Apr 11, 2012

Moghrabiyeh

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This is a traditional Lebanese dish from our cuisine, one which we like to make in special occasions. The Moghrabiyeh is made of semolina, water and salt. It has a special way of cooking when it is dry. In Lebanon we can find it fresh and the cooking time is less than with the dry version as well as less work. You can find it in Lebanese delicatessen shops. Today I made it for both of my daughters who are coming for lunch as it is a meal you like to share with your loved ones. It’s cooked with both meat and chicken. As for kids we say these are small pasta balls and we can serve it to them with yoghurt. They seem to enjoy it as much as we grown ups do!

Cooking Moghrabiyeh has 3 steps:

-Boiling the chicken

-Preparing the sauce

-Cooking of Moghrabiyeh itself

Ingredients for boiling the chicken:

  • a whole chicken of 1.5 kilograms
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 whole cardamon seeds
  • 1 teaspoon 7 spices
  • 3 cloves
  • 2 bay leaves

Preparation of the chicken:

  • Wash the chicken and place it in the pressure cooker with about 2 liters of water
  • Place all the spices with it cook for about 15 minutes in the pressure cooker until it is tender
  • Drain the chicken, remove the skin and the bones. Keep the chicken stock because you will need it to cook the Moghrabiyeh
Ingredients for the sauce:
  • 400 grams of lamb cubes ( you can use beef as well if you prefer)
  • 2 cups of chick peas, soaked over night
  • 750 grams of baby onion peeled
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon caraway
  • 1 teaspoon 7 spices
  • 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons of flour

Preparation of the sauce:

  • Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and fry the meat, add salt and the seven spices , cover with one liter of water and cook until the meat is tender.( In the pressure cooker it will take about 20 minutes)
  • Remove the meat from the water when cooked and keep the meat stock
  • In a pot heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of the oil and fry the baby onion until nice golden color
  • Add the peas, cover with about 2 cups of the meat stock and cook until the peas are tender, this will take about 15 minutes
  • Place the cooked meat back, add the cumin and caraway, cover and put on a low heat
  • Dissolve the flour with a cup of water and add it to the sauce, stirring from time to time and let it simmer until the sauce thickens
  • Adjust the salt as needed

Ingredients for the Moghrabiyeh:

  • 1 kg of dried Moghrabiyeh
  • 100 grams of butter
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon caraway

Preparation of the Moghrabiyeh:

  • Boil about 2 liters of water with a pinch of salt
  • Put the fire off and place the Moghrabiyeh in the hot water for 15 minutes, drain and wash with cold water
  • n a pot melt the butter and place the Moghrabiyeh, add the cumin and caraway and mix well
  • Pour 2 cups of the chicken stock over the Moghrabiyeh, check if it is tender, if not add another cup of the chicken stock at a time until tender

Now you have all the ingredients ready. To serve place the Moghrabiyeh on a plate, cover with the pieces of chicken. Place the sauce in a bowl. Mix to eat, you can have yogurt on the side.

ET VOILA..C’EST.. BON APPETIT..

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 10, 2012

Peas With Carrot And Meat (Bazella with meat and Rice)

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It is not always easy to please children with a single main course, but when it comes to peas with carrot and meat with rice on the side, they all like it. We call them green footballs! What do you call them?

Ingredients:

  • 700 grams of frozen peas
  • 200 grams minced meat
  • 1 medium onions finely chopped
  • 2 carrots cut in small dices
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon seven spices
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoon tomato paste

Preparation:

  • In a pot heat the oil and fry the onion until light golden and add the meat to cook evenly, stirring occasionally, season with salt and seven spices
  • Add the diced carrots and cook for another 5 minutes
  • Add the peas and cook in the pot with cover on and low heat for 5 minutes
  • Dissolve the tomato paste with a cup of water and pour it over the peas, and add enough water to cover them
  • When it starts boiling cover the pot, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the peas are soft
  • In the meantime mix the crushed garlic with a pinch of salt and the fresh coriander, fry in a small frying pan with one teaspoon of oil until the garlic turns golden color
  • Add the garlic-coriander mixture to the peas in the pot
  • Serve it with cooked rice

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Apr 10, 2012

Again… Versatile Blog Award…

By · 12 Comments

Hi everybody! I got nominated for The Versatile Blogger award by The Mouse who is behind the blog Live2eateat2Live. Thank you my dear Mouse! This  encourages me to post more of what my family and I think of as interesting recipes.

Here are the rules for this award:

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

For the seven random things about me: I like swimming, sweets, and travelling, I don’t like the sunset, I respect family values, I enjoy trying new activities and especially love to cook!

And my seven nominations are:

1-susartandfood

2-tinykitchenstories

3-cook to love

4-annestuetucker

5-salsachica’srambling

6-the low fat chick

7-lucy’sfriendlyfood

Thank you again very much The Mouse for the nomination..

Enjoy living and..eating.:)

Nina.

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: ,
Apr 9, 2012

Home Made Shawarma

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I think a lot of people are familiar with Shawarma, the one we see in the shops who make these delicious sandwiches, where the meat is fixed into a large skew turning on itself electrically to let the meat cook from all sides. The smell of the added spices gives the meat its appetizing aroma. The only problem is they add a lot of fat to the meat to soften it.

Since my children like Shawarma a lot, and so do I, I learned how to make it at home from my mother years ago. Everytime I prepare it I remember my small son when was three years old, and whenever I used to ask him what he would like to have for dinner he would say”Chamara sandwich”, because at his age he couldn’t pronounce the letters properly. Until now to make a joke out of this story , we still name it chamara. So, enough talking and here is my recipe for a home made chamara, sorry I mean “Shawarma”.

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo of sirloin steak ( faux fillet)
  • 2 tablespoons of shortening
  • 1 1/2 cup of red vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon seven spices
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon of wole cardamon
  • 1 teaspoon of clove
            

Preparation:

  • In a saucepan heat the shortening and fry the steak until they turn into a nice brown color, and place them when fried on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess of shortening
  • Cut the fried steak into fine strips, place them in a tray. Cover them with the oil, vinegar and lemon and put all the spices
  • Cover in aluminium oil and place the tray in the fridge for few hours
  • Preheat the oven to 220 C, place the tray and leave it for 30 minutes with the aluminium foil on, then remove it and leave the tray in the oven for another 10 minutes or until the meat is tender
  • Remove the Shawarma pieces from the tray without all the spices

Now the Shawarma meat is ready. To serve it, cut onions into wings and sprinkle sumac over them, slice tomatoes, wash few leaves of parsley and fresh mint, and some cucumber pickles.

The most important thing to have Shawarma with is the “taratour dip”, which is a mixture of one cup of tahini, and one clove of garlic crushed with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and juice of one lemon, to be mixed all together with water until they have the consistency of yogurt.

You can have the Shawarma in pita bread as a sandwich with all the vegetables topped with the taratour dip..And roll it.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT..:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 6, 2012

Siyadieh

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It’s Good Friday today and in many parts of the world, it’s a meat-free day. Most people in the Levant Area will prepare something that includes fish. Today, I prepared a very popular dish with fish and rice called Siyadieh. It is an eastern meal, but each country has it’s own way of preparing it. Even in Lebanon each area has it’s own way of cooking it. this is the way I make it.

Ingredients:

  • 1000 grams of hamour fish fillet (or any other white fillet) cut into medium sized pieces, and the head of the fish
  • 4 onions
  • 2 cups of rice
  • 2 tablespoon of cumin
  • 2 tablespoon of salt, 2 teaspoon seven spices
  • 1 teaspoon of turmeric
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • frying oil
  • handful of pine seeds, handful of boiled and peeled almonds
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 4 tablespoons flour+1/2 cup to coat the fish fillet

Preparation:

  • Cut the onions in thin slices
  • Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a pot, fry the head of the fish and remove it
  • Fry half of the cut onions in the same oil of the fish until dark brown color,cover with 1/2 cup of water cover the pot and let it simmer until the water evaporates and the onion get caramelized, remove half of the onions and put aside. We will use it for decoration of the plate
  • Put the head of the fish back, add about 6 cups of water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon seven spices, 1 tablespoon cumin, let it boil, then let it simmer for about 20 minutes on a low heat, then drain it. We will use this water as a fish stock to cook the rice
  • In another pot, heat the remaining vegetable oil and fry the remaining onion until brown, then cover with 1/2 cup of water and caramelize it
  • Wash the rice, add it to the fried onion, cover it with 4 cups of the fish stock, add salt, seven spices, cumin and 1 teaspoon of turmeric, cover and let it cook on very low heat until done
  • To make the sauce of this meal, we will use the remaining water of the stock fish, put it on fire
  • Dissolve the flour with 1 cup of water and add it to the fish stock, stirring with a whisk until it gets thick
  • Rub the fish fillet with a bit of salt and seven spices, coat it with flour and fry it until nice light brown color
  • In a small saucepan melt the butter and fry the pine seeds, then the almonds, place them on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess of butter
  • To serve, place the rice on a plate, cover with the fried fish fillet, place over the fried onion and the pine seeds and the almonds. Place the sauce in a bowl, and just pour some over the rice when you’re about to eat.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT..BON APPETIT.

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Lent, Main dish, Uncategorized · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 5, 2012

Maamoul

By · 16 Comments

 

 

 

As Easter Sunday nears, most people will be preparing to get together with their families to celebrate. They will also make sure that they have colored their easter eggs, bought their chocolate eggs and most importantly their traditional Maamoul sweet. Maamoul is a wonderful sweet made of very simple ingredients and stuffed with either nuts or dates. Most people don’t have time to make their own Maamoul these days, but they will make sure to get some for themselves or for when they visit someone else’s home on Easter. And I have to say that the Muslims also love to make this sweet during Ramadan and the Eid.

In our family, it is an important part of our tradition to get together to make our own Maamoul. I have used this recipe for many years and my daughters have always helped make them when we are together. And recently with the new additions to our family, my grandchildren are also now involved in the process. As I mentioned before, the Maamoul is stuffed with pistachios, walnuts or dates, but I always make sure to leave one of each shape without any stuffing. The person who gets the empty Maamoul is considered lucky.

The molds and one tong            The mixed butter

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo semolina
  • 1/2 kilo butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp mahlab (wild cherry tree)orfenugreek
  • 1 tbsp orange blossom water
  • 1 tbsp dried instant yeast
  • 1 cup milk (more or less depending on the type of semolina)
The butter and semolina mixture
The dough ready
Preparation:
  • Place the butter large mixing bowl,mix it until it becomes fluffy
  •  Rub with semolina using your fingers until all the semolina has absorbed the butter. Cover with a tea towel and leave overnight
  • Preheat the oven to 180DegC
  • The next day, add the instant yeast and sugar and rub well again. Add the milk gradually until the dough is well-combined
  • Form a small ball using the dough,  flatten the ball. Then stuff with your choice of stuffing as described below. Place in the mold and slam down on your hard work surface to release the Maamoul
  • Place the Maamoul on a baking tray and continue until all the dough is complete
  • Bake in the oven for 12-15 mins until the top is light golden in color
  • Leave in the trays until completely cold
  • Dust the Maamoul stuffed in nuts with icing sugar, for the date ones you don’t need too because they are sweet enough
Stuffing with dates                   Put in the mold

The fillings:For the date stuffing:

– If you cannot find dates puree, bring dates, remove seed and skin, in a small saucepan melt one tablespoon of butter and add the dates, mix until puree. Sprinkle with a pinch of ground nutmeg. when they are cold, make them into small balls.

The dates shaped like balls    The walnut filling                   The pistachios filling

 For the nut filling:( pistachios or walnut)

-Ground roughly a cup of nut of your choice, mix with 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon rose water and two tablespoons of orange blossom water

Nota Bene: if you cannot find the mold you can shape the balls of Maamoul with your hands then design with a tong, like the one on the picture above.

ET VOILA… HAPPY EASTER.:)

Filed Under: Dessert, Lebanese food · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 3, 2012

Croquette of Chick Peas

By · 18 Comments

We all love from time to time to have a delicious snack; one that is vegetarian, dairy free, high in protein, and best of all filled with aromatic spices and flavors. Life is full of surprises, I learned this recipe from a French lady friend of mine. She invited me over for an afternoon gathering with friends, and among other snacks she made this croquette, and told me that it is a Lebanese one. To be honest, I am not sure it is Lebanese but what I am sure about is that it is delicious, And when I came back home with the recipe I tried it at home, and everybody liked it.

Ingredients:

  • 300 grams of chick peas
  • 3 onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 tablespoon of flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 pinch of red spicy pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1 pinch of cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
  • salt, pepper
  • Bread crumbs
  • frying oil

Preparation:

  • Soak the chick peas in water for 12 hours, after that peel the chick peas, wash and boil until they become tender, then puree them
  • Peel the onion and garlic and cut into small pieces, add the chopped parsley to the onion and garlic and mix to the puree of chick peas
  • Season with salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, spicy pepper, the baking powder and the flour, mix all the ingredients again and let it rest in the fridge for one hour
  • Take it from the fridge and take a tablespoon of this mixture, shape it into a ball, repeat until you finish all the mixture
  • Heat the oil, roll the balls into the bread crumbs and fry for about 4 to 5 minutes until golden brown
  • Serve with a dip of yogurt with diced cucumber mixed with dried mint

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.

Filed Under: Lent, Side dish, Starters, Uncategorized · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Apr 2, 2012

Tuna and Egg Sandwich

By · 4 Comments

This is a sandwich that you can prepare and enjoy eating within 15 minutes. So, when I have friends over and we’re hungry I usually make this  sandwich, because the ingredients  are always available in the kitchen and there is no need to buy any groceries…

And, I usually make this sandwich when I feel lazy 🙂

To make 3 sandwiches you need:

Ingredients:

  • 9 slices of square bread (any kind you like)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
  • 1 can tuna
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 medium tomato sliced
  • three leaves of lettuce
  • some potato chips ( any flavor you like)

Preparation:

  • Boil the eggs in salted water for about 11 minutes to become hard
  • In the meantime heat the slices of bread slightly in a toaster, but don’t let them get hard
  • Add the lemon juice to the tuna
  • Cover one layer of toast with mayonnaise, place the tuna over the mayo and put some lettuce
  • Place another slice of bread over the tuna, cover it with mayo and place a layer of sliced boiled eggs, and put over the eggs slices of tomatoes
  • Cover with another slice of bread, cut it diagonally, place in a plate  with the chips of your choice, and enjoy eating. Bon Appetit.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
Apr 1, 2012

Nouilles

By · 3 Comments

It is so funny how children have specific opinions even from an early regarding food! When I came to Abu Dhabi,  I discovered that my grandson now insists on eating only spaghetti as his main meal. My daughter was very frustrated and came to me for help. I told her that when my children were young I had the same problem, and that I had difficulty to find a food that pleases them all, this is why I had to make more than one dish everyday. I taught her a trick for feeding a picky eater, which is to feed him what he demands, cooked in a nutritious way. We all like the “gratin foods”, and Nouilles is one of our favorite dishes in the family. And, thank God, the children enjoy it too.

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams of Nouilles pasta, fettuccini or tagliatelli kind
  • boiled chicken
  • 6 cups of milk
  • 100 grams butter
  • 5 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon seven spices
  • pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • 1 cup mozzarella grated , 1 cup parmesan grated

Preparation:

  • Boil the Nouilles with one tablespoon of vegetable oil and salted water, and keep it “aldente”, then drain it
  • Prepare the white sauce: in a small pan melt the butter, add the flour and mix properly with the butter until all the flour is well absorbed by the butter, add the milk slowly and whisk constantly until all the milk has been added
  • Boil on a low heat until the mixture start to thickens, but we do not want it very thick, because the pasta needs to absorb the white sauce
  • Season with salt and nutmeg and remove from fire
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • In a tray place half of the pasta
  • Peel the boiled chicken, remove the skin and bones and break into small pieces, rub them with salt and spices
  • Place a layer of the chicken over the pasta, pour half of the white sauce
  • Cover with another layer of pasta and the remaining white sauce, top with the grated cheeses
  • Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the top turns a nice golden color, serve with salad of your choice

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:) And HAPPY PALM SUNDAY EVERYONE..

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , ,
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