Trid au poulet — Fez, Morocco

Trid is a dish built from very thin sheets of pastry, torn into pieces and soaked in a rich, slow-cooked sauce rather than eaten as a separate bread. It is close in spirit to rfissa, another Moroccan dish of shredded pastry under a chicken and lentil sauce, and the two names are sometimes used loosely for related preparations depending on the region. This version is reported from Fez, where trid is associated with Mawlid, the celebration of the Prophet's birth, and is prepared as a shared centerpiece for that occasion rather than as everyday food. The pastry sheets are rolled by hand until very thin, cooked briefly on a hot griddle one at a time, and set aside while the sauce is prepared separately. The chicken is browned with onions, saffron, ginger and ras el hanout, then simmered in water until the meat is tender, with lentils added partway through so they finish cooking at the same time as the chicken without turning to mush. Once ready, the torn pastry sheets are laid in a wide serving dish and doused with part of the sauce, left to soak for a few minutes so they turn soft in the center while keeping some texture at the edges, before the chicken and lentils are set in the middle and the rest of the sauce is served on the side. Eaten from a single shared dish, trid is meant to be scooped up together rather than portioned individually, and its place on the table around Mawlid is reported as fairly fixed, even as households vary the exact seasoning and the thickness of the sheets.