So, if you HAVE a spare sheeps head knocking about!!

It has quite literally taken me years to feel brave enough to tackle, not only cooking this dish but eating it too....

My first experience with bouzallouf was when I had to pick the meat off a head and feet alone, watched over by a kitchen full of in-laws to see how I would cope.... 

Let's just say, I was thankfully pretty well in control of my gag reflex that day!

Over the years I've got alot braver with the Algerian dishes I choose to cook... tripe is a regular favourite at my table now,  and this year it seemed like an opportunity too good to miss when my mother in law sent me back my slaughtered sheeps head singed and ready to go on the evening of Eid-al-Adha.

So, if you have a sheeps head at your disposal...

Singe the bejiggers out of it, scraping off all the hair as you go along...

If you lack adequate muscle power get someone else to crack the skull for you and then set to, trying to identify which bits are edible and which aren't... if you have an Algerian woman handy then now is a good time to involve her.. I didn't  but no-one laughed at what they found on their dishes so I'm guessing I did ok...

Once youve chopped up all the bits you can eat and scavenged all the skull for meat, put it in a pot with  1/2 tsp cumin,  1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1 head of garlic, grated (yes, an entire head!) and 4 soup spoons of oil... cover with water... add a handful of chickpeas and let it come up to the boil and then simmer away until everything has become tender and the sauce has thickened. 

The ony other thing left to do is to season with salt and then brace yourself if you find the thought of eating it a bit of a challenge.

To be honest I made this because my eldest son asked me to. More often than not these days my children ask me to cook the same dishes that their friends are having on high days and holidays.. which means couscous on fridays, stomach and sheeps head on Eid-al-adha,  and my failing I was told yesterday by the frementioned wotsit was NOT cooking Shakhshuka Biskra for Awwal Muharram... the first day of the Islamic New Year... we had Tripe... which clearly wasn't good enough! Sometimes you can't win....

Anyway... the rest of my children were NOT convinced about eating this dish when it was done... and the dh doesn't go for it either... so in an act of solidarity... to prove to the tribe that it was ... erm... delicious, we grabbed some bread.. steeled ourselves and dd22 and I honest, went boldly forth...and, it was blooming gorgeous!

To be honest I was NOT expecting to like it... and I certainly wasn't expecting to enjoy it... and after seeing us tuck in everyone got brave and they all liked it too...

I'll definately make it again if I get the chance... though cholestoral wise it's not a dish I'd reccomend you eat often... but be brave and try, you never know you might surprise yourself.