Bazeen

a dome of stiff barley dough set in the middle of the dish and surrounded by a red lamb stew, eaten by pinching from the mound

Origin: Tripoli & Libya

From the journey of Barley.

Bazeen is Libya's national dish and it is served as a landscape. A stiff dough of barley flour is beaten hot in the pan, shaped into a smooth dome, and set in the centre of a wide communal dish; a red lamb stew with potato and eggs is arranged around the base, and eggs and vegetables are set at intervals around the mound. Each person eats the wedge of dough and stew directly in front of them, pinching pieces from the dome with the right hand. The barley is the point and the reason. Libya is very nearly all desert, wheat is difficult over much of it, and barley tolerates drought, salinity, and poor soil in a way wheat will not. It has been the grain of North African subsistence for millennia and remains a marker of the older, tougher cooking beneath the wheat and pasta that Italian rule and the twentieth century layered on top. The beating is what makes it. Barley flour is added to boiling salted water and worked with a wooden stick called a magraf until it forms a dense, smooth, elastic mass with no lumps whatever, and this takes real effort. A properly made bazeen holds a dome without slumping and can be pinched into a firm scoop. It is a hospitality dish and a celebration one, made for Eid, weddings, and the arrival of guests. The formality of the presentation is part of the meaning: one dish, everyone around it, and each person keeping to their own segment.

Ingredients

Dough

500 g barley flour
100 g plain flour
1 litre water
1.5 tsp salt

Stew

800 g lamb on the bone, in pieces
2 onions, chopped
4 tbsp tomato purée
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp hararat (Libyan spice mix), or 1 tbsp each ground cinnamon and turmeric
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp chilli powder
150 g cooked chickpeas
3 potatoes, halved
4 eggs, hard-boiled
2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 litre water

Method

Start the stew first. Brown the lamb in the olive oil, add the onions and cook until soft, then the tomato purée and cook it out for four minutes until it darkens.
Add the hararat, paprika, and chilli, fry for a minute, then pour in the water and add the salt. Simmer covered for an hour.
Add the potatoes and chickpeas and cook for a further twenty-five minutes. The sauce should be thick and deep red rather than soupy.
For the dough, bring the water to a rolling boil with the salt in a wide heavy pan.
Rain in the barley and plain flour all at once, in a mound in the centre, and let it sit for two minutes without stirring so the flour hydrates.
Now beat. Work it with a strong wooden spoon or a magraf, pressing and turning against the side of the pan, for a full twelve to fifteen minutes over a low heat, until it becomes a single dense elastic mass with no dry pockets and no lumps.
Turn the dough into a wet bowl and swirl it to shape a smooth dome, then invert it into the centre of a wide serving dish.
Ladle the stew around the base of the dome, not over it. Arrange the potatoes, chickpeas, and halved eggs around the mound at intervals.
Serve at once, and eat by pinching dough from the dome and dipping it into the sauce directly in front of you.

Notes

The beating cannot be shortened and there is no way to fix a lumpy bazeen; add the flour in one go and let it hydrate before working it. It should be firm enough to hold a dome and pinch cleanly, so a wetter dough is the commoner failure. Barley flour is sold in health food shops and Middle Eastern grocers; a small proportion of plain flour makes it more forgiving. The stew is poured around rather than over, since drowning the dome is considered a spoiled presentation.

The Gastrographer

Name: Bazeen
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Tripoli & Libya
Ingredients: 500 g barley flour; 100 g plain flour; 1 litre water; 1.5 tsp salt; 800 g lamb on the bone, in pieces; 2 onions, chopped; 4 tbsp tomato purée; 4 tbsp olive oil; 2 tbsp hararat (Libyan spice mix), or 1 tbsp each ground cinnamon and turmeric; 1 tbsp paprika; 1 tsp chilli powder; 150 g cooked chickpeas; 3 potatoes, halved; 4 eggs, hard-boiled; 2 tsp salt, or to taste; 1 litre water

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control