Saturday 26 March 2011

Tonia’s Sandwichet Lahmeh ( Tonia’s Meat Sandwiches)

Tonia’s version of meat sandwich or Lahmeh bil Ajin or meat pie........


Ingredients:

Dough:
5 cups Flour
1 cup Milk
1 cup Butter
1 tablespoon instant dry Yeast
1 tablespoon Sugar

Filling:
500g Minced Meat
1 Egg
1 Onion grated
1 Potato grated
1 Green Pepper grated
Seasoning: salt, pepper, cinnamon

Glazing:
 1 egg beaten


For the dough, mix the flour, yeast & sugar. Rub the butter with the flour mix. Add milk to form a soft dough. Let it rest for abit. In the meantime, prepare the filling. Mix all the filling ingredients together.


Roll half the dough on a floured surface. Cut circles with cutter ( 8cm) or tea cup. It would make about 18 sandwiches.


Add a heaped  teaspoon of filling in the middle of the circle & spread them in a line in the centre of the circle. Take opposite sides of the circle & close them together in the middle.



Put the Meat sandwich in greased tray.  Glaze each with the beaten egg. Repeat with the second half of the dough. It should make in total about 45 sandwiches.  Glaze each with the beaten egg. Keep spaces between the sandwiches.


 Cook in a medium hot oven till they are golden.

Saturday 19 March 2011

Saniyet Tamer (Date Cake)

A cake with a layer of dates in middle...A layer of cake, layer of dates & another layer of cake on top, almost like a sandwich.......

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 Eggs
1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
5 cups Flour
3/4 cup Yogurt
1 ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
½ tsp Baking powder

Filling:
500g Dates (pitted or paste)
1 cup Walnuts (optional)
½ cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Butter
1 tsp Cinnamon

Handful of pine nuts for decoration

Mix all the dough ingredients together.  Let it rest for 10-15 min. As for the filling, chop the dates with a knife into small pieces and then mix them with the rest of the ingredients for the filling to form a compact mass. 
Grease the baking tray and dust with flour. 


Take half of the dough and roll it between 2 cling film or greaseproof papers.


Remove the top cling film & flip the dough onto the baking tray ; then remove the secong cling flim ( as it will hold the dough till you get it in the tray).

  
Repeat above with the filling. Roll the filling between 2 cling film or greaseproof papers and add it on top of the first half of the dough.


 Press it down with your fingers to stick it to the first layer.
Then, repeat the same with the second half of the dough and flop it on top of the filling in the baking tray. Press it down with your fingers.


Score the cake into rows and then diagonal lines inside the rows to form a trapezoid. Top every trapezoid with a pine nut.


Bake in a medium hot oven 350F or gas mark 5 for 30 - 40 min until golden. 
Cool and serve.

Saturday 12 March 2011

Baskot bil Debs (Carob Molasses Biscuits)

Old family recipe, pretty simple, very healthy and not too sweet...


Ingredients:

1 cup Butter
4 cups Flour
1 cup Debs el Kharob (Carob Molasses)
1 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Baking Powder

Rub butter & flour together in hands. Add debs (carob molasses), ginger & baking powder. Make it into soft dough. Divide the mixture in half. Roll each half into a big chunky rope.


 Put in freezer for 10 min till it becomes a sligthly hard as it will be easier to cut. Cut it into 1/2 cm slice.


Each half makes around 20 biscuits. 


 Put on greased or greaseproof paper lined baking tray in hot oven for
 10-15 minutes.


Satein! Bon Appetit!

Friday 11 March 2011

Adas Bil Hamod ( Lentil Lemon Soup)

Adas bil Hamod is a lentil soup with spinach and lemon juice. When we were kids we used to call it Adas bil sharatit Lentil with bits referring to the spinach floating on top. It tastes amazingly good especially if you like your lemons!


Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
½ cup Lentils
1 Onion chopped
2 cloves Garlic crushed
1 small Potato grated
2 Tbsp Coriander chopped
½  cup  Lemon juice ( add lemon juice to taste)
1 ltr Water
1 vegetable stock cube
50 g fresh Spinach chopped or torn


Heat oil in a saucepan. Add chopped onions and crushed garlic. Stir till onions begin to turn dark brown (about 5-8 min). Add in lentils, water and vegetable stock. Stir well to loosen the onions from the bottom of the saucepan.
Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, cover with lid, until lentils are tender (about 30 min).


Add coriander, spinach & lemon juice. Bring it to boil for couple of minutes and serve.

Saturday 5 March 2011

Moughleh

   It is a Lebanese rice pudding made on the birth of a child and some makes it on Christmas day too. It is easy to make and full of flavour with the added spices and the garnished nuts. You might find loads of Moughleh recipes but this is Mum’s recipes and obviously it is the best one! Another reason for listing it is that my daughter loves it (without the nuts) and she will be able to find the recipe anytime she decides to make it!



Ingredients:

7 cups Water
1 cup Ground Rice
1 ½ cup Sugar
1 ½ tsp Aniseed
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 ½ tsp Caraway

Garnish:
Shredded coconuts
Pistachio (soaked overnight in water & peeled)
Almond (soaked overnight in water & peeled) or Almond Flakes
Walnuts ( soaked overnight in water & peeled)
Pine nuts

Put water, sugar & spices in a sauce pan on high heat. Bring up to the boil then reduce the heat to medium and add the ground rice. Stir continuously. The mixture will eventually become quite thick. It will take about 20-30 min.  Turn the heat off and pour in a large serving dish or individual ramekins. Leave to cool. 


Before serving, sprinkle some coconut on the moughleh, add pistachio, almond, walnuts & pine nuts.
 If you don’t like the nuts, like someone I know, try it without the garnish. It is still delicious.

Rosto

Rosto is minced meat rolls filled with pistachio/olives/boiled eggs. It is a delicious starter and the filling can be one of your personal choice. Last Christmas we filled the rolls with cooked cranberries and added a bit of red wine to the meat!! Delicious!!



Ingredients:
500g Minced Meat
1 Egg
5 cloves crushed garlic ( I used garlic puree)
Seasoning: Salt, Pepper, Cinnamon
Filling: Pistachios (soaked in hot water than peeled) or pitted olives ( green   or black) or boiled eggs or cooked cranberries........

Mix the meat, egg, garlic and seasoning together. Divide the mixture in half.

pistachio

Green Olives

Take the first half spread it on cling film in a rectangular shape with ½ cm thickness. Spread the filling of your choice.

Roll it with the help of the cling film (make sure to keep the cling film on the outside!). Once rolled, twist the cling film on both ends & put in fridge for 20 min so the roll will stick together. Repeat with the other half.

Another option is to cover the boiled egg individually in your hand & then wrap them in cling film & put them in fridge for 20 min.
After 20 min, remove the roll from fridge, peel the cling film off. Seal the meat in a sauce pan on the hob . If your sauce pan doesn’t go in the oven, move the roll carefully to an oven tray. Before putting it in oven, add ½ cup of water ( or red wine if you like a bit of festivities!) in saucepan/ tray.

Then put it in hot oven gas mark 5 (350F) for 15- 20 min. Check on the rolls half way cooking and turn them to keep them golden all around.

Rosto stuffed olives  & egg

Rosto stuffed Pistachios

Leave it to cool for 1hr before cutting it into slices of 1/2cm thick.
Sahtein!