Sheikh Mihshee

This post is dedicated to my best friend who absolutely loves this dish. Sheikh Mihshee is translated literally to English as "Stuffed old man": I have no idea where it got its name!

Sheikh Al Mihshee is comprised of meat stuffed zucchinis in a yogurt sauce. Start by preparing the stuffing--

Meat preparation:

Heat margarine in a saucepan. Fry 1/4 cup of pine nuts until light brown. Remove from saucepan and set aside. 

Cook chopped onions (1 onion) and about 300g of ground beef in the margarine, adding salt and "seven spices".  Once cooked, mix in the pine nuts.

Zucchini preparation:

Begin by slightly cutting both ends of the zucchini. Then using a zucchini carver, place the end of the utensil parallel to the zucchini to estimate the length of the zucchini, such that you avoid poking a hole on the closed end. Use the carver to remove the pulp of the zucchini by rotating your wrist. Once the pulp is removed, wash the inside of the zucchini and allow it to dry.  15 small sized zucchinis is enough to feed 5 people. Stuff the zucchinis with the meat prep. until about 3/4 full. Press meat firmly into the zucchini. Heat about 1/4 of margarine in a large pot. Place the zucchinis in the pot, turning from side to side until slightly browned on both sides. Add two cups of water to the pot: cook the zucchinis in the hot water (apx. 20 min) until soft. 

Yogurt Sauce:

As you wait for the zucchinis to cook, add about 1/2 kg of yogurt in a pot. In a bowl mix two tbsp of starch in half a cup of water, and add this mixture to the yogurt. Heat the yogurt sauce, stirring constantly. 

Once the zucchinis are soft, transfer them to the pot with the yogurt sauce, along with the water/margarine mixture you allowed them to cook in. Allow the zucchinis to sit in the yoghurt sauce for about 5 minutes-giving them time to soak in the flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve with rice (preferably vermicelli rice) and enjoy!:)

 

Chicken ala King

Yesterday's rainy weather in Doha, was the kind that makes you want to stay in bed with hot chocolate and a chick flick. Accepting that we were trapped at home for the night, my friend and I decided to use this as an opportunity to make dinner for her family with whom I was staying.  We decided to make chicken ala king: chicken and vegetables in béchamel. I learned how to make Chicken ala king using a betty crocker recipe years ago...I love this recipe!

Ingredients:

• Cooked cut-up chicken
• 1/2 cup of margarine
• 1 green pepper
• 1 can of sliced mushrooms (drain the mushrooms and keep the mushroom liquid on the side)
• 1 onion
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 carrot
• Drained pimientos
• salt & pepper

Preparing the chicken:

• Cook in olive oil, minced onions.
• Flavor with lemon, salt, and pepper

Preparing the rest of the dish:

• Heat 1/2 cup of margarine in a saucepan
• Fry sliced onions, green pepper, and mushroom for about 2 minutes. 
• Add the flour stirring constantly until bubbly.
• Add milk, chicken broth, and mushroom liquid
• Add cooked chicken, pimientos and sliced carrot
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Heat the sauce to boiling.

Serve with rice and enjoy :):)

Couscous with Chicken Stew

My grandmother's recipe for this stew includes an elaborate list of vegetables. After trying out this recipe, I found that on busier days in school I can use much fewer vegetables and still have a delicious meal. At home, we like to make this with chicken but North Africans will traditionally serve couscous with lamb.

Preparing the chicken & chicken stock:

For this stew I used a whole chicken, which I then broke into pieces. I prepared the chicken stock in the same way I did for the mulukhia chicken stock (boil until tender with one large onion, 2 bay leaves, 3-4 cardamom pieces, 1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorn, and a teaspoon of salt). Drain the chicken stock and place aside. Save about a cup's worth of the chicken stock for preparing the couscous.

Preparing the stew:

Begin by frying sliced onions in olive oil in a large pot. Next fry green peppers, carrots, squash, cubed potatoes, cubed sweet potatoes, green peas, green beans, and zucchinis. Add the chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and tomato slices to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow the vegetables to cook for about 15 minutes. Add the chicken to the stew, allow the chicken to soak up the flavor for another 5 minutes.  Also, while adding the chicken, add about a jar of chickpeas. Once the vegetables are cooked, add 1.5 teaspoons of turmeric, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and about a teaspoon and a half of crushed coriander.

Preparing the couscous:

Fry about 1 cup of packaged couscous in olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add 3/4 cup of the chicken stock, and 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce from the stew to the couscous. Stir the couscous for about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow the couscous to absorb the fluid on its own for another 5 minutes.

....Enjoy :)

Yabra'a: Stuffed Grapeleaves

Caution: These are highly addictive

Yabra'a with stuffed zucchinis and boiled potatoes

I know this is my fourth post of the day. These are dishes I've been making over the course of the past few days-thought I'd get as many posts up before I'm busy with school again! These stuffed grapeleaves are my proudest cooking accomplishment yet! While making these, it was difficult not to feel nostalgic for the summer days I spent hours wrapping grape leaves with my tete (grandmother) in her home in Syria. It has been almost four years since the last time I visited Damascus: I wonder if I will ever wrap grapeleaves in that kitchen again.

Growing up, my role in Yabra'a making involved mostly observing and wrapping. Although I spent many hours wrapping the grape leaves, I learned little else about what it took to make these tasty delights! When I decided to challenge myself to finally cook these independently, I was surprised with how easy they are to make..
That being said, plan to spend at least an hour preparing this meal--wrapping enough grapeleaves to feed several people is extremely time consuming and tedious.

Ingredients:

• 1 jar of orlando grape leaves (or any fresh grape leaves--fresh=preferable)
• 3/4 cup of Sunwhite (short-grain) rice
• 1 cup of 85% lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon of usfur (safflower in English)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• seven spices pepper
• 1 teaspoon of margarine 
• 2 lemons
• 10 garlic cloves

Preparation:

• Wash the grape leaves very well! If you don't wash them extremely thoroughly the grape leaves will be too salty! Make sure all stems are removed. Orlando grape leaves tend to be larger than most grapeleaves: if using these, cut the leaves in half! 
• Soak the rice for about 30 minutes.
• Drain the water and add the usfur to the rice. The usfur is not a necessary ingredient! It provides no flavor to the meal: it only serves the purpose of giving the stuffing a nice orangish color.
• Add the raw meat to the rice along with a teaspoon of margarine, salt, and seven spice pepper.
• Use your hands to mix the stuffing ingredients.
• Now that the stuffing is done..you're ready to start wrapping.
• To wrap the grape leaves add about a teaspoon (more or less depending on the size of the leaf..as you make more, you will get the hang of how much stuffing you'll need) of stuffing to the center of the leaf.  Important side note: Make sure the viney, rougher part of the grapeleaf is on the side facing you--i.e, the side you place the stuffing. Then wrap as though you were wrapping a gift. Begin by folding the two sides tightly over the stuffing. Then roll the grapeleaves from the bottom to top.
• Place the grape leaves in a cooking pot such that the free end of the wrap is facing downwards (you do this to make sure the wrapping doesn't come apart while cooking).
• As you place the grapeleaves in the pot, distribute the 10 cloves of garlic between the stuffed grapeleaves.
• Once you are done with wrapping & placing the grapeleaves in a pot, add enough water to the pot to cover the top layer of the grape leaves, along with lemon juice from 1-2 lemons and some salt.  ((I had some extra stuffing in the end, which I used to stuff zucchinis with...will put up another post on making stuffed zucchini soon))
• Place a heat-resistant plate to the top layer of the grapeleaves, and cover the pot. Heat the water to boiling.
• Once the water boils adjust the temperature to a low ongoing heat. Give the grapeleaves about an hour to cook. You may need to cook for about an hour and a half before the grapeleaves feel soft enough. 

These are absolutely delicious! Serve with yoghurt and enjoy :):)

Mulukhia: Egyptian Style

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mulukhia, you should know that it comes in two forms. Mulukhia is either made in full-leaf form (Syrian mulukhia), or it can be made with a more liquid, soup like texture (Egyptian mulukhia).  I've tried to look up the English word for the mulukhiya leaf--I believe it's called the "Jute leaf" but I'm not sure about this. I was never a fan of the large leaf mulukhia, so I decided to learn the Egyptian one instead. Growing up, mulukhia alawys seemed like the most daunting possible meal to make. It looked and tasted like something that would take hours to prepare! To my pleasant surprise, this turned out to be one of those -"I spent 20 minutes on this, but it looks like I slaved away for hours"-kind of meals. If only I had known sooner in med school.

First step:
Preparing the chicken + chicken stock:

• After thoroughly washing 4 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breasts with salt and flour, place the chicken in a pot filled with enough water to cover the chicken. 
• Add one large peeled onion, 2 bay leaves, 3-4 cardamom pieces, 1/2 teaspoon of whole black pepper, a small piece of ginger, and a teaspoon of salt. 
• Boil the water for as long as it takes for the chicken to become tender. 
• Once the chicken is tender, drain the chicken stock and place aside. 
• Cut the chicken into small pieces.

Mulukhia:
For this meal, I used fresh leaves just because I had the luxury of being at home and having free time. If you're not as free, you can buy a package of frozen mulukhia from any supermarket.

• If you're using fresh leaves, you'll have to prepare the leaves a few hours earlier  by washing thoroughly, removing stems, and drying over a towel. I used about 3 cups of Jute leaves.
• Once the mulukhia has dried, chop the mulukhia into small pieces using a mulukhia chopper (an arched blade with two handles). Alternatively you could just place the mulukhia leaves in a food processor until minced finely.
• Fry about half a cup of coriander with 4 cloves of garlic in olive oil.
• After draining the chicken stock (make sure you remove the onions & spices!), reboil the chicken stock, and add the mulukhia leaves to the chicken stock.
• Add the fried garlic and coriander to the mulukhia--stir well
• Add the chicken pieces to the mulukhia
• Stir the ingredients for about 2-3 minutes. 

Serve with white rice. Add lemon juice to your own taste :).

--Syrians and Lebanese people have their own variation of the soupy Mulukhia. As an extra, we like to top the mulukhia with deep fried cut up pieces of flat bread, and vinegar mixed with finely chopped pieces of onion (as in the picture).

What to do with the left over Riz bil Bazalia: make Oozie!

Oozie: a Palestinian puff-pastry cuisine

So although the Riz Bil Bazalia was awesome yesterday, there was way too much of it left over. I decided to use this as an opportunity to try out another dish. Though it took less than 20 minutes to prepare, the oozie tasted like an entirely different meal.

All you have to do for this is take a piece of package puff pastry, roll it out using flour and rolling pin. Place the sheet of puff pastry in a cup or bowl and brush with melted butter. Stuff the pastry with the left-over rice and peas dish (adding slices of cooked carrots and pistachios is something people will also often add to the oozie stuffing). Pinch the sides of the puff pastry to bring the edges together--you want to form a sphere. Brush the outside of the pastry with some butter, and place in the oven until golden brown!

Voila! Enjoy :)

Riz Bil Bazalia (Rice and Peas)

[Please forgive the amateur photography--I promise to provide better pictures as I get the hang of this!]

This dish is super easy to make--a variation of this meal can also be made using frozen broad beans!

Ingredients:

Meat Preparation:

1 cup of minced meat

1 tbsp margarine

salt, seven spices

1/2 cup of peeled Almonds split in half

2 cups of green peas

2 cups of rice

1 Chicken Maggi Cube

Preparation:

• Fry the meat with 1 tbsp of margarine, and season with salt and spices--place aside
• Fry the almonds in about a teaspoon of margarine, until the almonds turn golden brown--place aside.
• In a separate pot, heat the peas with about a tbsp of margarine. Add about 3 cups of water, with a teaspoon of salt to the water. Heat to boiling--Remove the peas from the pot, replacing them with the 2 cups of rice. Add a chicken bouillon cube to give the rice a nice flavor :). 
• Once the rice is cooked, you want to combine the ingredients. To serve the meal nicely, layer the ingredients in the following way [this is unnecessary, but it does look great if done right! As you can tell from the photo, my attempt at this was not so successful]. Spread the almonds at the bottom of a different pot. Then spread the meat above the almonds, distributing evenly throughout the pot. Add half the peas as a third layer, and half of the rice as a fourth layer. Firmly press the rice. Your 5th layer will be peas, and your last & final layer will be the remaining rice which you also need to press firmly. Flip the pot on a serving plate, and you should end up with a beautiful layered rice& green peas cake! 

Serve with yoghurt and salad :)