Mtewem / M’thouem

Mtewem / M’thouem ~ An Algerian dish of meatballs and chickpeas in a red sauce packed full of garlic and finished with toasted flaked almonds.

First things first, you have to really like garlic (3/4 of a bulb in 1 dish type like garlic) to enjoy Mtewem.

I’ve come to know Mtewem, also spelled M’thouem is sometimes made with a ‘white’ sauce i.e. without tomato paste or paprika BUT as both these ingredients pair well with garlic and because I like my dishes colourful I kept them.

I adapted my recipe from The Teal Tadjine, Hénia adds breadcrumbs, eggs to bind and water when making the meatballs to make sure they remain moist. Whilst I have nothing against adding breadcrumbs to meatballs, I know someone who has so, I left all three out as eggs and water seemed redundant now I wasn’t using breadcrumbs. I also reduced the amount of meat and garlic to make fewer meatballs as I wanted to serve fewer people.

The flaked almonds give this dish added texture and they are good for your health, win-win.

Mtewem I’m told is often served during Ramadan in Algeria so I plan on adding it this year to my relaxed menu here in the UK, in shaa Allah.

More traditional craft stuff!

From Umm Ibrahim, more traditional crafty stuff…

The turquoise set that I want but we didn’t get because we don’t know how to get it home intact. There were far more pieces than this though; there were also couscous dish, oval fish plates, laban jug and mugs, large serving plates, beautiful latticed fruit bowl. I’m so disappointed! I now wish we’d bought it and brought it back a few pieces at a time, leaving the rest at my in-laws to collect later!

Eid Sweets – Algerian Style – M’khabez

I don’t usually go all Algerian when it comes to Eid baking, or any baking for that matter, but I wanted to do one Algerian style sweet or cake along with other simpler non-Algerian ones. So today, I’m sharing a recipe for M’khabez. If you’ve ever had North African sweets, you’ve probably tried something like this and just not known what it’s called (very much like myself, who had to ask friends before posting this!) It’s basically a nut-filled, syrup-soaked pastry, a lot like the other Algerian sweet pictures I’ve shared in the past: