A few months ago, I attended the annual Americas Food and Beverage show (see Sept.18, 2024 post). For the past few years, I have been fortunate to attend this industry show and be a fly on the wall. At this year’s show, the Country of Honor was the Kingdom of Morocco. Curiously, I don’t remember ever being aware of a Country of Honor.

Over the three days of the expo, the Moroccans offered a number of cooking demonstrations. I sat in on a demo by Nomad Chef Yasmina Ksikes of Morocco by way of Los Angeles (https://www.lallaminala.com/). That day, she prepared Seffa Medfouna, buried vermicelli, a chicken dish with broken angel hair pasta. Chef Yasmina showed the assembled group how to carefully work the pasta with olive oil in between each of the three (or more) phases of steaming.  The steamed angel hair, according to Chef Yasmina’s recipe, is served with a saffron-based tagine.

I was able to speak to the chef, complementing her in the delicious food.

As I walked through the Morocco section of the show, I stopped a vendor who had the pasta that had been used; they kindly gave me a package. Couscous and be substituted for broken vermicelli.

Ever since then the recipe for Seffa Medfouna has sat on my desktop waiting for a calm day with lots of time to try to make it. The quiet Saturday arrived this past week. I chose a recipe from several on-line variations; this one comes from Christine Benlafquih | Taste of Maroc.* Caveat emptor: if you chose to attempt this delicious dish, give yourself a good three hours.

*Loosely based on https://www.moroccan-saffron.com/post/menstrual-educating-in-the-u-s-1

Seffa Medfouna has three steps, the first done simultaneously. It also takes a good number of cooking pots!

Step 1. Start with steaming vermicelli (chaariya). Fill the base of a couscoussier* with ample salted water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a rapid simmer. Mix 3 tablespoons of olive oil into 2 lbs. of dry, broken vermicelli. Be sure all the strands are well coated. Put into steamer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, turn the vermicelli out into a very large bowl. Break it apart, and mix in about 1 1/4 cups water. The vermicelli should absorb most of it. Return the vermicelli into the steamer for the second steaming. Steam again for 20 minutes, timing from when you see the steam rise through the vermicelli. you’ll notice the ends of the vermicelli poking up.

After another 20 minutes, again turn the vermicelli out into the large bowl, stir 2 teaspoons of salt into 2 cups of water, add to the vermicelli, tossing to mix well. Put the vermicelli back into the steamer, and steam for a third 20 minutes.

*Admission: I do not have a couscoussier or a steamer. I tried to steam the vermicelli in a colander over a steaming saucepan and royally failed! Instead I tossed one cup of soaked and drained golden raisins into the pasta and put it all into boiling water for just a few moments til the pasta was tender.

Step 2. Cook the chicken while the vermicelli is steaming. Cut a whole chicken into pieces, remove the skin. Rough chop two large sweet onions. Add all to a Dutch oven with ¼ cup olive oil and the following seasonings: 1 tbsp ground ginger, 1 ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp while pepper, ½ tsp black pepper, 2 small cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp crumbled saffron threads, 1 tsp turmeric, and ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro. Cook gently over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently to brown the chicken or meat on all sides. Do not add any water to the chicken.  

Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until very tender, about an 1 hour. Add only small amounts of water as necessary. When the chicken or meat is tender, reduce the liquids until a thick sauce has formed. Discard the cinnamon stick, adjust seasoning and remove from the heat. 

Step 3. Serving in a beautiful way. After the final steaming, toss the hot vermicelli with ¼ cup butter and 1 tbsp powdered sugar to taste.* Layer 1/4 to 1/3 of the steamed vermicelli mixture on a very large serving dish. Arrange the chicken in the center and cover with the sauce. Arrange the remaining vermicelli on top, using your hands to shape a dome. Decorate the mound of pasta with cinnamon, ground almonds and raisins (optional). Powdered sugar can be sifted over the top, arranged as a garnish, or simply offered on the side.

*Another change, I skipped the powdered sugar and the final beautifying step. 

Constant Companion and I ate our Seffa Medfouna with lightly steamed green beans and a green salad. It was a delicious meal. Like most Moroccan food, well worth the effort.

And with this, we near the end of 2024 and wish all a healthy, prosperous, and happy 2025.