Moroccan Pastilla With Chicken

I had this in Morocco - OMG - the food in North Africa is Da Bomb!
When I came back to the U.S.A., food repulsed me.

300 grams (approx. 11 oz.) margarine
2-3 chopped onions
3 cinnamon sticks
pinch of saffron
ground ginger, to taste
3 leg quarters of chicken
handful of chopped parsley
phyllo pastry (may use frozen; thaw)
ground almonds
1 egg, beaten
powdered sugar
ground cinnamon

Fry the chopped onion in the margarine, until translucent. Add the chicken sections and lightly fry them.

Add the chopped parsley, cinnamon sticks, saffron, and ginger. Add water, to cover. Bring to a boil, cover the pan, and continue to cook for 20 minutes.

Remove the chicken to cool. Strain out the onions, and reserve the cooking liquid. Separate the meat from the bones and skin.

Oil a deep, round dish (my suggestion is a deep soup plate). Fit two sheets of phyllo pastry in it. (It will likely overhang the plate.) Brush the phyllo with oil, thoroughly.

Sprinkle with a bit of the ground almonds and powdered sugar. Beat some of the cooking liquid into the egg and use this to brush the phyllo [yes, over the almonds and sugar].

Place some chicken and fried onions in the center of the phyllo. Fold over the inside sheet of dough, to cover.

Oil the closed-over dough. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and ground almonds. Fold over the second sheet of dough, then oil it.

Repeat for the remaining chicken. (Sorry, they don't indicate what the
yield should be. My guess is at least four.)

Place on a well-greased baking sheet, folded side up.

Bake at 180 C/360 F until the dough is browned.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and/or powdered sugar before serving.

Tip: At this point, they demonstrated having made a template of four
parallel lines, cut roughly from a plain sheet of paper. This was placed on the pastilla and the powdered sugar or cinnamon sprinkled on. When the paper was lifted, it left a pattern of the lines of sugar or cinnamon. (You can do both on the same pastilla. Do one first; lift the paper; place it at a different angle over the existing lines and do the second, giving a design of sugar and cinnamon.)