Chicken nikitouches — pearl pasta in red sauce

Name: Chicken nikitouches — pearl pasta in red sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Tunisian Jewish
Ingredients: 600 g Whole skin-on chicken legs, thigh and drumstick (2 whole chicken legs, 300 g each, skin on, separated into thigh and drumstick by the kosher butcher (4 pieces)); 160 g Ptitim or nikitouches (pearl pasta) (Round ptitim, the nikitouches available in Israeli supermarkets); 240 g Tinned chickpeas (400 g tin) (1 × 400 g tin, drained and rinsed); 100 g Yellow onions (1 small onion); 100 g Celery (2 tender stalks with their leaves); 150 g Carrots (1 large carrot); 200 g Potatoes (1 large potato, cut into large cubes; the family version); 10 g Garlic (2 cloves); 40 g Extra virgin olive oil (4 tbsp: 1 for the pasta, 3 for the chicken and sauce); 2 g Turmeric (1 level tsp); 40 g Double-concentrated tomato purée (2 tbsp); 6 g Sweet paprika (2 tsp); 3 g Tabil (Tunisian coriander, caraway, garlic and chilli spice blend) (1 tsp); 10 g Harissa (1 tsp, for a touch of heat; 20 g for chilli lovers); 7 g Fine salt (1 g for the chicken, 6 g in the sauce); 900 g Water (Hot); 10 g Flat-leaf parsley (A few sprigs; or fresh coriander for a more Tunisian flavour)

meat Tunisian Jewish · regular · 70 min, including 30 hands-on

The Shabbat dish of the Jews of Tunis: chicken legs and chickpeas simmered in a red sauce with fried tomato purée, turmeric and harissa, then small pearls of pasta added to soak up the sauce.

Ingredients for two

600 g	Whole skin-on chicken legs, thigh and drumstick 2 whole chicken legs, 300 g each, skin on, separated into thigh and drumstick by the kosher butcher (4 pieces)
160 g	Ptitim or nikitouches (pearl pasta) Round ptitim, the nikitouches available in Israeli supermarkets
240 g	Tinned chickpeas (400 g tin) 1 × 400 g tin, drained and rinsed
100 g	Yellow onions 1 small onion
100 g	Celery 2 tender stalks with their leaves
150 g	Carrots 1 large carrot
200 g	Potatoes 1 large potato, cut into large cubes; the family version (optional)
10 g	Garlic 2 cloves
40 g	Extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp: 1 for the pasta, 3 for the chicken and sauce
2 g	Turmeric 1 level tsp
40 g	Double-concentrated tomato purée 2 tbsp
6 g	Sweet paprika 2 tsp
3 g	Tabil (Tunisian coriander, caraway, garlic and chilli spice blend) 1 tsp
10 g	Harissa 1 tsp, for a touch of heat; 20 g for chilli lovers
7 g	Fine salt 1 g for the chicken, 6 g in the sauce
900 g	Water Hot
10 g	Flat-leaf parsley A few sprigs; or fresh coriander for a more Tunisian flavour

Method

Chop the onion and crush the garlic. Cut the celery stalks into 1 cm pieces; remove the leaves and reserve them whole. Cut the peeled carrot into 5 mm rounds and, if using, the peeled potato into 3 cm cubes. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Pat the chicken pieces dry with kitchen paper and season with 1 g salt. Bring 900 g water to the boil in a kettle (or saucepan) and keep hot.
Heat 10 g oil in a 24 cm casserole over a medium heat. Add the ptitim and stir for 2 minutes: a few pearls should turn pale golden and smell of toasted wheat. Tip into a bowl; do not let them brown, as their flavour should remain delicate.
Heat the remaining 30 g oil in the casserole over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken skin-side down in a single layer (in two batches if the casserole is small) and brown for 5 minutes without moving it, until the skin is brown and crisp. Turn, brown for 3 minutes, then set aside on a plate. If more than 2 tbsp fat remain in the bottom, spoon off the excess. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion, celery pieces and carrot, and sweat for 5 minutes, stirring, without browning.
Add the garlic and turmeric and stir for 30 seconds, then add the tomato purée, paprika, tabil and harissa. Stir over a medium heat for 1–2 minutes until the paste darkens, turns glossy and smells fragrant (the same essential technique as for hraimi: do not skip it). Return the chicken skin-side up, pour in the 900 g hot water and add the chickpeas, celery leaves, potato cubes if using, and remaining 6 g salt. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over a low heat for 30 minutes: the sauce turns brick red and fragrant, and the meat starts to come away from the bone. Taste a spoonful of sauce: it should be distinctly salty. Adjust now, before adding the pasta.
Add the ptitim, stir and cook uncovered at a gentle simmer for 10 minutes, stirring twice to loosen the pasta from the bottom. The pasta should be tender to the centre and the chicken should fall apart easily under a fork; the sauce should coat the pasta, with a little liquid still simmering around the edges.
Turn off the heat, scatter over chopped parsley and rest for 2 minutes, covered. Serve in shallow bowls, with one thigh and one drumstick per person on top of the pasta and chickpeas, generously coated in sauce.

Lighter version

Extra virgin olive oil : 25 g
Ptitim or nikitouches (pearl pasta) : 120 g
Potatoes : removed

The same sauce and chicken, with a little less oil, 60 g pasta per person and no potato; the chickpeas provide the starch.

On your plate

Recipe

1344 kcal · protein 75 g · carbs 103 g · fat 67 g

Quantities per person

300 g Whole skin-on chicken legs, thigh and drumstick
80 g Ptitim or nikitouches (pearl pasta)
120 g Tinned chickpeas (400 g tin)
50 g Yellow onions
50 g Celery
75 g Carrots
100 g Potatoes
5 g Garlic
20 g Extra virgin olive oil
1 g Turmeric
20 g Double-concentrated tomato purée
3 g Sweet paprika
1.5 g Tabil (Tunisian coriander, caraway, garlic and chilli spice blend)
5 g Harissa
3.5 g Fine salt
450 g Water
5 g Flat-leaf parsley

Cooking tips

Ptitim (Osem) make an excellent substitute for hand-rolled nikitouches. If you find artisan nikitouches, they take 15–20 minutes to cook: add them 5 minutes earlier and follow the packet timing. If the pasta catches during cooking, add 50 g hot water. The dish reheats very well over a low heat on Saturday lunchtime with 50 g water, so make double. To prepare a day ahead, stop before adding the pasta, cool and refrigerate; bring back to a simmer and cook the pasta just before serving. For dried chickpeas, soak 100 g the day before, add with the water in step 4 and cook for 40 minutes before returning the chicken (allow an extra 40 minutes).

Equipment : 24 cm casserole with a lid (about 4 litres), kettle or 1.5-litre saucepan, bowl, ladle

Nikitouches from Tunisian Jewish cooking, a Shabbat dish of chicken and chickpeas in a red tomato-purée sauce; a version using ptitim. Reference: Lily's family recipe (jardindelatorah.org).