New Recipe for Roz Maamar.

More delicious and better results! MmmM i love baked rice and so does my husband! hes not really that familiar with it because his mum never used to make it, but my mum did so I make it for him, and he loves it.. he thinks its a strange way to cook rice but nice. He even kept asking me while i was making if I was sure I knew what I was doing, as I was pouring the milk over the rice.. lool! but anyways here is the recipe..

2 cups of rice soaked in water for 15 minutes.
6 cups of milk
3 tablespoons of butter or margerine
1/2 cup of sugar
sprinkle of salt


In a sauce pan melt butter and saute rice in the butter until it turns pearly and slightly cooked. You will know when it turns abit see through and starts becoming dry, then transfer it to a tagine dish or a pyrex glass dish. Add sugar to rice and mix. In the same saucepan, heat milk until warm then pour over rice, mixing. then sprinkle the salt and mix. Place in a hot oven at 180 degrees, and bake. (if your using a tagine, dont use the lid.)  Once the rice forms a crust, mix because it wont be cooked although the crust forms. Keep mixing at 20 minute intervals, or when you see a crust forms, until the rice is fully cooked and soft. Voilaa! Beautiful Baked rice with awsome flavour if you use a tagine as well.

Koshary Alexandrian Style

A different take on koshary that they eat in Alexandria, its delicious, tasty and very economical..

Ingredients:
1 cup of Basmati Rice

2 cups of Red lentils
2 large onions sliced medium thickness
3 Boiled Eggs peeled, or more depending on how much you want
2 tablespoons of ghee
Oil for pan frying

Sauce:
3 cloves crushed garlic
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 can of diced tomatoes or tomato puree
salt, pepper and dash of chilli
dash of Cumin


What to do:
combine rice and lentils together and wash thouroughly, place in a bot and cover with water about 2 cm above the rice Bring to boil, then lower the heat and cover. Cook until rice is fluffy and lentils are soft. Heat some ghee and saute the boiled eggs until they are golden all over, remove and place on paper towels. In the same pan fry your onions until golden brown and crispy. For the sauce, Fry garlic in 2 tablespoons of oil until fragrant then add vinegar, simmer for 1 minute then add tomato puree, salt, pepper, cumin and chilli and simmer on low for 10 minutes. Take off the heat. To serve, add a heaping serving of rice and lentils, with caramel onions on top, and eggs on the side. Serve the sauce on the side for whoever wants to add some. Enjoy :)

Fish with lemon and oil. (Samak Bel Lamoon we Zeit)

Ingredients
1 large fish, Snapper or Bream, or Tilapia (cleaned by your fish monger)
1 spanish Onion sliced into rings
1 large potato peeled and sliced into rounds (medium thickness)

1 green bell pepper/capsicum sliced thinly
4 cloves or garlic finely minced
Salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon of cumin.
olive oil for cooking and drizzling.
1 lemon half sliced into semi circles. other half whole.

What to do.
combine garlic, salt and cumin together making a paste, with the past put into cavity of fish, then make incisions on skin of the fish and push some garlic mixture in there set aside in the fridge. Meanwhile, saute onions until they have sweated. No more than that. Set aside. In a pot, bring water to boil and par boil sliced potatoes for 6-7 minutes then drain. Take a medium sized pan and arrange potatoes at the bottom. Sprinkle with salt pepper and cumin. Put sauted onions on top, then capsicum and season with salt, pepper and cumin. Now place fish on top and arrange lemon wedge/slices on top. With the other half of lemon squeeze on top of the whole pan then drizzle lightly with olive oil. Place in Oven at 200 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes or until fish is cooked. Serve with crusty bread or steamy white rice. Yum. So healthy and delicious.

Bissara

Bissara is an Egyptian Vegetarian/Vegan Fava bean dip. Some people love it. some people hate it. Me I love it.. I like it served at room temperature or cold, with caramalized onion on top.. mmmm and some crispy pita chips.. I have no idea why people dont get excited about it.. my husband is like meh whenever I say im going to make Bissara.. honestly its delicious, you just have to give it a try to decide for yourself.

Ingredients
1 cup Split fava beans
1/2 teaspoon dry mint
1 onion finely chopped
1/2 cup of cilantro/corriander chopped
1/2 cup of dill finely chopped
1/4 cup of parsley finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped
salt, and cumin

What to do:
Soak fava beans in water overnight. Next morning drain the liquid and set aside. In a medium sized pot, saute onions and garlic in a little olive oil.. when onions are soft, yellow and fragrant, add fava beans. and herbs then stir for a further 2 minutes. Cover with water and let boil for 45 minutes. at salt to your liking and a generous pinch of cumin. Take of the heat and let cool. Once cooled place in blender and food processor and blend until smooth. Pour in serving dishes and Decorate with caramalized onions.

Caramalized Onions:
Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and when hot, add chopped onion. Keep stiring until onions are dark and slightly crispy. Take of heat and drain the oil.

Taameya

Taameya is Egyptian for Falafel. In Egypt its typically made with a combination of foul, onion, garlic and herbs. After its formed into a patty its dipped in sesame seeds then deep or shallow fried until nice and crispy  on the outside. Its a favourite snack for breakfast lunch but rarely a dinner time meal. Put into a sandwich with tahini, pickled eggplants, and salad.. its sure to make you satisfied. Heres My recipe as close to the taameya you buy from the streets in Cairo.

2 cups of Dry split fava beans (they are white in colour)
4 cups of water for soaking
1 white onion diced
3 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
1/4 cup corriander (cilantro) chopped
2 tablespoons of Dill chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of Cumin
pinch of baking soda.
oil for frying.
Optional: Sesame seeds

What to do:
1.Soak fava beans overnight in 4 cups of water.
2. In the morning drain water and place in food processor along with onion, garlic, and herbs. Process on medium speed, gradually increasing as mixture forms together.
3. Once mixture is smooth and holds together, transfer to a bowl and add salt and cumin and mix.
4. Once ready to fry, heat up oil on medium (not too hot) and just before you fry, add baking soda and mix, then  form taameya mixture into patties with your hands dipping them water to help. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and pat with your hand. Drop into hot oil and fry and they are deep golden colour and nice and crispy on the outside. Some people prefer a deep brown colour, its up to you.

Serve with any salad you like such as salad, eggplant, tahini, pickles. etc etc..

Roz Ma'aamar

Roz Ma'aamar is an Egyptian Rice dish thats cooked in the oven rather than the stove top. Its creamy because of the milk and can be eaten savoury or sweet. My Family likes it with sugar however some people add salt and pepper. This is really delicious way of cooking rice and looks wonderful on the tablespread.

Ingredients.
2 and 1/2 cups of short grain rice
6 cups of milk
1/2 cup of whipping cream
1/2 cup of sugar


Place washed rice in baking dish. Pour in Milk and whipping cream and add sugar. Mix thouroughly then place in 200 degree oven. Mix the rice once you see a crust has formed, keep mixing every time you see a crust forms until all the milk has absorbed and rice is soft. You will be left with a rice pudding texture and a golden top. We served it with some Liver schnitzel but you can serve with peas and carrot stew or on its own with a dollop of cream.

kebda iskandarani. liver alexandrian style

across the middle east, liver is eaten, sometimes raw squeezed with lemon juice on top but in egypt  beef liver cooked with spices and other things. the taste will suprise you. its eaten with bread and tahina  and super high in iron too. try it. 

1 kg of beef liver

1 onion sliced

1 green bell pepper finely sliced

4 garlic cloves finely sliced

salt and pepper

cumin

dash of vinegar.

in a pan heat some oil and saute garlic for 30 seconds. add onions and pepper and saute for further 2 minutes. then add the liver stirring until no more pink is visable. add spices and vinegar then cover with a lid and leave to cook until liver is cooked through.