Name: Bazin
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 95 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Libya, North Africa
Ingredients: 700 g lamb or mutton, bone-in pieces; 2 large onions, diced; 3 tbsp tomato paste; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp turmeric; 1 tsp sweet paprika; ½ tsp fenugreek; ½ tsp cayenne pepper; 2 medium potatoes, peeled and halved; 5 cups water or lamb stock; 2 cups barley flour; 3 cups water; 3 whole eggs, hard-boiled and halved; salt and black pepper, to taste

What to know before you cook

Bazin is communal food. The dough should be firm enough to tear, and the sauce should be rich enough to season every bite.

What the dish tastes like

Libyan bazin, a dense barley-flour dome surrounded by lamb tomato sauce, potatoes, eggs, and warm spices.

When to cook it

Best for Friday lunch, Eid, weddings, with a hard cooking level and about 120 minutes total.

What to serve alongside it

Hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, lamb sauce, and simple salad

Follow the collection

Sunday Specials is the easiest collection to explore after this dish. Sunday Specials

Regional lane

Libya national table. A verified Libya dish in the AfroKitchen archive.

Chef watch-outs

Rushing the base before the raw edge has cooked out.
Adding all seasoning early and forgetting to adjust at the end.
Cooking on heat that is too high once the dish should be steaming or simmering.

How you know it is ready

The aroma should smell rounded rather than raw or sharp.
Oil, sauce, broth, or steam should look settled and deliberate.
The final texture should match the dish style before you plate it.

Start the stew

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Brown the lamb on all sides. Add onions and cook until golden. Stir in tomato paste, turmeric, salt, pepper, and 1 tsp cayenne. Add enough water to cover the meat generously.

Brown lamb 10:00

Simmer until tender

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Cover and cook for about 60 minutes. Add potatoes in the last 20 minutes. The lamb should be falling-off-the-bone tender and the sauce thick.

The sauce needs to be rich and reduced — it is the dipping sauce for the bazin.

Simmer stew 60:00

Make the bazin dough

Bring 3 cups of salted water to a boil. Gradually add the barley flour while stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring and cooking over low heat for 15 minutes until you have a very thick, smooth dough that pulls away from the pot.

Stir constantly and use muscle — the dough should be very thick and smooth.

Cook dough 15:00

Shape the dome

Wet your hands and shape the barley dough into a smooth dome. Place it in the centre of a large round serving tray.

Dip your hands in cold water to prevent sticking.

Assemble and serve

Arrange the lamb and potatoes around the bazin dome. Pour the stew sauce over and around it. Place the hard-boiled egg halves on top. Serve communally and eat by hand.

Tear small pieces of bazin and dip into the sauce — the combination is extraordinary.

Bazin

What to know before you cook

See the dish before you cook

Build the table around Bazin

Step-by-step method

Bazin

What to know before you cook

See the dish before you cook

Build the table around Bazin

Step-by-step method

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