (10 pieces), or Filo dough cut into 3" x 10"-ish strips
Equipment
8-10 inch skillet Baking sheet with a wire rack
Plate or baking sheet
Spoons
Mixing bowls
Small pot
Cutting board
Chef's knife and paring knife
Colander
Instructions
Make the Filling
Bring a small pot of water to boil, add one egg and boil for 8 minutes (set a timer). While the egg is cooking, gather your tools and ingredients.
After the egg has cooked, submerge in a bowl of cold water for five minutes. Wash the small pot and set aside.
Prepare your mise en place in the following order:
Peel and dice potatoes into ¼” cubes, add potatoes to the small pot with a generous pinch of salt, cover with cold water. Cook until tender. Drain with the colander and set aside in a medium bowl to cool.
Chop onion into ¼” pieces, mince garlic, and roughly chop parsley. Set aside onion and parsley on a plate or small baking sheet. Put the minced garlic in the medium mixing bowl with the potatoes.
Lastly, chop the chicken breast into ¼” cubes. It’s easier to chop the chicken breast if you stick it in the freezer for 30-45 minutes beforehand.
Clean knives and cutting board thoroughly with hot soapy water.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and parsley and cook until the onions become translucent.
Add the diced chicken and cook until the chicken is just cooked through. As you cook, be mindful of the heat. If you notice something is burning or cooking too quickly, lower the heat. Add oil if the chicken is sticking or if the ingredients seem too dry.
Once the chicken is just cooked through, lower the heat to medium-low, add turmeric and ras el hanout to the skillet. Cook together for a minute or so until aromatic.
Remove from heat and add the chicken mixture to the mixing bowl with the potatoes. Let the mixture cool for 10-15 minutes.
While the filling cools, peel the hard boiled egg and chop into small ¼”-ish pieces (I do this directly over the medium bowl).
Clean up your workstation. Wash and dry the skillet and place on the stove.
Once the chicken and potatoes have cooled, add the remaining raw egg, 1 tablespoon of harissa, salt and pepper, and cream cheese (use your hand to break into small ½ inch pieces-so that you get melty little dollops). Mix gently to combine. Taste the filling and adjust seasoning according to your preference.
Assemble the Brika
Watch the “How to Fold Brika” Video (see above).
Gather your dough, if using feuille de brick rounds, cut the dough in half with scissors so that you have 20 semi-circles of dough. If you’re using filo dough, cut the dough into 3”x10”-ish strips.
Cut five slices of your preferred cheese into four equal pieces so that you have 20 small pieces of cheese. If using the semi-circle, fold in half vertically so that the semi-circle becomes a strip.
Place the dough so that the longer straight side is on your left and the shorter folded side is on your right side.
Add a heaping tablespoon of filling to the bottom of dough 2 inches above the bottom.
Fold the left corner of the dough over the filling towards the right side
Then, take the bottom edge of the filled dough and fold it up and to the left so that the bottom diagonal edge lines up to the left vertical edge
Take the left edge and fold it up and to the right to meet the right edge
You should see the brika slowly forming a triangle
Fold the triangle tightly so that the edges contain the filling
Continue folding in this manner until the triangle is complete
Trim the excess dough, and place the seam side down on a plate or baking sheet
Fold all 20 pieces
Fry the Brika
In the skillet, heat one inch of neutral oil to around 375℉/190℃. If you don't have a thermometer, or can't be bothered like me, simply dip a corner of the triangle into the oil and when the oil bubbles steadily and gently the heat is ready.
If the oil is smoking and the corner of the brika is browning immediately, then the oil is too hot, and will burn the brika. Remove from the heat and wait for it to cool, or add room temperature oil to bring down the heat.
Once the oil is ready, gently place the brika into the oil, seam side down and fry until the first side a light golden brown. Flip the brika and fry it on the other side. Fry the remaining brika in small batches.
Remove the fried brika and drain on a baking sheet lined with a wire rack and put in 200℉/95℃ degree oven to keep warm if serving later.
Continue frying in batches.
Frying Tips
When placing the brika in the oil, get close, and gently slide them in away from you. While it may seem scary to be close to the oil, it's actually safer than dropping in items from a distance. When you drop items into the oil, you risk oil splashing and burning you.
I like to spoon the hot oil over the top of the brikas to get the shape flat, and use two spoons to maneuver them.
How to Serve
Serve fresh and hot, or reserve for later and reheat them in the oven at 350℉/175℃
