Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Yogurt Soup with Lebanese Tortelloni - Shish Borak


Ingredients:


1 / 2 kg yogurt  
1 / 4 bunch coriander  
5 cloves garlic  
1 tablespoon butter 
2 tablespoons starch  
1 / 4 cup water to dissolve the starch
Dough:
 
2 cups flour  

1 / 2 cup water (depending on the type of flour)  
1 teaspoon salt 
Fill:  
200 g of minced meat   
1 onion small  
30 g pine nuts  
1 tablespoon butter 
Preparation:  
Prepare the dough by adding salt to the flour and adding water gradually and knead. Leave the dough to rest for half an hour.  
Preparing the Tortelloni: Fry the pine seeds in butter ghee and add the meat and cook with the chopped onion until ready. We spread the dough into thin large circle. Using a circular cutter around 7cms diameter we cut the dough into circles. Put a teaspoon of meat stuffing on the side of the circle of dough. Close the dough in the form of a crescent, and then twist the sides to meet on top of each other (see picture below). When all the quantity is done bake in the oven for only 10 minutes for dough to dry. 
The Yogurt:Pass the milk with a strainer and add to it a quarter cup of starch dissolved in water. Put the yogurt on the heat and stir continuously until boiling. Deep-fry the coriander in a tablespoon of butter finely chopped garlic and salt. Add the coriander and stir into the yogurt. Add the dough and leave to boil with continued stirring. Eat hot with rice. 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Stuffed Cabbage - Malfoof Mahshi


Ingredients (5 persons):
1 Cabbage weighing 1.5 kg
1 kg medium size squash
300 g ground beef
11/2 cup short grain rice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 lemons
1& 1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon pepper
1 medium onion
5 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 / 2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
Water
Salt

Preparation:

Boil the cabbage in the water till tender. Cut large pieces in half and remove ribs aside to be placed in the pot. Then empty/carve the squash. Wash rice and drain. Add to the rice the ground beef, chopped onion, a small teaspoon cumin, pepper and allspice. Fill the squash/zucchini and leave empty the length of finger node so that the squash does not break when rice expands. 

Cabbage: put a slice of the cabbage on the working surface and put stuffing in a line and roll like a cigar by closing the sides. Fry the cabbage stems in the butter and then put the stuffed cabbage and zucchini over the stems. Add crushed garlic with dried mint, lemon juice, tomato paste, half teaspoon cumin and salt. Cover the stuffed squash and cabbage with water and close the pressure cooker and leave till steam rises (pressure).

Eat with pita bread.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Lebanese Samosas - Samboosik


Ingredients: 
 Dough: 
3 cups flour  
2 tablespoons vegetable oil  
1 teaspoon salt  
1 cup water according to the coherence of the dough  
ٍStuffing: 
350 g Halloumi cheese *  
50 g Thyme  
1 tablespoon black cumin seeds

Preparation:  

Mix flour with oil and salt and add water and knead until it holds together and doesn't stick to the hands. Grate the cheese and add the thyme to half the amount cheese and add black cumin seeds to the second amount of the cheese. Spread the dough into a half a centimeter thick layer and cut it with a small cup into circles. Add cheese and thyme, or cheese and black cumin seeds filling to half of each circle and close the samosa into a half moon shape and and close well by bending the edge into a twisted cable design. Fry the samosas in vegetable oil.

* Halloumi cheese








Monday, September 12, 2011

Smoked Wheat Grain with Meat - Freik bil Lahm


Ingredients:  
1 / 2 kg shoulder or part of the thigh (lamb)  
4 to 5 small onions  
2 cups Smoked wheat grain purified and washed  
Black peppercorns
2 tablespoons butter 
2 sticks cinnamon  
4 beads cardamom
5 beads cloves 
1 tablespoon black pepper 
1 teaspoon allspice
 2 teaspoons salt  
4 cups water 100 g almonds garnish
 

Preparation:  
Deep-fry the meat in butter until tender, then add 4 cups water and add the allspice, cinnamon, cloves, cinnamon, onion and left in the pressure cooker from 10 minutes to a quarter of an hour. Deep fry whole onions with the spices and two tablespoons of salt till the onions are tender. Drain the gravy from the meat and add it to the smoked wheat and leave to cook. When ready decorate with meat and fried almonds. 

 Smoked wheat

Egg-filled Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce - Kafta bi Beid


Ingredients:
4 eggs
200 g tomato sauce
2 tablespoons butter
400 g finely ground beef
1 teaspoon pepper
1 / 2 teaspoon black pepper 

Cloves, red chili pepper
1 small onion
1 / 2 cup water

Preparation:
Chop the onion over the ground beef. Mix the meat well, then peel the hard-boiled eggs and wrap each egg separately with meat. Deep-fry the meatballs in butter. When the meatballs are cooked add one tablespoon flour with the meatballs and then add the tomato sauce. Add the seasoning (Black pepper and a hint of red chili pepper, cloves) and salt to taste and half a cup of water. Leave the sauce boil.

 
Eat with mashed potatoes (Pureé) or with spaghetti.

 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Baked Spaghetti with White Sauce (Béchamel)


Ingredients:
400 g spaghetti noodles
11/2 cups flour
2 liters milk
3 tablespoons butter
300 g Gruyère cheese and mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon black pepper
nutmeg
1 medium onion
300 g of meat chopped fine
Pine nuts as desired

Preparation:
After boiling pasta in salted water drain the pasta and add to it olive oil . Fry the meat in butter and stir, then add the spices and salt. Add to the meat the chopped onions and fry until the meat is cooked. To prepare bechamel (or white sauce) put butter in a saucepan and add the flour and stir until tan. Add the milk gradually to the flour and stir quickly so it does not clump. Added some nutmeg brushings, black pepper, and salt. When the mixture condenses remove from heat. Prepare a baking pan (Pyrex). Put in its base a light layer of bechamel and then put a layer of pasta, then add a layer of all the meat, sprinkle half the amount of grated cheese. Put a second layer of pasta and and a top layer of grated cheese. Put the pan in the oven and leave to bake until face is crunchy.

Potatoes in Green Chili Sauce - Batata Harra


Ingredients:  
1 / 2 kg potatoes  
3 or 4 cloves garlic  
1 cup vegetable oil for frying potato 
1 tablespoon olive oil  
1 teaspoon salt  
1 lemon  
1 green chili (pickled)

Preparation: Cut potatoes into medium sized cubes and fry in vegetable oil until tender. Chop coriander finely and fry in a little olive oil with garlic paste and salt. Add the fried potatoes to the coriander. Add the pickled green chili and some chili sauce (Tabasco). Before lifting the potatoes from the heat add the lemon juice.  

Eat pita bread. 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Lebanese Couscous - Moghrabiyeh


Ingredients: (Servings: 5) 
1 kg chicken 
1 kg fresh Moghrabiyeh * (Lebanese couscous) - Available fresh in Lebanon or dried in International stores. 
1 kg small onions 
1 onion to boil with chicken 
1 cup chickpeas 
3 tablespoons butter/ghee
2 tablespoons caraway 
1 tablespoon black pepper 
1 teaspoon allspiceCloves 
1 teaspoon peppercorns 
4 cups water



Preparation: 
Soak the chickpeas in water 24 hours before preparing the dish.   
Cut the chicken into four pieces and wash and fry in a tablespoon of butter. Add to the chicken the peppercorns, cloves, caraway, allspice, one teaspoon salt, cinnamon sticks, and one large onion. Add four cups of water. Add to the chicken the chickpeas and simmer 45 minutes or 5 to 10 minutes in a pressure cooker. 
Peel the small onions and sauté whole onions in butter until tender and yellows. Add to the pot containing the onions a cup of water with a pinch of salt and leave 10 minutes to boil. Take part of the broth from boiling the chicken (1 or 2 cups) and add to onions.Put one tablespoon of butter in large saucepan and add the fresh Moghrabiyeh**, add caraway and black pepper and allspice and a bit of cloves. Stir the Moghrabiyeh with a wooden spoon for 15 minutes on low heat. Use the second part of the chicken broth and chickpeas for the Moghrabiyeh and leave on low heat, the more absorbed the more you add broth till the starchy pellets become tender. 
Serve in a large dish, decorate with onions and chicken and sprinkle caraway on top. Serve broth on the side.Served with yogurt as a side, eat with a spoon.





*Lebanese couscous: Larger than Moroccan couscous, here the starchy pellets are about the size of small peas. 
** Dried moghrabiyeh requires longer cooking and more broth.



 

Zucchini in Olive Oil - Thareeda


Ingredients:
Pulp of  6 zucchinis *
1 medium onion
1 1/2 lemon
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup (found in middle eastern food sections)
1 tablespoon dried mint
4 cloves garlic
1 small loaf of pita bread

Preparation:
Boil the zucchini pulp in a cup of water with one chopped onion until tender. Add the chopped garlic, lemon juice, pomegranate syrup, dried mint and salt. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the small loaf of pita bread that you have cut into 1 inch wide squares and leave on heat for two minutes on the fire. Pour in a serving plate and top with a generous amount of olive oil. 


Eat in room temperature or cold with spoon.

* you can use the emptied zucchinis to prepare stuffed zucchini and vine leaves. See our recipe below.

Stuffed Squash and Vine Leaves - Mehshi Warak Enab

Ingredients: (serving size: 8) 
1 kilo zucchini (medium size)  
200 g vine leaves (fresh or canned) 
2 cups rice 400 g of finely chopped meat
2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper  
1 / 2 teaspoon black pepper  
1 tablespoon Ghee/butter  
8 pieces of lamb chops  
10 cloves garlic 
 2 lemons 
1 large onion
2 cups water
 

Preparation:  
Boil the green vine leaves and set aside. Empty zucchini and set aside. Wash rice and drain. Cut onions finely add to it salt and pepper, half the quantity of ghee or butter, add the meat, and mix well. Stuff the zucchini with the mix above leaving empty in each zucchini the measure of one knuckle of your finger so that rice stuffing expands. Stuff the vine leaves (place the each vine leaf on a plate add a small amount of the filling and then fold the sides like making cigars or cigarettes). Fry the lamb chops in butter and when ready put them in the button of the pressure cooker or pot. Pile the leaves and zucchini in the pot in stacks, add all the whole garlic cloves. Stir in two cups water, the lemon juice and salt and pour over the stuffed zucchini and vine leaves. Cover and leave to cook for half an hour or till steam rises in pressure cooker.
Eat with pita bread and yogurt as a side.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce - Dawood Pasha



Ingredients: (3 servings)
200 g to 300 g of meat (ground lamb or beef - finely ground)
200 g tomato soup (Tomato sauce)
2 large onions
50 g butter
1 teaspoon allspice pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Ginger (to season meat)
Red Pepper (for the sauce)

Preparation:
Add the salt and spices  (ginger and pepper) to the meat and shape into small
meatballs. Chop the onion finely and sauté in butter until tender. Add the meatballs to the onions and stir until meat is cooked. Add the tomato sauce, a teaspoon of sugar and red pepper and leaves 10 minutes to boil.

Eat with boiled rice on the side.
To prepare the rice saute in butter a handful of vermicelli (vermicelli is optional). When they become slightly tan, add one cup of rice and 1 teaspoon salt and mix. Cover with water so that water level is once centimeter  over rice. Leave for it to cook.


Lentil Soup with Lemon - Shorbet Adas bi Hamod





Ingredients:
1 cup brown lentils (masoor)*
3 cups water
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon dried mint
1 teaspoon cumin
5 zucchinis
1 potato

 
Preparation:
Peel onions and chop finely and fry in butter until they become yellow, add diced zucchini and potatoes (1 inch). Stir until tender.  

Boil the lentils in the pot alone. Pass the lentils in a vegetable mill ** (or food processor if not available) and add to vegetables. Add a glass of water, pepper, lemon juice, garlic and dried mint with a teaspoon of salt. Leave to boil for 20 minutes and stir from time to time so as not to stick.

Note:

** The unique and delicious flavor of the soup is the result of passing the lentils in the vegetable mill.
 

* masoor lentils







Cooked Yogurt - Labniyeh


Ingredients:
1 kg yogurt
1 / 2 cup of short grain rice
1 / 4 bunch coriander
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons starch
1 / 4 cup water to dissolve the starch

Preparation:
Boil in a cup of water
1 / 2 cup of rice. Then pass the yogurt in a strainer and add to it  starch dissolved in a quarter cup of water. Put the yogurt on the heat and stir continuously until boiling. Add the rice to the boiled yogurt and continue to stir. Fry in butter the chopped coriander with tablespoon finely chopped garlic, add salt. Add the coriander to yogurt and stir for three minutes then remove from heat.

Eat with a spoon with green onions as a side.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Oven-Baked Beef Patties - Kafta bil Soniyeh

Ingredients: (serves 4 people)

Beef Patties

300 g of veal meat finely chopped
1 onion medium size
1 / 4 bunch parsley
Salt
Allspice pepper
Black pepper
Pinch of cinnamon

Other Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter
1 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup water
1 / 2 kg potatoes
3 medium tomatoes

Preparation:

Boil potatoes for quarter of an hour and then peel and set aside.

Finely chop onion and add to it finely chopped parsley. Then add a small teaspoon of salt, spices, and chop the mixture once again. Add to the above mixture the minced meat and mix well until smooth. Shape meat to patties. Brush pan with butter then place the meat patties and add a layer of sliced ​​potatoes discs. Cover with slices of tomato. Dissolve a tablespoon of tomato sauce in a glass of water, add to it lemon juice and half teaspoon salt. You can add Red chili pepper paste.

Place in the oven for half an hour.

Eat with pitta bread.


French Toast - Eish el Saraya

Ingredients:

500 g bread, toast or baguette slices
4 cups milk
4 eggs
50 g butter
Half teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Place toast in two layers in a glass pan for over cooking (Pyrex). Stir in the milk,  half teaspoon vanilla powder  and add to them the beaten eggs. Pour the mixture over the bread. Distribute pieces of butter evenly on toast
. Place in oven for 30 minutes .

Eat at room temperature or cold. Cover generously with sugar syrup (or honey).



Sugar syrup

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup water

Directions 

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.





Pickled Turnips - Kabiss el Lift

Ingredients:

1 kg turnips
2 beets

3 cups water
1 / 4 cup coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 Liter storage jar (air tight) from Fido - Italy


Preparation:

Clean the glass storage jar with hot water and leave to dry. Peel turnips and cut it into crescent-shaped pieces.

Begin stacking turnips inside the storage jar. Distribute peeled and sliced beets on top. Stir the salt and sugar in water and bring it to a boil. Then turn off the heat and when cool add to the jar until it is turnips are submerged. Close the storage jar and wait 15 to 20 days for turnips to be pickled.

Turnips can be served with grilled meat, shawarma, falafel sandwiches and with moujadara (lentil paste).

Arabic Gum Flavoured Sweet Mash - Khabisa



Ingredients:
5 cups water
1 cup starch
1 1/2 cup sugar
Arabic gum (six or seven grains)
200 g walnuts
2 tablespoon orange blossom water

Preparation:
Wash the walnuts in hot water and drain.
Mix the five cups of water with one cup starch in a bowl until it melts completely, pass in a strainer to avoid clumps and add to saucepan over medium heat. Continue to stir to avoid lumps. When the mixture starts turning from white to a transparent color, then add sugar and mix well quickly, continue to stir over medium heat for 40 minutes. Grind Arabic gum and add to the mash, add orange blossom water and leave five minutes to boil.
 
The mixture is poured in large dish and placed in the fridge, served cold it is cut into squares.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Jew's Mallow - Lebanese Molokhia and Rice


Ingredients:
300 g of meat with bone, Lamb shanks
1 1/2 tbsp ghee or butter
15 cloves garlic
1 bunch green coriander
1 tablespoon dried ground coriander
1 teaspoon all spice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper hot
100g dried molokhia or 500g frozen green molokhia (as available)

Fluffy rice
1 cup rice
50g vermicelli
1 tablespoon ghee or butter
1 1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

To garnish
50 g pine
1 teaspoon butter/ghee

Preparation:

Fry 10 whole cloves garlic in butter until brown then set aside. Add meat and bones to butter in pressure cooker and stir with all the spices and salt, then add the chopped green coriander and five finely chopped cloves of garlic. Add to pot the molokhia (if dry wash it with hot water or use the frozen molokhia packs as available). Pour 3 cups water to cover the mixture (frozen molokhia needs less water) and leave it on the fire in the pressure cooker 5 minutes or 30 to 45 minutes in a normal cooker.

Fry pine nuts in ghee until browned for decoration. Cook rice with vermicelli as a side.
Should be eaten with pita bread.
According to taste, add lemon juice, red chilly pepper, pepper sauce or green chili.



Green Molokhia Leaves