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Monday, October 31, 2011

Macroona Imbakbaka

This is the most QUINTESSENTIAL Libyan Dish. Heavily influenced by Italian cuisine, this Libyan dish is Pasta in a tomato stew. Any type of pasta can be used but more often than not its either Ditalini or broken up Spaghetti. I learned how to make this dish in only one quantity: A lot. The recipe below is for an entire pound of pasta, which really is on a box. It may seem like a lot, but it will go go go.

What you'll need:
- 1 Onion, diced
- 2 garlic gloves
-1 chicken cut and quartered.
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
-2/3 cup tomato paste
-1 tablespoon salt
-1 1/2 tablespoons Bzaar
-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-11 cups of water (will be used in parts)
- 1lb Pasta of your choice





What to do:
1. Medium-high heat, in a medium pot, add oil and onions. Let sauté.
2. Add Chicken to pot and brown.

3. Lowering the temperature, add tomato paste, bzaar, salt and pepper and mix together. Allow this mixture to cook for 3-4 mins
4. Raising the heat back up to med-high, add 7 cups of water (I like to use my kettle and pre-boil the water) to the mixture.
5. Let the sauce peak to a boil then lower back to med-low and cover with a lid and allow to cook for 25 mins, (or however long the meat needs to cook) stirring occasionally.
6. Once the meat has cooked you're ready to add the pasta.
7. Break the pasta into 2in' segments.
8. Bringing the heat back up to med-high add the additional water to the sauce and allow it to boil. Once it has crush the garlic gloves into the pot and drop in the jalapeno. Add pasta. The pot needs to be stirred every 2-3 min to avoid pasta sticking to the bottom.

9. Once pasta has completely cooked, serve and enjoy!!

16 comments:

  1. can you please give us the recipe of ruz blaw? please

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  2. This is beautiful mashallah i tried it a few times now and husband and kids love it jazakallah khair sister. I'm libyan too and my mum doesn't use measurements that much either but her food is amazing subhanallah. She tries to teach me how she does it but I can never seem to get it 100% right! So when I came across this blog I was soooooo thankful because my husband loves libyan food almost exclusively. I wish you could post more recipes like roz embowkh, osban and brak? I'm you'd nail them! :D

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  3. Is there anything else I can use instead of Bzaar? I have no idea what this is or where I can get it. A :)

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    Replies
    1. It is turmeric. it is yellow. You can find it in the any store,but it is not necessary.it doesn't change the taste.

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    2. use mixed spices or Ras Alhanout (Tunisian, Moroccan mix spices). Or simply black or white pepper.

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    3. If you read under ''The Basics'' you'll find a post about Bzaar and how to replicate it. Also details about what Bzaar consists of depending of the region of Libya. It can vary.

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  4. I made my own.. One of the categories on top of the page says components or smth, it tells u what spices to mix to get the bzaar...

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  5. I always used a tin of chopped tomatoes too but this is much better just with the puree thank you sister

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  6. I made this today and I can’t thank you enough for this recipe! It was delicious!!

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  7. Ahh the tasteful Libyan dish, it will forever be embeded in my soul, memories of my auntie and mother cooking this, just delightful I love food dammit

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  8. Do you remove the skin from the chicken before cooking, please?

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    Replies
    1. I always leave skin on but that's completely optional

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