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.

onion rings my way

not egyptian but hey they taste good. these onion rings are so crispy and crunchy you wont belive there home made.

mix 1/4 cup of flour with 1/2 cup soda water, salt pepper and paprika. slice onion rings thing dunk in batter then coat with panko breadcrumbs. fry in hot oil until golden brown. these are to die for really. you can serve them with some kind of protein and creamy potato salad.

kishk

this is an excellent side dish and sometimes served on its own with bread. Its a savoury milk pudding thats served hot, and its delicious.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of cornflour dissolved in 1/2 cup of water
1 cup of chicken or duck broth
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup greek yogurt

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 onion finely diced.


In a saucepan combine broth, milk, cornflour and yogurt. On medium heat whisk together until it thickens to a thin custard consistency. Pour into deep bowls. In a pan melt butter and saute the onions until they turn dark brown and pour over the kishk. Eat warm.

Tabboule

Now, this might sound alarming, but i used to hate tabboule, but before you jump and say how could you!! let me just explain by saying that I used to order it from takeaway shops which I know dont make it the way its supposed to.. that turned me off making tabbouleh all together, until we had a big bunch of parsley lying around that my mum insisted I use up before it spoils, and judging by the to parsley leaves, it needed to be used right away, so i went ahead and made tabboule and to my amazement, it was just... beautiful isnt the word to describe it. now i know why this simple salad is so famous. heres MY recipe...

1 bunch of parsley finey chopped
 4 ripe tomatoes finely diced
3 tablespoons of fine burghul soaked in water for 15 minutes
1/2 yellow onion finely diced
1 cup of finely diced mint
juice of one juicy lemon
teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of olive oil.

put all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands. serve in a large bowl and decorate with lettuce leaves.

Mezze Dish: Batta Harra (Spicy Potatoes) Dedemed Recipe

 I made a Dedemed Recipe which you can find Here >> BATTATA HARRA RECIPE

If you dont know who dedemed is, well let me just say that she cooks amazing food and you can find here recipe on Youtube. Let me just say that this healthy but very delicious at the same time. People think Potatoes mean unhealthy but thats not true at all. Only fried potatoes are unhealthy and really, anything fried is unhealthy even if its a carrot! next time you want to make some fries next to your burger (which can be done healthy), make this as a side instead of your traditional deep fried fries.

Crispyyy, crunchy, flavourful spicy potatoes (and not that much spice either).

Home made Hommos (No canned stuff around here)

Chickpeas are one of my favourite beans/pulses. There full of protein, vitamins, minerals, and there are so filling that by the time main meal hits your table, your practically full from all that dipping and scooping up hommos with bread, so remember to eat this lightly if your having this as an apetizer or go full out and eat as much as you want if your having this as a brunch. What i love about hommos is that its so versatile, you can eat with anything and the taste is mild but the kick of lemon and garlic give it a nice touch. When I see hommos, I must say, i love it to be creamy, white and thick but not too thick. It has to be thick enough to stay on the bread but also creamy enough to be able to spread effortlessy. Heres how i make this classic hit.

1 and 1/2 cup of dried chickpeas (from arabic supermarket)
1/2 cup of tahini
Juice of 2 lemons.
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
4 gloves garlic mashed
salt
Water to thin the tahini

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight in water. Water should be 2 inches above chickpeas.
2. In the morning, wash chickpeas, but in saucepan with water to the rim and simmer for 2 hours.
3. When chickpeas are mushy, drain and put in food processor.
4. Take tahini in a small bowl and add water little by little and whisk until tahini is white and smooth. (It will get clumpy but thats normal just keep whisking and adding water until its completley smooth and has a white colour).
5. Add tahini, lemon juice, garlic, lemon zest and salt to the food process which already has chickpeas and blend on high  until its smooth and creamy. Chill and go crazy with garnishing like me lol.

Kabsa Rice

Kabsa rice is an accompiant to meat and this dish comes from Saudi Arabia and its very tasty. Serve this along side meat or chicken either way its delicious. Different people  use different recipes; and this is one passed down from my mum so its great I must say. Dont be intimidated by the long list of spices - its actually very easy and the spices give it all the flavour.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of ghee

2 cups of Basmati Rice

4 and 1/2 cups of water

1 bullion cube dissolved in abit of hot water

2 tablespoons of tomatoe paste

1 onion finely chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon of seven spices

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of cardamom powder

1 teaspoon of ginger powder

2 dried black lemons

2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

3 cloves

Garnish

4 boiled eggs halved.

Cashew and Almond nuts roasted in butter

What you do:

In a pot melt ghee and saute onions until caramalized nicely. Add all the spices and saute for further 2 minutes. Add tomatoe paste and stir until it darkens. When it does that add 1/2 cup of water and continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Now add your rice and 4 cups of water & bullion cube. Stir gently to ensure all the spices are distributed evenly. Simmer on low for 30 minutes with the lid on or until rice has cooked through. Fluff up with a fork.

Serve on a big plate and garnish with the cashew and almonds roasted in butter and Halved eggs. Feel free to garnish with anything such as fried onions, peas, pine nuts, and raisins.

Serve this with yougurt as a side & meat of your choice. 

Mahshy محشي

This mahshy rice mix is that nice stuff you see rolled up in a cabbage roll, zuchinni, vegetables, vine leaves basically anything you can stuff. And it tastes great. Everyone has their own version here is the one that my family uses and alot of it is used in Egypt as well. The fresh herbs and light spices give the mombaar a really unique taste which I like to associate with Egypt. The aroma is fantastic. 

Ingredients. (Serves 5) 

2 red onions chopped and rubbed with salt and pepper
2 large tomatoes diced
1 green bell pepper diced
1/2 cup of tomato paste
1 bunch of chopped dill
1 bunch chopped parsley
1 Maggi Chicken cube
Spices: Salt, pepper, cumin, chilli powder, cinamon, ginger (around a tsp of each)
1 cup of oil.

Place all your ingredients in a dish or platter whatever is easiest for you. 

(I dont have the tomatoes pictured here but make sure you add them in)

Mix very well.

You should have something that looks like this. Now you can use this to stuff cabbage leaves, vine leaves, vegetables, anything you like... I used Mombar which is the casing for sausages, but here instead the sausage is stuffed with spicy rice and fried until crispy.

I like to sprinkle some chilli salt and pepper when its done.