Lemnemeche, Doigts d'Amandes, Algerian Almond Fingers

The Arab sweet tooth is legendary. One of the more obvious examples of Moorish/Saracen culinary influence in the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily are sweets made of almonds.

When I was in Algeria I recall that it was mostly the women who made them at home or the dadas (black female domestic cooks). Of course I don't recall a woman every slaughtering a lamb either. Let's call it division of duties, rather reading more into my observation that women made the pastries at home.

In France I simply purchased Algerian sweets at any number of pastry shops. However in America I have not had any luck finding one. My wife makes them at home now.

I present one of the simplest almond pastries to make. Lemnemeche, "Almond Fingers"

Warka (brik, brick, dioul, malsouqa) leaves are becoming increasingly available in the States.
These are two that I've tried. The Tunisian brand was brought from Tunisia by a friend, but I've been told it's available in the States. These brands are very good. Warka leaves are unique to North Africa and give pastries made with them a distinctive North African identity. They are incredibly crispy and light when cooked.

Apparently Chinese spring roll wrappers are made using a similar method, but I find them to be thicker and of course the Chinese don't use them in the same way North Africans use warka. Spring roll wrappers can be used as substitute in recipes where I indicate. I don't think they would work for this preparation, because it would be too difficult to roll them into small fingers. I've successfully used them for longer cigars

If you cannot find warka leaves use phyllo leaves instead.

Ingredients:

1/2 a package of brik leaves. The size of brik leaves varies, quantities are approximate.
Feuilles de brick

2 cups of almonds finely chopped, you can purchase ground almonds or grind them yourself in a mortar with a pestle, but I prefer the texture of hand chopped almonds.
2 tasses de poudre d'amandes

1 cup granulated sugar. Some recipes call for equal amounts of sugar and almonds, adjust to suit your taste.
1-2 tasse de sucre

2 tablespoons rose water or orange blossom water. In America I've found that Sadaf brand is very good.
2 cuilleres d'eau de rose

1/2 cup honey plus a couple of tablespoons of water, heated.
Demi tasse de miel, plus 2 cuilleres d'eau

Oil for frying. I used canola oil. Traditionally some people fry this in samna or even olive oil.
Huile pour friture

water for sealing the edges

Method:

Finely chop the almonds, add the sugar and rose water, mix well.

Cut the leaves into quarters as shown. Keep them covered with the sheets of parchment paper that comes in the package. Otherwise they will dry out too quickly.

 

place a spoonful of the mixture in the center as shown.

 

(for some reason the flash kept going off when we took this shot, hence the brightness)

Fold over the section closest to you, gather the sides and roll into a cylinder, seal the edges with water and place the seam side down on a plate.

Fry in about 1" of hot oil, over medium high heat. If the pastries brown too quickly lower the heat. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drizzle with honey or sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.

 

 

 

 

Algeria Algerian Cuisine Algerian Recipes Algerian Food Algerian dishes Cuisine Algerienne Recettes  Algerienne North African cuisine Maghreb Cuisine

Comments

[Faith]

I am searching for a recipe that my boyfriend remembers from his youth. He spent a few years in Algeria, and remembers his family travelling hours just to have.

It is somewhat like a brulee - a custardy dessert, but a little stickier. He remembers that the name was something like Malecott, malequot, mallecotta, malequoc... but his memory is a little vague...

If I can find this recipe, he says he will marry me. So if anyone knows of it, please share it with me.

[sam]

je ne parle pas anglais mes je parle francais et arab

[Hinda]

This is a wonderful recipe! The fingers were a hit! I am not a very good cook and this turned out very delicious. Thank you, thank you! I made it for a friend from Algeria, he called them "Cigars". The recipe is just right, I will definitely make it again. All I added are almond pieces for deco sprinkled on top of honey.

[Eloisa]

You can use spring roll wrappers. Depends on the kind. In America I have noticed that the commercial varieties are thicker than the ones I get in Asia. If you have trouble rolling them Obachan just make them longer, into "cigars"

I don't like sweets much, so I add less sugar, like the chef says, "add to taste". But the East Asian in me does like the nuts with sugar. Yummy!

[jilal]

Cette recette je crois qu'on l'apelle aussi 'EL BOUREK"

[obachan]

Hi
I found this site just the other day and I love it very much. This one looks like something I can try out here...though I would have to use spring roll wrappers.

[SP]

Thank you Mohammed, I'll try it with phyllo wrap and bake them. I'll let you know how they turn out. B

[Mohammed]

SP, brik are pastry leaves, made by tapping a dough of semolina flour on a hot pan, nobody makes it at home in North Africa, we just buy it from the local maker or packaged at supermarkets. If you are in Europe they are available at the North African stores. In France you can find them at regular supermarkets. When I was living in America they weren't availbe, not they are. If you can't find them use phyllo pastry instead. Either way, yes you can bake them. Brush them with clarified butter first. Put in hot a oven, I can't remember exact temperature I think 350F unti good golden colour comes.

[SP]

Hi, I love these, I've only had them once and I would like to make them.

Question, what are brik leaves? and instead of frying can I bake them instead?

Thank you so much.

B

[joey]

This looks simple and tasty! I think I prefer sweet fried rolls (like this one, and a native one we have here that has banana inside) over savory (like spring rolls).

[Gracianne]

Merci beaucoup pour cette recette! La grand-mere de mon mari etait d'Oran et elle les faisait comme ca je crois, mais je n'ai jamais eu les proportions. Je vais enfin pouvoir essayer.

[Karen]

Oh, almonds! Something tells me this will go well with vanilla ice cream.

We have something similar done with cooking bananas. Many restaurants now serve it à la mode.

[Choupette]

Je ne parle pas l'anglais ou très mal et espère pouvoir lire des recettes en français ! Est-ce possible ?