Chef Zohra
Batbout Farci (بطبوط)
Small semolina breads cooked in a pan until they puff, then split and filled generously. Batbout farci is the sandwich you make for picnics, school bags, and one more guest.
Culinary Explorer
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Sandwich Hommos w Taqliya
Created by
A hot medina sandwich where cumin chickpeas soften the bite of spiced fried offal, all packed into bread and eaten before the sauce has time to settle.
Sandwiches & Wraps
Moroccan
Budget Friendly
Quick Meal
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 20 min cook•1 hr 40 min total
Yield4 sandwiches
This sandwich belongs to the street, to the hour when hunger is louder than manners and a cart can feed you better than a chair. Chickpeas go in soft and saucy, the taqliya goes in hot from the pan, and the bread catches what would otherwise run down your wrist. You eat it standing if you must. It still counts as a table, if someone made room for you.
Taqliya means the quick fried offal here, liver, heart, kidney if your butcher is honest and the pieces are fresh. The rule is not to overcook it. Offal turns tough when it waits too long in the pan, so the chickpeas are already tender before the meat touches the heat. That is the whole why of the dish: cook the chickpeas slow enough to become generous, cook the taqliya fast enough to stay alive under the teeth.
This is budget food, yes, but budget food has its pride. Cumin must smell awake, paprika should still have color, and the bread must be sturdy enough to hold the sauce. Make four sandwiches and expect a fifth hand. Une table, c'est une porte qu'on laisse ouverte, even when the table is a cart in the medina.
Hot chickpea and offal sandwiches belong to the urban street foods of Moroccan medinas, especially the Atlantic and inland market cities where butchers, porters, students, and shopkeepers needed filling food at a small price. The practice draws on older Moroccan nose-to-tail cooking, where liver, heart, kidney, tripe, and feet each had their own treatment rather than being hidden. Its exact dating is not fixed in written sources, but the form is tied to 20th-century medina cart culture and to the spice routes that made cumin, paprika, and dried chile everyday tools in Moroccan market cooking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried chickpeas
Quantity
300g
soaked overnight, or use 2 cans drained chickpeas
onion
Quantity
1 small
finely grated
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
crushed
olive oil
Quantity
3 tbsp
ground cumin
Quantity
1 tsp, plus more to finish
sweet paprika
Quantity
1 tsp
hot paprika or cayenne
Quantity
1/2 tsp
to taste
ground ginger
Quantity
1/2 tsp
coriander
Quantity
1 small bunch
chopped
parsley
Quantity
1 small bunch
chopped
preserved lemon peel (optional)
Quantity
1
finely chopped
mixed fresh offal, liver and heart
Quantity
500g
trimmed and cut into small pieces
white vinegar or lemon juice
Quantity
1 tbsp
sea salt and black pepper
Quantity
to taste
Moroccan sandwich loaves, batbout, or split khobz
Quantity
4 small
harissa or crushed fresh chile (optional)
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight, or use 2 cans drained chickpeas | 300g |
| onionfinely grated | 1 small |
| garlic clovescrushed | 3 |
| olive oil | 3 tbsp |
| ground cumin | 1 tsp, plus more to finish |
| sweet paprika | 1 tsp |
| hot paprika or cayenneto taste | 1/2 tsp |
| ground ginger | 1/2 tsp |
| corianderchopped | 1 small bunch |
| parsleychopped | 1 small bunch |
| preserved lemon peel (optional)finely chopped | 1 |
| mixed fresh offal, liver and hearttrimmed and cut into small pieces | 500g |
| white vinegar or lemon juice | 1 tbsp |
| sea salt and black pepper | to taste |
| Moroccan sandwich loaves, batbout, or split khobz | 4 small |
| harissa or crushed fresh chile (optional) | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy skillet, 28 cm
- •Medium pot for chickpeas
- •Wide spoon for mashing chickpeas
Instructions
- 1
Cook chickpeas
Drain the soaked chickpeas and put them in a pot with fresh water to cover by 5 cm. Simmer until tender, 60 to 75 minutes, then drain, keeping a cup of the cooking liquid. If using canned chickpeas, rinse them and warm them with a little water for 10 minutes so they don't taste flat.
- 2
Build the sauce
Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a wide pan. Add the grated onion and cook until it melts down and loses its sharp smell, then add half the garlic, cumin, sweet paprika, hot paprika, ginger, salt, and pepper. Stir until the oil turns brick-red and fragrant, then add the chickpeas and enough cooking liquid to make them saucy, not soupy.
Mash a spoonful of chickpeas against the side of the pan. That little collapse thickens the sauce so it clings to the bread. - 3
Finish chickpeas
Let the chickpeas simmer 12 to 15 minutes, until glossy and thick enough to mound on a spoon. Stir in half the chopped coriander and parsley, plus the preserved lemon peel if using. Taste for salt and cumin. La balance est dans les yeux, and also in the nose.
- 4
Season taqliya
Pat the offal dry. Toss it with the remaining garlic, a little salt, black pepper, a pinch more cumin, and the vinegar or lemon juice. Keep the pieces small so they cook fast and fit properly inside the bread.
- 5
Fry it fast
Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy skillet until the surface looks lively. Add the offal in one layer and fry 3 to 5 minutes, turning once or twice, until the liver is browned outside but still tender inside and the heart has a firm bite. Do not let it sit there drying out. The chickpeas waited for the taqliya, not the other way around.
- 6
Pack sandwiches
Warm the bread, split it, and spoon in a generous layer of chickpeas with their sauce. Add the hot taqliya, more herbs, harissa if your table wants heat, and a last pinch of cumin. Press the bread closed just enough to catch the filling, then serve at once.
Chef Tips
- •Buy offal the same day you cook it. It should smell clean and faintly sweet, never sour or metallic in a tired way. No spice rescues bad offal.
- •Use cumin you trust and grind it fresh if you can. This sandwich lives more by cumin and paprika than by a long spice list.
- •Preserved lemon is not required on every cart, but a little peel wakes the chickpeas beautifully. Use preserved lemon, not fresh slices, if you add it.
- •If someone at the table doesn't eat offal, serve the chickpeas alone in bread with herbs and harissa. The Moroccan table already makes room.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the chickpeas the night before.
- •The chickpea base can be cooked one day ahead and reheated with a splash of water. Fry the taqliya only when you're ready to serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 330g)
Calories
670 calories
Total Fat
19 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
290 mg
Sodium
1120 mg
Total Carbohydrates
83 g
Dietary Fiber
15 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
46 g
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