Ingredients
Vermicelli
- 500 gfine vermicelli, chaariya, broken short
- 3 tbspoil or smen
- salt
- water, for steaming
Hidden chicken, for seffa medfouna
- 1chicken, jointed
- 2onions
- 1 tspground ginger
- 1 tspturmeric
- a pinch of saffron
- 1cinnamon stick
- 50 gbutter
- salt and pepper
To finish
- 100 gbutter
- 3 tbspicing sugar
- 2 tspground cinnamon
- 150 gblanched almonds, fried and chopped
- 2 tbsporange blossom water
To serve
- a bowl of cold milk, sometimes with orange blossom water
Equipment
- a couscoussier, or a steamer over a pot
Directions
- Brown the chicken with the onions, ginger, turmeric, saffron, cinnamon and butter, then add a little water and cook covered for 45 minutes until tender.
- Reduce the sauce right down at the end, because a wet chicken makes the vermicelli around it soggy. Take the meat off the bones in large pieces and keep it warm. Break it into pieces about 3 cm long.
- Toss it with a tablespoon of oil until every strand is coated. Coating it in oil before it ever meets steam is what stops the strands welding together. Put it in the top of the couscoussier over boiling water and steam it, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Steam it uncovered so the condensation does not drip back onto the pasta. Seal the join between the two pots with a strip of damp cloth or a flour paste.
- Tip it into a wide dish and sprinkle over about 150 ml of lightly salted water. Work it while it is hot, as soon as you can bear to touch it, rubbing the strands between your palms. Return it to the steamer for a second 15 minutes.
- Repeat the working, adding a little more water and a spoonful of butter. Steam it a third time for 10 to 15 minutes. Cover the chicken entirely so nothing shows, then turn it out onto a platter as a smooth cone. Nobody at the table should be able to tell there is chicken inside, which is the whole joke of the dish.
- Dust the whole thing generously with icing sugar and scatter the fried almonds over. The stripes of cinnamon down a white sugared cone are the standard presentation and they are done with a spoon or a stencil. Serve it with bowls of cold milk to drink alongside.
Technique
- Seffa is also made with couscous rather than vermicelli, in the same way.
- Smen, the fermented Moroccan butter, is traditional and strongly flavoured.
- It is served as a course in its own right, often after a tagine.
Substitutions
- A steamer basket lined with muslin over a large pot.
- Butter in place of smen, which is milder.
Variations
- Seffa medfouna, with the chicken buried inside.
- Made with couscous instead of vermicelli.
- With raisins steamed through the vermicelli.
History
Served at weddings and to welcome guests; the buried-chicken version, seffa medfouna, is presented as a sweet dish and revealed only when broken open.
Frequently asked questions
What is Seffa?
Seffa is a main from Morocco: steamed vermicelli mounded with cinnamon, sugar and almonds, often hiding chicken. Served at weddings and to welcome guests; the buried-chicken version, seffa medfouna, is presented as a sweet dish and revealed only when broken open.
How long does Seffa take to make?
Seffa takes 30 min of preparation and 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Seffa?
Yes, within limits. A steamer basket lined with muslin over a large pot. Butter in place of smen, which is milder.
What is the most important thing to get right in Seffa?
Repeat the working, adding a little more water and a spoonful of butter. Steam it a third time for 10 to 15 minutes. Cover the chicken entirely so nothing shows, then turn it out onto a platter as a smooth cone. Nobody at the table should be able to tell there is chicken inside, which is the whole joke of the dish.
