El Mtewem is one of the emblematic dishes of Algerian gastronomy, particularly appreciated for its richness of flavors and its traditional character. A true symbol of conviviality and culinary refinement, it occupies a special place in family meals and special occasions.
Many people think that its name is due to the presence of “toum” garlic. In fact, this is a mistake. This name is due to twinning: minced meat and meat have the same origins so they are twins (twaam), which gave rise to the name.
Ingredients (For 4 people)
4 pieces of meat of approximately 50 g.
250 g of minced meat.
1 medium onion.
100 g of chickpeas.
100 g of almonds.
Hot water.
5 tbsp of oil.
1 egg to scoop up the minced meat
Spices for the sauce: 3 g salt, 3 g white pepper, ½ cinnamon stick.
For the minced meat: 3 g of salt, 3 g of black pepper, 1 clove of chopped garlic.
Preparation
Start by warming the water for the sauce.
Put 3 tbsp of oil in a pan, heat it and fry the almonds.
Peel and slice the onions.
Spice the minced meat, add the egg. Make small balls (putting 1 almond inside each ball is an option used for high-class weddings)
In a pot, heat the remaining oil and brown the 4 pieces of meat. Return them on each side.
Once the meat is red, add the sliced onions. Mix everything well.
Once the onions are well caramelized, add the spices, mix, let simmer for 5 minutes then add the salt. Mix well and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the chickpeas. Mix and let simmer for 5 min.
Once everything is well mixed and the flavors are infused, sauce with boiling water and cover the meat by 4 cm.
Cover the pot and leave to cook.
Once the meat is cooked, remove it from the pot and put the minced meat balls to cook. Cover the pot and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
Once the ground meat is cooked, add the cooked meat and let the sauce thicken.
Remove from the heat, serve with a few fried almonds on top as decoration.
Remarks
Traditional dishes require a lot of time to fry and recover the taste of each ingredient. The most important thing is that each time you add an ingredient, you let it simmer for at least 5 minutes to sterilize it and increase its shelf life.
To keep it in the refrigerator, put each ingredient in a box alone, and mix everything again the next day when reheating.
There is no parsley in real mtewem.
Enjoy your food.
Bereksi Nassima