Kabseh Chicken (Kabseh bi Djej) Recipe

Photo: Kabseh Chicken (Kabseh bi Djej) Recipe

The Hummus blog: The home of hummus dips and traditional Middle Eastern food invites you to try Kabseh Chicken (Kabseh bi Djej) recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern cuisine and learn how to make Kabseh Chicken (Kabseh bi Djej). 

Ingredients:

1 2/12 – 3 pound chicken, cut into eight pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 medium onions, sliced
1 (12 ounce) can tomato puree
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium carrots, grated
Grated rind of one orange
4 cloves
4 cardamom pods
3 sticks cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound long grain rice
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preparation:

Sautee onion in oil until it begins to brown. Add chicken pieces, tomato puree, chopped tomatoes and garlic and stir for about five minutes over low heat. Stir in three cups hot water, grated carrot, orange rind, spices, salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat, covered, about 20-25 minutes, until chicken is done.

Remove chicken. Set aside to keep warm. Stir rice into the liquid in the pan, and cook, covered over low heat for about 35 – 40 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.

Put rice on a serving platter with chicken pieces arranged around the circumference. Toss raisins and almonds over all. 

More Recipes from the Hummus Blog: 

Shakshuka Eggs
Sesame Halva
Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk
Best Baklava
Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha)
Stuffed Grape Leaves      

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Shakshuka Eggs Recipe

The Hummus blog: The home of hummus dips and traditional Middle Eastern food invites you to try Shakshuka Eggs recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern cuisine and learn how to make Shakshuka Eggs. 

Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time – 20 minutes
Serves – 2

Ingredients

4 free range eggs
1 green bullhorn chili, thinly sliced
1 long red chili, thinly sliced (the spicy kind)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 small red tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons mild/medium paprika
1/4 cup water
coarse sea salt
thyme sprigs to garnish

Method

In a shallow non-stick sauté pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add garlic and chili. Sauté for 5 minutes till tender. Add tomatoes and water. Cook for 5 minutes until tomatoes are slightly tender.

Sprinkle paprika and mix well. Reduce heat to low. Crack eggs slowly over the chili tomato mixture. Cover with a plate and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until eggs are done and slightly runny.

Season with salt and garnish with thyme. Serve hot with bread and salad greens. 

More Recipes from the Hummus Blog: 

Sesame Halva
Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk
Best Baklava
Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha) 
Stuffed Grape Leaves    
Stuffed tomatoes with lamb mince, dill & rice 

Save and share Shakshuka Eggs Recipe

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Sesame Halva Recipe

Photo: Sesame Halva Recipe

The Hummus blog: The home of hummus dips and traditional Middle Eastern food invites you to try Sesame Halva recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern cuisine and learn how to make Sesame Halva. 

Sesame halva is an indulgence for our sweet tooth straight from the heart of the Orient. Halva is a dense brick like confection which can be made from a number of ingredients like beans, nuts vegetables and sunflower seeds.

Sesame halva is one such edition among the wide range of halvas worldwide. Sesame halva is a much loved sweet among the inhabitants of Balkans, Middle East and Poland. Apart from sesame or tahini paste, this oriental delight gets its share of subtle sweetness from the brown sugar and honey.

Additional elements like pistachios, chocolate, fruit juice or vanilla turns it into an extravagant treat for our palate. Some versions have marshmallow roots and egg whites in them which impart a unique taste to sesame halva.

If you are planning to prepare sesame halve for your kid, don’t forget to add some nuts and chocolate in it. They will simply love the rich chocolaty flavors complimented by the playful crunch of the nuts. The best part of making sesame halva is that you can make loads of in one go, then store it in the freeze and pop a piece of into your mouth whenever your heart craves for something sweet. So prepare sesame halva and let its flavors excite you!

Ingredients

2/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
2/3 cup milk
2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup chopped nuts (pistachios and almonds)

Method

1. Boil a mixture of milk and sugar in a pan over medium heat until it reaches the soft-ball phase. 
2. Turn off the heat and add the remaining ingredients.
3. Don’t stir the mixture and leave it just like that for a couple of minutes.
4. Now whisk the mixture briefly and pour it into a previously greased mould.
5. Allow it to set before cutting it into pieces and taking pleasure in the lip-smacking sesame halva. 
 

More Recipes from the Hummus Blog: 

Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk
Best Baklava
Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha) 
Stuffed Grape Leaves    
Stuffed tomatoes with lamb mince, dill & rice
Couscous-Stuffed Peppers with Basil Sauce
 
Save and Share Sesame Halva Recipe recipe 

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Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk Recipe

Photo: Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk Recipe

The Hummus blog: The home of hummus dips and traditional Middle Eastern food invites you to try Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern cuisine and learn how to make Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk.

Cuisine: Lebanese
Category: Levant
Serves: 6 persons
Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium

Preparation time :     15 minutes
Cooking time :     50 minutes 

Ingredients

3 large eggplants or 750 g

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup vegetable oil, (for deep frying)

1 medium onion or 150 g, finely sliced

5 pieces pita bread or 150 g

1 tablespoon butter

100 g onions, chopped

400 g minced beef

7 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cubes MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon or 20 g

¼ cup water or 60 ml, hot

¼ cup liquid whey (jameed) or 50 ml

2 cups yoghurt or 500 g

3 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped 

Preparation

Cut each Eggplant in half (length-wise), with a small knife cut and scoop out flesh, and keep aside. Each eggplant should yield two shells with a 1cm thickness, plus the flesh from the inside. Salt eggplant shells, and flesh and allow the bitter juices to get drawn out.

In a deep frying pan heat up Vegetable Oil. Fry Onion slices until golden brown and set aside on kitchen paper for the excess oil to drain.

Cut flat bread into 2cm squares and fry on hot oil until golden brown and set aside on kitchen paper to drain excess oil.

In the same hot vegetable oil, deep fry eggplant shells until golden but not soft. About 2/3 cooked. Gently remove and arrange tightly in a single row in an oven proof dish.

In a separate pan, melt Butter, sauté Chopped Onions until translucent, add eggplant flesh and continue to fry until soft. remove and set aside.

In the same pan sauté Minced Meat until cooked. Add Garlic, MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon , Water, and the jameed. Add Onion and Eggplant mixture to the pan and cook together for an additional 5 minutes.

In a mixing bowl combine Yogurt and chopped Mint leaves and stir.

Spoon meat and eggplant mixture into the eggplant shells, top with fried bread pieces, pour over the yogurt and mint and spread over to cover the dish equally. Garnish with fried Onion Slices and bake in a preheated oven at 175c for 15-20 minutes.

Serve hot with Salad or flat bread.

Nutritional Information

Energy :     505.00 Kcal
Protein :     27.00 g
Carbohydrate :     32.00 g
Fats :     33.00 g  

More Recipes from the Hummus Blog: 

Best Baklava
Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha)
Stuffed Grape Leaves   
Stuffed tomatoes with lamb mince, dill & rice
Couscous-Stuffed Peppers with Basil Sauce
Stuffed Baby Zucchini with Tomato Sauce
 
Save and Share Eggplant Fatteh with Meat and Keshk Recipe

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Best Baklava Recipe

Photo: Best Baklava Recipe

The Hummus blog: The home of hummus dips and traditional Middle Eastern food invites you to try Best Baklava recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern cuisine and learn how to make Best Baklava. 

Move over cakes and puddings, baklava is here! Baklava, an Arabic pastry, is packed with dry fruits and nuts between layers of phyllo pastry. You might find our baklava recipes a bit too sweet but its amazing flavours will hardly keep you complaining.

A single bite on this Arabic pastry and you will pop a few into your mouth without much ado. The buttery crust and the nuts like pistachios and walnuts add a nice crunch to the dessert while a hint of cinnamon creates magic with the dried fruits.

To cut down the dryness, baklava is often served with thick syrup made of honey, sugar and water which is much less sweet than the baklava itself but adds to its amazing flavours.

Every oriental culture claim their share of fame as the inventor of baklava but its original roots still remains a dispute. Most believe that it is of Turkish origin and was given its contemporary form by the royal cooks of topkapi palace.

Different Middle Eastern countries love to relish their baklava in their own way. While the Turkish prefer their baklava loaded with pistachios, the people of Iran love it dried with a trace of rosy flavour.

Introduce your kids with the Middle Eastern flavors through a baklava and amaze them with its delightful flavours. If you think that making baklava is a laborious process, follow this authentic baklava recipe and you will be cooking it like a professional.

Ingredients

16 oz phyllo dough
1 cup butter
1 lb chopped nuts (walnuts, pistachios, cashew nuts)
1 cup white sugar
½ cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water

Method

1. Warm your oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Grease a fairly large baking dish with butter and keep aside.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of chopped nuts and toss well to mix.
4. Roll out the phyllo dough and cut it into half.
5. Spread out two dough sheets in the dish and butter; continue the process until you get 8 layers of phyllo dough sheets in your dish.
6. Spoon in some of the spiced nuts and spread evenly throughout the sheets.
7. Cover them with 2 more sheets, coat it with butter and top the sheets with another layer of nut mixture.
8. Continue the layering and until you have covered 2/3 rd of the depth of baking dish.
9. Top the layers up with final 6 phyllo sheets.
10. Cut it out in small squares with a sharp knife.
11. Bake for 50 minutes until the crust turns crisp and golden.
12. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, melt sugar in water over heat.
13. Pour in honey and vanilla and let it simmer for half an hour.
14. When your baklava is done, take it out of the oven, smother it with the sauce and serve. 

More Recipes from the Hummus Blog: 

Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha)
Stuffed Grape Leaves 
Stuffed tomatoes with lamb mince, dill & rice
Couscous-Stuffed Peppers with Basil Sauce
Stuffed Baby Zucchini with Tomato Sauce
Recipe for Hummus 

Save and Share Best Baklava Recipe

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Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha) Recipe - How to make Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha)

Photo: Sfiha Recipe

The Hummus blog: The home of hummus dips and traditional Middle Eastern food invites you to try Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha) recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern cuisine and learn how to make Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha).  

Makes 18-20
Suitable for mezza

Speha are traditional savoury pastries that are excellent for mezza. While they are best served hot, they are surprisingly delicious when served at room temperature.

The juice of half a lemon may be used instead of pomegranate molasses. However do not add the juice at the same time as the spices and salt - add it along with the meat and tomato instead.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1/3 cup (50g) pine nuts
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground sumac
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
250g coarsely minced lean lamb
1 large tomato, finely chopped
1 quantity Sambousik pastry

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly grease a baking tray.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the pine nuts for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Remove the pine nuts with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel, reserving the oil.

Place the onion in a bowl and rub in the spices, salt and pomegranate molasses. Add the meat and tomato, then the pine nuts and the reserved oil.

Roll out the pastry until 3-5 mm thick and cut it into twenty 9 cm rounds. Turn the rounds over (this helps the pastry corners stick together) and place 1 tablespoon of filling in the centre of each. Pinch the rounds together at the four 'corners', bringing up the sides to make walls around the filling but leaving the top open (see opposite). If the corners of the pastry will not stick, dip your fingers in water, then dab onto the pastry to dampen the edges.

Arrange the pies on the baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

This recipe and others are included in Abla's book The Lebanese Kitchen, available from all good book stores, or by contacting Patricia at Present Company Included on +61 3 9387 4717.
   
More Recipes from the Hummus Blog:    

Stuffed Grape Leaves  
Stuffed tomatoes with lamb mince, dill & rice 
Couscous-Stuffed Peppers with Basil Sauce 
Stuffed Baby Zucchini with Tomato Sauce 
Recipe for Hummus
Spiced tomato & couscous soup 
 
Save and share Open meat and tomato pies (Sfiha) recipe 

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Felafel - How to make Felafel

Photo: Felafel Recipe

The Hummus blog: The home of hummus dips and traditional Middle Eastern food invites you to try Felafel Recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern cuisine and learn how to make Felafel. 

Makes 10-12
Suitable for mezza

Although Egyptian in origin, felafel quickly found popularity in Lebanon as a healthy street food. Soon after my restaurant opened, I took a stall at the local Lygon Street Festa and served felafel and kafta. I thought I had made enough to last the day, but I couldn't keep up with demand. Only one girl worked with me, and the poor thing had to go back to the restaurant every hour or so for more supplies so I didn't run out.

Remember that you will need to start a day in advance because chickpeas and broad beans must be soaked overnight in water before cooking. You can use a utensil called an ol'eb felalfer to form evenly rounded felafels. This can be purchased from any Middle Eastern food store.

1 cup (200g) dried chickpeas, washed and drained
1 cup (180g) dried split broad beans, washed and drained
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 large onion, quartered
6 cloves garlic
1 cup coriander, washed (about 1 bunch)
3 bird's eye hot chillies (more or less as preferred)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
olive oil, for deep-frying
Pickled turnips, sliced tomato, lettuce and chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve (optional)

Sauce

1/2 cup (140g tahini)
pinch of salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
1 small tomato, chopped
1 small Lebanese cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Cover the chickpeas and broad beans with water, add 1 teaspoon of the bicarbonate of soda and soak overnight. Next day, drain, rinse and place them in a food processor with the onion, garlic, coriander and chillies. Blend until all the ingredients are well combined but still have texture. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the salt and spices.

To make the sauce, place the tahini and salt in a bowl and slowly add the lemon juice and 1/4 cup (60 ml) water, stirring continuously. Add the tomato, cucumber and parsley and stir to combine.

When you're ready to cook the felafel, add the remaining bicarbonate of soda (this allows them to rise and become light and fluffy). Form tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls and deep-fry in batches in a frying pan of very hot oil for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towel. (The felafel mixture does not have to be cooked immediately. To store, place in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to a year.)

Serve hot with the sauce spooned over accompanied by sliced tomato, lettuce and pickled turnip and garnished with parsley.

This recipe and others are included in Abla's book The Lebanese Kitchen, available from all good book stores, or by contacting Patricia at Present Company Included on +61 3 9387 4717.  

More recipes from the hummus blog:

Easy Falafel
Recipe for Hummus
Spiced tomato & couscous soup
Authentic Moroccan Soup
Lentil Vegetable Soup
Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup 

Save and Share Felafel Recipe 

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