Mar 9, 2012

Stuffed Cabbage (Mehchi Malfouf)

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A small girl asked her mother, “Mum where did I come from?” Her mother answered, “I found you in a cabbage”. This little girl believed her mother until she grew up and had her own children. Surprise surprise, it wasn’t a cabbage that brought them! That little girl was me, and as a mother, I was asked her the same question by my children and passed down this old wives’ tale just for laughs.

Every time I prepare any dish with cabbage, I remember this story and say to myself: poor delicious cabbage! how people have mistreated you. Its such a versatile vegetable that can be eaten raw, boiled, steamed, stuffed or in a salad. However, I have yet to find any kids in inside!

Stuffed cabbage is a popular dish among Arab countries, with small differences in preparation. As per usual, I’ll be showing you how to make it like my mother taught me, a la Libanaise.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 kilo cabbage
  • 200 gs minced meat
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • about 15 clove of garlic peeled
  • 2 cups of rice
  • salt, 7 spices
  • lemon juice
  • dried mint
  • some corn oil

Preparation:

  • Separate the cabbage, leaf by leaf
  • Put it in a casserole of boiling salted water and cook for about 7 minutes, then strain it
  • In a small saucepan, fry the minced meat in some oil
  • Crush the garlic cloves, add to the meat while cooking and season with salt and 7 spices. Turn off the fire after a few minutes, before the meat is well cooked
  • Wash the rice and mix it with the meat. This is now your stuffing for the cabbage
  • Take one leaf of cabbage, open it carefully, place 1 teaspoon of the stuffing in the center and roll it. Repeat this with the rest of the leaves until you finish your stuffing
  • Put some corn oil in a pot and pile the stuffed cabbage inside delicately with the garlic cloves in between rows
  • On the top, place a plate upside down to keep them together while cooking
  • Fill the pot with water until the cabbage is all covered, and not more
  • Cook it on a low heat for about 25 minutes or until you find that rice is tender
  • Add lemon juice for flavor
  • Sprinkle with dried mint

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Mar 7, 2012

Vegetable Stew

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Most children don’t like vegetables, especially zucchini and eggplant. They prefer to eat chicken nuggets, hamburger or anything else that can be found at a fast food restaurant. Even my siblings and I didn’t like those kinds of vegetables when we were young . My mother used to cook vegetables in this kind of stew with some meat to make us eat them (or else we’d be in trouble). It’s funny how we become our mothers… I too used this same recipe on my children. May it be as effective on your children as well:)

By the way, for those of you who can’t find the Lebanese Seven Spices ready mixed, here is a very useful guide to making it yourself.

Ingredients:

  • 200 grams lean beef cut into cubes
  • 2 potatoes cut into cubes
  • 1 large carrot cut into slices
  • 2 zucchini cut into slices
  • 1 large eggplant cut into cubes
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 red tomatoes chopped
  • 3 clove of garlic crushed
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • salt, seven spices, 1 tablespoon of dried coriander
  • cooking oil

Preparation:

  • In a pressure cooker, fry the meat with a little oil
  • When the meat is cooked, cover with water add one teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon seven spices cook with the pressure cooker closed for 20 minutes
  • In the meantime, heat some oil in a pot and fry the the onion for 2 minutes then add the garlic and stir together for about a minute
  • Add the chopped tomatoes, cover the pot, lower the heat and leave it for 3 minutes
  • Remove the cooked meat from the pressure cooker and keep the water of the meat
  • Place the meat over the tomatoes, onion and garlic mixture
  • Add the carrot first for 4 minutes then the potatoes
  • Cover with the water used to cook the meat and add the tomato paste
  • Now add the zucchini then the eggplant after a couple of minutes
  • Season with salt, seven spices and the dried coriander
  • Lower the heat, cover the pot and let it cook slowly for about 20 minutes or until the carrot is tender
  • Serve it with cooked rice and green salad on the side

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT 🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 5, 2012

Rice and Beans (Riz bil Foul)

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When my children were young, we used to spend the summer holidays in our home in the mountain. One night, my sons felt they like to eat some beans from one of the street vendors. I took my little boys in the car and I asked them to keep an eye out for beans vendors. My eldest son saw one and I stopped the car with the vendor at the passenger’s side. I told my son to ask the man for some beans and, in his excitement, he mixed up the words while asking. Instead of saying, “3ammo 3andak foul?” (sir do you have beans?) he said “3ammak Foul” (your uncle is a bean!)

Since then, this has become a joke between us. My son is now a young man working in New York City, and while talking to him yesterday he told me “3ammak Foul”. I know that this is his way to tell me that he misses me. That’s why I decided to cook the rice with broad beans today.

Ingredients:

  • 100 gs minced meat
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 1 cup of frozen broad beans (the green ones)
  • 1 cup of rice
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • salt, seven spices

Preparation:

  • Heat the oil in a pot and fry the onion
  • When the onion start to get golden color, add the meat and fry it with the onion
  • Season with a dash of salt and a 1/2 teaspoon seven spices
  • Add the beans and mix it with meat and onion, then lower the heat and cover the pot for few minutes until the beans becomes tender
  • In the same pot, put the rice with 2 cups of water, adjust the seasoning as desired, and let the rice cook on a low heat until it absorbs all the water
  • Serve it with yogurt and green salad

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
Mar 1, 2012

Fun with Zucchini, Part One: Koussa Mehchi (Stuffed Zucchini)

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It’s funny… Every time I cook this meal, a different childhood memory comes to my mind. My mother’s cousin had 14 children, can you imagine? When she wanted to make the stuffed zucchini for her family, she would buy about 12 kilos of it and she asked my mother to come and help her. I sat with them a couple of times while they would drink coffee and core the zucchini. It took them a good while of time to prepare them, to cook them later in that huge pot that could fit a whole lamb!

This dish is a staple in the Arab countries, and each country has its own variation on it. Mostly however, the changes are superficial and the taste remains mostly the same. Today, I will be showing you the Lebanese recipe of course. You’re going to enjoy getting your hands dirty 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo of small Zucchini
  • 100 gs minced meat
  • 1 cup of rice (preferably Egyptian orItalian rice)
  • 2 tablespoon tomato puree
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • salt and seven spices

Preparation:

  • Fry the meat in oil for about 4 minutes, until it becomes light brown
  • Wash the zucchini and cut the head. Then with a vegetable corer, remove the insides (but don’t throw them away! Tomorrow, I will show you how to make a delicious dish using them.)  When done, wash and drain them
  • Wash the uncooked rice and mix it with the cooked meat, add salt and seven spices
  • Fill the zucchini with the meat and rice mixture, until 3/4 full only; leave some space for the rice to expand when cooked
  • Place the stuffed zucchini in a pot, cover with water, add the tomato paste and season
  • Cook on high heat until it starts boiling then lower the heat with the pot covered and let it simmer for about 25 minutes
  • You know it is cooked when the rice is tender

If you have any remaining rice from the stuffing, don’t worry: put them in a small casserole with double volume of water and let it cook until the rice becomes dry. Then serve the Koussa Mehchi with the rice on the side.

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT! 🙂

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

Kafta with Potatoes + New Blogger Award Nomination

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Do you know Kafta? It is minced meat mixed with parsley and onion with salt and some spices. I remember when I was young, when my mother made kafta for lunch, everybody would rejoice. I should mention that besides my parents, we were 6 children: 4 boys and two girls. My mother used to make 3 main dishes for lunch to please us all. But when she decided to make Kafta with Potatoes, she would have to make a very large tray, bigger then our oven at home! My father had to take it to the bakery to cook it, after preparation at home it took 5 minutes to cook. Today I made a medium size tray and I cooked it at home but it took about half an hour to get cooked in the oven.

Ingredients: 

  • 500 g minced meat
  • 1 cup of chopped parsley
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 4 potatoes
  • 2 large tomatoes sliced,
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 1 tbsp  tomato paste
  • salt, seven spices
  • frying oil, cooking oil

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
  • Mix the meat by hand very well, take a small hand full and make a ball shape with it and flatten it then place it on a slightly greased oven tray
  • Preheat the oven to 200C
  • When all the meat is ready, place the tray in the oven for about twenty minutes, making sure to turn it over halfway through
  • In the meantime, peel the potatoes and cut them into slices then place into frying pan with oil; remove and drain when golden
  • Place the potatoes over the meat, then sliced onions and tomatoes on top
  • In a small bowl mix the tomato paste with about 2 cups of water, and season with salt and seven spices then place it over the meat and the potatoes in the tray
  • Cover the tray with aluminium foil and place it in hot oven for 20 minutes
  • Remove the foil and keep it in the oven for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens
  • Serve with rice

 

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT!

By the way, I’ve been nominated for the New Blogger Award by this really interesting blog called Creative Noshings. Check it out and thank you all for your support 🙂

BON APPETIT

Filed Under: Arabic, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , ,
Feb 17, 2012

White Beans with Meat and Rice (Fasoulya)

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This stew is a traditional Lebanese dish. When my youngest brother went to a boarding school in Lebanon for a few years, they used to serve it to the students with white beans, meat and rice every Wednesday, and as he got homesick sometimes, this dish made him remember his home and made him feel good.

He’s a lot bigger than he used to be then, but even now when he knows I have it for lunch, he gladly invites himself over to eat. But I have to make bigger portions. A lot bigger.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of dried white beans
  • 300 gs of beef meat cut into large cubes
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 cup of chopped fresh coriander
  • 1 tablespoon of ground dried coriander
  • 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
  • Cooking oil

Preparation:

  • Soak the white beans with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with water, overnight
  • The next day the beans double in volume – drain them form the water and wash them
  • In a casserole put 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and fry the meat then cover it with water, cook for about one hour until the meat is tender (to save time you can use the pressure cooker)
  • In another casserole boil the beans until it is almost tender, then drain again the water
  • Put the beans over the meat, add the tomato paste, salt and pepper, cover with water and let it boil on low heat in the covered casserole
  • Crush the garlic with salt, add the fresh and dried coriander and mix all the ingredients well
  • In a small saucepan, heat some oil and fry the mixture of garlic and coriander then add it to the casserole of beans with meat
  • Finally, you can put the lemon juice
  • Serve this delicious food with cooked rice.

ET VOILA ..C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , ,
Feb 16, 2012

Lasagna

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The first time I ate lasagna was 20 years ago when I was still living in Abu Dhabi, and my friend invited me to her palce to have lasagna for lunch.  I thought at the time that making lasagna was complicated so I asked her for the recipe and, and she explained to me the way she did it. Since then, I have made some modifications to her recipe, and my children just love  lasagna I make. I am glad to share it with you today:)

Ingredients: The meat sauce

  • 200 gs of minced meat
  • 2 large onions
  • 4 red tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
  • salt, pepper
  • 2 tablespoon of cooking oil

The white sauce:

  • 100 gs of butter
  • 4 tablespoons of all purpose flour
  • about 4 cups of milk
  • salt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup of shredded emmental cheese, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella

Preparation:

  • Heat the oil in a casserole and fry the onion chopped finely
  • Add the minced meat to the onion and fry until the meat is cooked
  • Cut the red tomatoes in small pieces and add it to the meat with the tomato paste
  • Season with salt and pepper and put the sauce aside

Now prepare the white sauce:

  • In another casserole melt the butter and add the flour, mix well
  • Pour the milk gradually and keep mixing with a whisk
  • When the sauce thickens put the fire off and put the salt and the nutmeg

Finally:

  • In a deep oven tray, put a large tablespoon of white sauce to cover the bottom of the tray
  • Put one layer of lasagna, cover it with meat sauce and then put the white sauce, repeat this until the tray is 3/4 full
  • On the top after the last layer of the white sauce sprinkle the cheese and put in hot oven for about 30 minutes

My son was with me in the kitchen while preparing the lasagna, and he came up with the idea to put the lasagna in a aluminium foil cup cake, he did, and it turn out to be beautiful. I think it is a good idea to make a “cup cake lasagna” if you have a party.

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT. BON APPETIT!

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Feb 16, 2012

Spaghetti with Meat Escalope

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Who doesn’t like spaghetti??

This is the most popular meal in the world and everybody loves it: children, young people and even the elderly. This is a meal I keep as a backup, because I have the ingredients always ready in my kitchen. When I don’t have escalope, I just use minced meat in the pasta sauce to make it bolognese sauce.

Ingredients:

  • 250 gs of spaghetti
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 5 red tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, basil
  • 1 tablespoon of ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon of cooking oil
  • 2 pieces of meat escalope

Preparation:

  • In a casserole, boil water with a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of cooking oil
  • When the water is boiled, put the spaghetti and boil it. When it is cooked drain it from the water
  • In another casserole, heat the olive oil, chop the onion and fry it, then add the crushed cloves of garlic
  • Put the tomatoes in boiling water for few seconds to peel them and chop into medium size cubes (if you want you can use a small  can of crushed tomatoes)
  • Add the tomatoes to the mixture of onion and garlic and let it boil on low heat
  • Season the tomato sauce with salt, pepper, and a small teaspoon of each of: thyme, oregano, basil
  • Now add ketchup and a half cup of water, cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes on low heat
  • Fry the escalope until the meat is well cooked
  • To serve, put the spaghetti in a plate, cover it with the tomato sauce and place the escalope alongside
  • You can serve it with a vegetable salad

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , ,
Feb 13, 2012

Maaloube Batenjein (upside down eggplant with meat and rice)

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This is a lebanese main dish, made from eggplant, minced meat and rice. I remember the first time I tasted it was at my in-laws house. I asked my mother-in-law how she made it, and she told me “the most important thing is not to stir it, so when you turn it looks neat like a piece of cake”.  It is a nice dish, and today I would like to share my mother-in-law’s recipe with you.

Ingredients:

  • 400 gs of large eggplant
  • 200 gs of minced meat
  • 1 onion chopped finely
  • 2 cups of long grain rice ( or basmati rice if you prefer)
  •  frying oil, cooking oil, salt and seven spices
  • pine seeds fried with a small spoon of butter

Preparation:

  • Peel the eggplant and cut it into thin slices, fry them in a frying pan with the frying oil until they become brown then drain them
  • In a medium size pot, heat the cooking oil and fry the onion, add the minced meat and fry it with the onion until is well cooked then season it with salt and seven spices
  • Put 2 cups of rice in 2 cups of boiling water for about half an hour in a bowl until the rice absorbs all the water
  • In the pot keep the fried meat with the onion, and take care that you press them in the bottom of the pot with the back of a spoon
  • Put over the meat, the fried eggplant, and then the rice
  • Cover with 2 cups of water and cook on a very low heat, WITHOUT STIRRING
  • When the rice is completely dry, put the fire off, and let it set in the pot for few minutes
  • Turn it upside down in a serving plate and decorate it with the pine seeds fried
  • Serve it with yogurt mixed with cucumber and garlic, with a pinch of dried mint

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , ,
Jan 31, 2012

Rice and Meat Balls

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Today I made rice and meat balls, and I would like to show you how it’s done! It’s very easy and everyone likes it 🙂

Rice and meatballs

Ingredients: 

  • 500g of lean minced beef
  • 2 big onions chopped in thin strips
  • Pine seed (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour
  • Salt and pepper (as desired)

Preparation: 

  • Mix the meat by hand with salt and pepper, and shape the meat in medium sized balls
  • Put a little bit of cooking oil in a pot and fry the meat balls until golden brown all around
  • Remove the meat and fry the pine seeds until golden pale, then add the onion and fry until it’s tender and transparent
  • Put the meat again with the onion and mix the ingredients well
  • Dissolve the flour in a cup of water and add salt and pepper. Pour it over the meat and let it boil on high heat until it starts boiling
  • Cover the pot and let it simmer on low fire until the sauce thickens
  • You can serve it with cooked rice, and a salad
  • Et voila!

JARRBOUHA RAH THEBBOUHA 🙂

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