Tlitli (Algerian Chicken and Pasta Stew)

Tlitli is the Sunday lunch of Algiers and Blida: chicken simmered in a deep red tomato sauce, served over tiny hand-cut pasta squares that soak up every drop. The pasta — no bigger than a thumbnail — is the whole point, catching sauce in every fold, and its name echoes the sound it makes as it falls into the pot. It is home cooking at its most comforting.

Little pasta squares that drink up red sauce

The sauce is glossy and richly spiced, the chicken falls from the bone, and the tlitli pasta swells into tender, saucy bites. Orzo makes a fine stand-in if you cannot find the real thing, and chickpeas add a nutty bite throughout. Serve it in a deep platter, chicken on top, with a good spoon for the sauce and bread for mopping up the rest. It is the kind of meal that needs no sides and no ceremony — just a platter and a spoon.

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