Destination
Tangier
The story
Briouat are Morocco's small stuffed pastries and the answer to "what should I bring to the party?": paper-thin sheets of ouarka (or filo) wrapped around a spiced filling — kefta (spiced ground meat), sea-food, seasoned chicken or almond paste — then folded into triangles or cigar shapes and fried until crisp and golden. Sold at every Moroccan souk pastry stall and served at every wedding, family gathering and Ramadan iftar table, briouat are the Moroccan cocktail-hour standard. Every region has its own filling and its own preferred shape.
Method
Warm olive oil in a pan. Cook onion 5 minutes; add garlic 60 seconds. Add mince, break up, brown 8 minutes. Add cumin, paprika, ginger, salt, herbs and preserved lemon. Cook 5 more minutes. Cool completely.
Toast almonds in a dry pan 3 minutes until pale gold. Pulse in a food processor to a coarse crumb. Add sugar, butter, orange blossom water, cinnamon and egg yolk. Pulse to a thick paste.
Cut the filo sheets into strips about 8cm wide and 25cm long. Cover with a damp towel so they don't dry out. Brush each strip lightly with melted butter before folding.
For each: place a teaspoon of filling at one corner of the strip. Fold the corner over the filling to make a triangle. Keep folding down the strip like folding a flag — every fold makes a neat triangle — until the strip is used up. Seal the last flap with a dab of egg white.
For cigars: place filling in a line at one short end, fold the two long sides in over the filling by 1cm, then roll from the filled end to the far end, sealing the tip with egg white.
Heat oil to 170C. Fry briouat 6 to 8 at a time for 90 seconds per side until deep golden. Drain on a wire rack.
For sweet almond briouat only: warm the honey with orange blossom water. Immediately after frying, dip each briouat in the warm honey syrup for 3 seconds, lift out, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Arrange savoury and sweet briouat on a large platter (keep them separate). Serve immediately or hold in a low oven up to 60 minutes. Best warm; also good at room temperature.
Tips
- Cool the fillings completely. Hot filling melts the butter on the pastry and makes it stick / tear when you fold. Let the kefta cool 20 minutes before assembly.
- Damp towel over the pastry stack. Filo dries out in 2 minutes and cracks. Keep the working strips under a damp towel and take one at a time.
- 170C oil temperature. Hotter and the pastry burns before the filling heats through; cooler and it absorbs oil and turns greasy.
- Assemble ahead, fry to order. Uncooked briouat freeze beautifully on a tray, then transfer to a bag. Fry directly from frozen at 170C for 3 minutes.
- Honey dip only sweet ones. Do not accidentally dip a kefta briouat in honey — the mix of hot beef and honey is a classical Moroccan taste but not everyone loves it.
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