Mar 31, 2012

Fatteh

By · 6 Comments

Chickpeas, Pita bread, Yogurt are the three main ingredients of Fatteh. Fatteh is a traditional Lebanese plate, it can be served either as a main dish or a side dish. My son-in-law likes it very much, then again he is a great fan of my cooking :). One time he had it with my daughter at a nice restaurant in Down Town Beirut, among some other orders. Apparently my daughter said that she preferred my Fatteh, and her husband replied :” well, let’s wait and see”. After a few days I prepared it and I had my daughter and her husband for dinner. After eating my daughter was waiting for her husband to react , and after he finishes his plate he said just one word”Yummy! This is Fatteh”.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cans of chick peas
  • 3 medium size pita bread
  • 1 kg Yogurt
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon of cumin
  • a handful of pine seeds
  • 1 teaspoon of butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried mint, a pinch of ground cinnamon

Preparation:

  • Drain the water of the chickpeas and wash them
  • In a small pan heat the olive oil and fry the crushed garlic with a pinch of salt, for 1 minute
  • Add the chickpeas to the garlic and the cumin and let it boil with 1/2 cup of water in a low heat
  • In the meantime cut the pita bread in small pieces and fry until they become brown in color
  • Separately, fry the pine seeds with butter until golden brown
  • In a serving bowl place the fried bread, the the chickpeas, and lastly the yogurt
  • On the top put the fried pine seeds, sprinkle the dried mint and the cinnamon

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Lent, Side dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 30, 2012

Thank you for another Versatile Blogger Award

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“Je suis bien entourée”

I have been nominated for a Versatile Blogger Award by Live2eateat2Live Blog. A Blog that I follow and like very much, please check it. And I would like to thank her very much for the nomination.

I am very happy for the positive response I get from my followers. My efforts have not gone unnoticed. Even though writing the blog is rewarding for me, also being nominated for an award is a great honor.  My blog is only as interesting as you find it, and finding something personal in my blog for you is what I send from my family home kitchen to yours.

The rules of this award are as follow:

  1. In a post on your blog, nominate 7 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.
  2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
  3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
  4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
  5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
  6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

The  7 completely random pieces of information about myself:

  • Love to travel
  • Love to learn new things
  • Love people, children, animals and nature
  • Cannot start my day without my Turkish coffee and the songs of my favorite french singer Charles Aznavour
  • I like to try something new everyday
  • I believe that to be happy, you must eat healthy.

The seven bloggers I nominate are:

1- Bucket List Publications

2- Anaslense

3- Anne Sture Tucker

4- The ALZ blog

5- The Modern Home Economist

6- Saffron and Honey

7- ChocolatesandRaspberries

Filed Under: Uncategorized ·
Mar 29, 2012

Mloukhiye

By · 14 Comments

Today I am in Abu Dhabi at my daughter’s house. She asked me to make Mloukhiye, because she likes the way I make it. Even though I taught her how, she said that mine is different and tastes nicer. She flattered me and I couldn’t refuse her demand:).

I believe there are many ways to cook Mouloukiye in lebanon, and also in other Arab Countries, but my recipe is the traditional family one.

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo of fresh Mloukhiye (or the frozen one if you don’t find the fresh)finely chopped
  • 250 grams of cube meat
  • 1 bunch of fresh coriander
  • 7 clove of garlic
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • salt, seven spices
  • 1 teaspoon dried coriander
  • vegetable oil

Preparation:

  • Fry the meat  in  oil in the pressure cooker until it turns dark brown from all sides
  • Add a teaspoon of salt and another teaspoon of seven spices, cover with water and cook until it is tender, it will take about 15 minutes in the pressure cooker
  • In a pot heat some oil and fry the onion until golden
  • Add the Mloukhiye to the onion and mix for about two minutes
  • Put the cooked meat over the onion and Mloukhyie and put water just to cover, reduce the fire,cover the pot and let it simmer
  • In the meantime wash the fresh coriander and chop into very small pieces, mix it with the crushed garlic and a teaspoon of salt and the dried coriander
  •  Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a small saucepan and fry the mixture of garlic and coriander until golden brown
  • Add the coriander to the Moloukhiye pot and cook for more 5 minutes
  • Add the lemon juice and put the fire off

Now that the Mloukhyie is ready we need to serve it.

For serving we need:

  • Toasted pita bread
  • 2 small onion finely chopped
  • Lemon juice or red vinegar (as you desire)
  • Boiled chicken
  • Cooked rice

Serving method:

  • In a plate place the toasted pita bread and break into small pieces
  • Over the bread put the rice, then the Mloukhiye
  • On the top place some pieces of boiled chicken
  • At the end put on tablespoon of the chopped onion with lemon juice or vinegar

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 28, 2012

Happy Palm Sunday

By · 8 Comments

Hello everybody,

Today I prepared myself to go to Abu Dhabi to spend Palm Sunday and Easter vacations with my children and grand children. I apologize for not having time to prepare anything to post today. But I will as soon as I can.

I will make our special Maamoul for Easter with my children.:) Which is our traditional sweet for the occasion.

My flight will take off within few hours.

A BIENTOT..

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged:
Mar 27, 2012

Lazy Cake (Biscuit au Chocolat)

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I love chocolate. I mean, I think I am addicted to chocolate. I always have some in the house. Every week, I have to make a chocolate cake, cupcake, biscuit with chocolate or anything else! My children also love it, especially my quadruple chocolate cake (maybe I’ll post it someday). Today I made this biscuit au chocolat, popularly known as Lazy Cake. Why did they call it lazy? Maybe because it doesn’t require any oven cooking, or maybe it can be made with simple ingredients. In any case, what counts is that it is DELICIOUS! 😀

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cup of icing sugar
  • 8 tablespoons of cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 200 grams butter
  • about 250 grams of biscuit ( you can use any kind you like, I used petit beurre biscuit)

Preparation:

  • Beat the eggs until pale yellow, then add the vanilla and sugar while mixing
  • Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add it to the egg mixture, then add the cocoa slowly
  • Snap the biscuits into pieces by hand over the mixture and fold with a spoon to cover all the pieces of biscuit with the chocolate
  • Line a cake tin with plastic cling film and pour the cake mixture in. Press the cake down with a spoon while pouring
  • Cover the tin with cling film and refrigerate for at least 5 hours until set
  • When the cake is hard enough, remove the cling film and take out from the cake tin , place in a serving plate and slice it and you’re ready to enjoy. As simple as that

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT! 🙂

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Mar 27, 2012

Hummus with Ras Asfour

By · 10 Comments

I believe that everybody is familiar with our traditional plate Hummus (Chick Peas with Tahini). Lebanon entered the Guinness Book of World Records when our Lebanese Chef’s prepared the biggest plate of Hummus ever. However, I don’t think that many of you know what is Ras Asfour, which translated literally means “the head of the bird”. Ironically, it is actually sheep’s meat cut into small sized pieces, nearly as big as a bird’s head, hence the name. Today I made a plate combining hummus with the Ras Asfour meat.

I brought the meat from the butcher in small cuts and I cut it into even smaller pieces. Sheep meat is not lean, so I had to remove some of the fat, but leave enough to keep the meat tender.

Note that you can eat these two separately and each will taste delicious on it’s own.

Ingredients for the Hummus:

  • 2 cups of chick peas
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1 cup of Tahini
  • 3 lemon squeezed, salt
  • 2 clove of crushed garlic

Preparation for the Hummus:

  • Soak the chick peas in a large bowl of water and baking soda, for 12 hours at least. The peas will increase volume after soaking.
  • Drain them from the water, wash thoroughly and boil in salted water. It will take about one hour and a half for the chick peas to be cooked. When you see a white foam forming on the top of the water, remove it and keep boiling
  • When the chick peas are soft, drain from the water again and mash them, you can use whatever you have for this purpose (a food processor, blender, etc)
  • Add the crushed garlic, the salt, the Tahini and the lemon juice and mix well. Adjust the taste of salt and lemon as you desire

Now that the Hummus is ready you can prepare the meat of Ras Asfour.

Ingredients for the Ras Asfour meat:

  • 200 grams of tender sheep meat cut into small size
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of grenadine of molasses
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon seven spices

Preparation:

  • In a small saucepan heat the oil and fry the onion
  • When it becomes golden color add the meat and fry until it turns very dark, add a small cup of water and cover, let it cook on very low heat until the meat is tender
  • When it is done add the salt, seven spices and the grenadine of molasses

Now that you have everything ready, place the chick peas in a plate, On he top put the cooked meat. For decoration and taste, add some fried pine seeds on the top of the meat and some olive oil.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:) BON APPETIT

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Starters · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 25, 2012

Vegetarian Potato Kibbe (Kibbet Batata)

By · 5 Comments

There is a wide variety of Kibbe recipes in Lebanon, as I mentioned in a previous post Baked Kibbe. It can be made by mixing bulgur with meat, or with pumpkin and even with potato like the one I made today. The bulgur is always the main ingredient of all kinds of Kibbe, it should be fine and brown color. This recipe is vegetarian, which makes it suitable for Lent. The major ingredients are simple, based on bulgur, potato and onion, but it needs a lot to spices and flavors.

Ingredients:

  • 4 potatoes
  • 1 cup of fine brown bulgur
  • 2 tablespoon flour
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon seven spices
  • 1 small onion grated

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 3 large onions
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon 7 spices
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon dried mint
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried coriander
  • 1 tablespoon sumac
  • 1/2 teaspoon caraway
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

  • Boil the unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan with salted water, until they becomes tender
  • When the potatoes are cold peel then mash them
  • Wash the bulgur and drain it from the excess water
  • Mix the mashed potatoes with bulgur, the grated onion, the flour, salt and the spices; mix by hand very well until smooth
  • Cut the onion of the filling into fine strips and mix with all the spices
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • Grease an oven pan with little of olive oil until you cover the bottom
  • With wet hands place a thin layer of the potato Kibbe mixture and flatten it
  • Place the filling of onion and cover it with another thin layer of potato Kibbe
  • Wet a knife and cut the Kibbe into a square or diamond pattern
  • Drizzle the remaining of the olive oil on the top
  • Bake for about 30 minutes in the oven, until the top becomes a nice golden color
  • Serve with a green salad for better taste

Nota Bene:

  • You can also shape the potato Kibbe in a small ball; stuff it with the onion and close the ball forming a flat circle. Fry it in a deep frying pan. It is also DELICIOUS.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT..:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Lent, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 24, 2012

Baba Gannouj (Batenjan Mtabbal) And Potato Wedges

By · 8 Comments

My children always tell me “Mum, do you know why we love your food?” And their answer is always “because you cook with love”. I believe that we have to do everything with passion to succeed; doing something for duty’s sake alone will never make any real achievement. I always remember this while I am cooking, and I feel happy especially when I am making something I know that my children enjoy. This is why I made today two side plates with the salad beside the main dish, because my son loves my Batenjan Mtabbal and he is inviting a friend of his for dinner.

The eggplant with Tahini is a main late from our Lebanese Mezze and it is very appetizing.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large eggplant
  • 2 clove of garlic crushed
  • 1/2 cup Tahini
  • one lemon squeezed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Some pomegranate seeds for decoration
  • olive oil

Preparation:

  • Grill the eggplants til it looks wrinkled and soft. Let them cool, then peel them and crush them
  • Add the crushed garlic and salt to the eggplant and mix well with the spoon
  • Add the Tahini and the lemon juice, mix and adjust the amounts to taste (if you like more salt and lemon)
  • Place the eggplants in a serving plate and decorate with the pomegranate seed and some olive oil

Potato Wedges are very popular all over the world there’s a million ways to make it. Today I prepared it with some extra spices than what I usually use, and it turned out quite good:

  • For 4 potatoes’ worth, I mix: 2 tablespoon of olive oil with 1 tablespoon of ground onion, 1 teaspoon of ground garlic, 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 tablespoon salt, a pinch of black pepper and 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan
  • Marinate the potatoes in this mix for an hour in the fridge
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees then cook the potatoes for about 30 minutes

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT!

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Lent, Side dish, Starters · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 23, 2012

Kafta with Tahini

By · 5 Comments

About a month ago, I posted the recipe for Kafta with Potatoes. But there is many other ways to cook this lovely meat: it can be grilled on a barbecue, put in a pita bread and cooked in the oven and many other different ways as well. Today I prepared it with Tahini. I remember my grandmother used to cook it for us when we would go over her house for dinner, and I liked it a lot. It’s a less common way to prepare Kafta, but it is very tasty. Try it yourself!

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams of minced meat
  • 1 cup of chopped parsley
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 4 potatoes
  • 1 cup of Tahini
  • 3 lemons squeezed
  • salt, seven spices
  • frying oil
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • Some pine seeds

Preparation:

  • Mix the minced meat with chopped parsley and chopped onion in a food processor (or you can take it ready from the butcher if he knows how)
  • Season with 1 small tsp salt and 1/2 tsp seven spices
  • Preheat the oven at 180C, grease a tray, place the Kafta in thin layer and flatten it with a wet hand
  • Put it in the oven for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices
  • Fry the potatoes until golden
  • Mix the Tahini with one cup of water, the lemon juice and salt; flavor to your taste
  • Take the Kafta from the oven, place the fried potatoes over the meat, and cover them with the Tahini sauce
  • Place in the oven for about 30 minutes until the sauce thickens
  • While waiting for the food in the oven to cook, roast the pine seeds in a sauce pan
  • Serve it with cooked rice and sprinkle the roasted the pine seeds over it

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT!

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 22, 2012

The Liebster Award

By · 6 Comments

I had another nice surprise again last week when Rocksalt included me for nomination for the Liebster Award. She has a very nice blog with interesting information and recipes and she is very creative. Thank you very much Carol Ann for the nomination!

And now, following the rules of this award, I will do the following:

  1. Thank the giver and give link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
  2. Reveal your top five bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
  3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

Like you noticed, points 1 and 3 are covered but the 2nd one gave me a hard time because there are a lot of interesting blogs, choosing between them was difficult. In any case, I narrowed it down to these lovely blogs.

My top five blogs are (not in any particular order):

  1. Live2Eat Eat2Live, creative recipes with some innovations and experimental, new food.
  2. Dinutrition, healthy recipes with nutritional information, for better living.
  3. Patterned Plate, recipes with a step-by-step instruction to make it simple and easy.
  4. Cooktolove, Laura’s recipes are so inviting with beautiful pictures.
  5. Green Pocket Protector, Dave and Libby explore all sorts of green projects, give tips for the garden and sometimes recipes too.

That’s all for now! Thank you again Carol Anne for the nomination and congratulations to my top bloggers. Good luck to all of you, have fun and now you go make your own Liebster award post! 🙂

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: , , ,
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