For the love of Kubbah!!! and you will love it

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I was looking to make this dish for a while and i decided that I would do mine a little different sand throw some stuffed veggies in with it. Why not right? So I made bulgar wheat kubbah and stuffed zucchini simmered in a garlic yogurt sauce and baked in the oven…..my husband then called it “Delicious” which is hugeeeeeeee only because he rarely if ever uses that word for anything, at all. I was cheesy all night and floating. I love to surprise him. I think some times I try to hard, but it’s ok. I will get over it, maybe. lol. Anyways, so back to this dish…it has flavor and lots of it. We grow our vegetables ourselves so it makes things taste that much better. I highly recommend any serious cooker to do so…of course, non serious cookers too…heck, anyone!! LOL…ok so here are the ingredients and the way to do it.

FILLING:

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 tbsp oil

2 medium onions finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp dried lemon

1/4 c fresh parsley

1/2 c pine nuts

I start this first by sauteing the onions until lightly golden and then adding everything else into the pot as well and turning it on low to let it cook all together. I know, some people are like “NOOOO” but yes, this is my way. I am a multitasker  so if I can do it, I will. While this is slow cooking on medium low, make sure you stir and bread up the meat really good.

Core out your zucchini and lightly oil the insides and outsides and set aside because you will lightly fry them before baking

BULGAR DOUGH:

2 cups of bulgar to about 1 cup of flour or farinah or even rice flour can be used….the bulgar should have been pre-soaked because it needs to be puffed up…so just soak it before hand. It needs about 45 mins to be done soaking.

After the bulgar is soaked, if there is a lot of water left in the bulgar, dump some of it out, you want to keep enough to make the dough…you can always add more water. I also add a couple tsps of allspice and a teaspoon of salt for the dough. Mix it all together and it should be kind of sticky but not too sticky. test it by rolling some into a ball and flattening it, if it starts to break apart, you need to add more flour.

Start stuffing!!!! Make a ball with your perfect dough and flatten it in your hands, scoop a desired amount of filling into the middle of the flattened ball and then pulls the sides up and over to reform a ball and enclose that delicious filling mixture.  Make sure it is sealed well and flatten a little to make somewhat of a disk. Lightly fry them as well.

You can now lightly fry the zucchini and stuff away!!!

Let all of that cool a bit before handling again, and make your yogurt sauce.

SAUCE:

2 c. yogurt

2 tbsps corn starch

1 c water

2 tsp crushed minced garlic

you can double this or whatever you feel is necessary for your dish

mix together very well

PUT IT TOGETHER!!

line your baking dish and start adding kubbah and veggies ….when finished, pour yogurt sauce over all of it and baked for about 40 mins at 350F…..

I served ours with saffron rice, but you do not need to

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hummus…

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I love this, with almost everything. You can eat it alone, dip meats or bread in it..whatever you want to do with it, you can.  Add to the recipe flavors that you want whether it be to spice it up or give it a spin. The more tahini sauce, for me, the better. I love it. Here is a simple recipe to do it yourself , the canned hummus, or the hummus pre-made is just not as good.

1 clove garlic

1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, half the liquid reserved

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons tahini

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

zataar and sumac, if you like, for garnish

In a blender, chop the garlic. Pour garbanzo beans into blender, reserving about a tablespoon for garnish. Place lemon juice, tahini, chopped garlic and salt in blender. Blend until creamy and well mixed.

Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with zataar, sumac  and pour olive oil over the top. Garnish with reserved garbanzo beans.

Serve it with anything!! Warm flat bread is the best.

Fatoush….my way

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I have fallen in love with this salad. It is so good. There are many spices used, the best vinegar I ever found, and the crunchy tanoor bread…incorporated together…yummmmm….Now here is what I used to make mine.

3 tomatoes diced up

1 big onion diced up

2 cucumbers peeled and diced up

1 bunch of fresh parsley

1 1/2 pieces of tanoor bread of some cut up pita

parmesan cheese

sumac

olive oil

vinegar

butnig-(iraqi dried wild mint)

zataar-(thyme sesame blend)

The first thing to do would be to prepare your bread by cutting it up into squares and mixing some sumac and parmesan with it and then adding olive oil….blend well

lay it out on a cookie sheet and let it turn crunchy

chop up your tomatoes, onion, and cucumbers and put into your salad bowl

chop up your parsley and add it to the salad

add butnig and zataar, about 2 tsps of each, depending on your desire mix it all up into the salad

then add vinegar and oil according to your taste….we do equal parts in our salads.

by this time the bread should be done and you can remove it, let it cool down and add it into your salad and mix all together.

Serve this with anything….It truly is an awesome salad!!!

Fatti Dejaj-Chicken Fatti (Syrian)

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So this is a new dish for us, never tried it or heard of it before I made it. I stumble upon this recipe and it looked delish…so I made it. My kids were looking at me like I was nuts, my husband was curious too..I am always scared to make a dish that they will not like. I make my husband taste everything I cook. I am paranoid I guess, but it hurts and bothers me when someone in our home eats and does not like it. I need to find ways to improve it….however, this dish was perfect and tasted soooo good. So here is the recipe I used for it. Good luck and happy eating!!!!

1 whole Chicken, roasted* (can also use chicken breast fillets if necessary, but not preferred)
3 pita bread rounds cut into bite size squares, deep fried till golden, set aside on paper towels to drain the oil
2 cups cooked rice (cook rice with chicken stock)
5 cloves garlic
1 clove garlic extra
1 Kg yoghurt
Salt & Black pepper to taste
1 cup toasted nuts (pine nuts, almonds & pistachio)
1 handful finely chopped parsley for garnish

TIP  There are many recipes to roast chicken, for this recipe simply:
Rinse chicken, cleaning the insides, pat dry, rub with lemon and salt. Place on baking dish. Crush 5 cloves of garlic then rub chicken with crushed garlic. Top with a dash of balsamic vinegar, black pepper and all spice to taste. Drizzle with a little olive oil. add 1/2 cup water. Roast in 450 F oven for 45 minutes – 1 hour.
Baste the chicken with the pan juices every 15 minutes so to stay moist. Add water to the pan if it starts drying out. To know if it is done check the thighs they should run out of juices, and the meat should easily seperate from the bone. Or an instant meat thermometer, should register 165-170F, when inserted in the flesh between the thigh and the body cavity without touching the bone or the bottom of the pan.
Once done set aside and when cool enough to handle seperate the meat from the bones in fairly big pieces. discard the bones and set the meat aside. You can use the pan juices as stock to prepare the rice.

Prepare garlic-yoghurt sauce
Crush 1 clove garlic add to yoghurt with salt & black pepper to taste. Mix well. Set aside, or keep in the fridge, till ready to use.

For serving fatteh it is best to use a deep, clear glass serving platter so your guests can see the layers. To create the layers: Place the fried bread at the bottom of serving dish in 1 even layer. Top with cooked rice in another even layer. Top cooked rice with prepared garlic-yohgurt sauce, then top yoghurt with Chicken pieces, toasted nuts & sprinkle with finely chopped and parsley. Season with a sprinkle of freshly cracked black pepper.

Serve at room temperature.

TIP   If you have leftover chicken even if not following the same recipe, you can still use it to prepare this dish. If you are pressed for time, this is a great dish to prepare really fast. You can always buy ready roasted chicken at days when you are racing against the clock and use it in preparing this dish.

Doulmah-stuffed grape leaves

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Doulmah is something that may be challenging to others, but once you actually do it a few times, it comes easy. You need to prep before you cook or you probably are going to forget something. Lol. With doulmah, in my opinion, it’s about how much time you have to combine the flavors and let it all soak in to each other. I cook doulmah very slow..not too slow, but enough that the flavor is always right on. Sure, I mess up, who doesn’t? Practice makes perfect, well…near perfect anyways. So, here is what you need to embark on your doulmah journey……..Oh..P.S….you can, of course, add or delete things as per your preference like more onion, no meat..and if you decide to go meatless, you can used lentils instead 😉

1 jar of grape leaves

2-3 lbs of doulmah meat (lamb or beef, or mixed and ground up)

1 bunch of parsley

2 med tomatoes

1 med onion

3 tbsp or more, or less noomi basrah-dried lemons crushed

1/4 c or more of dibis-date syrup

salt  to taste

garlic to taste

4 tbsp dill

2 1/2 c basmati rice-washed and soaked

1 c water

So what I do is, I saute my onions with the parsley a little bit just to open up the flavor, you could say. I then throw all the ingredients into a pan and let it all blend together. Cooking it on a medium heat until the meat is fully cooked, because by that time everything has sucked up the juices and flavors from each other and it already smells amazing….I then keep the heat on that temp and add the uncooked/pre washed rice and about a cup of water and let it cook all together until the liquid is gone but the rice is NOT cooked all the way, maybe just a little. Very important so your doulmah is not under cooked or soggy…yuck. Then, let the fun begin!!!! Let it cool a bit and set up a “rolling station” like we do at our home. Drain your leaves and pull them out slowly. *trick* to get them out without tearing them…wiggle them out. So now they are there and you can start looking through them for the biggest best leaves. Lay them shiny side down, or outer leaf down, and add some filling, bring the middle up and drag the filling back with it like making it into a small pocket, then fold the sides over and roll. Looking like small cigars. Layer them in the pot until you have used everything. Sometimes you have leftovers, and since I am not a waster, I freeze everything left over, except the leaves, and use it later. Why not right? Now, it is important to fill the leaves with water just to the top layer of doulmah bot not totally covering it, and use a ceramic bowl or plate that fits into the pot but not hanging out, to hold the doulmah in place so it will not float and press down some then turn it on to a medium heat until you see it boiling and then turn it down some to let it cook slowly, put the lid on it. When the liquid is gone, they are done. We serve ours with yogurt sauce, which is just yogurt mixed with garlic….very yumm!! I hope this helps you make your way to the wonderful land of doulmah!!!

Some history to read while you are sipping your tea

 

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I think one of the absolute coolest parts of Iraq is of course, the marshes. I love how the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers “marry” as my husband says…yet the do not combine. One is salt water and the other is fresh. Truly an amazing miracle from Allah/God. It also amazes me how Iraq Marsh Arabs build those houses that literally float around the marshes the way they do and they love like that!!! I mean yes, there are house boats and yachts….but not there. They are so natural and “earthy” it keeps me in awe when I look at the pictures. Can you imagine that? What if the house floated super far away?? It would terrify me….ahahahaaha! Random thoughts yes, but this is my blog so I am allowed for sure. 

So my in-laws are from the marshes as well, however not “in” the marshes. They have farms, which is very interesting to me because if I or we could live totally off the land, I so would. I really admire his family and everything that they do even with all the technology and “new” ways of life, they are still pretty much old school, so to say. Which is awesome.  So, I wanted to give some of the history of Al-Qurnah, Basrah…….which is exactly where my husband is from. It will not be boring…come and take a journey with me. 

Al-Qurnah, Iraq litterally means “the corner” so it says on wikipedia, and  is a pleasant little place 74 km north west of Basra at the very tip of the point named Shatt El-Arab where the two great rivers Tigris and Euphrates meet; a strategic position that has been the scene of conflicts for centuries. As legends have it, Qurna is the reputed site of the Gardens of Eden. It has been said, it was once a city built by Seleucus Nicator I in honor of his wife Apamea, the general who succeeded Alexander the Great on the latter’s death on the Tigris. From the pictures I have seen, the tree of Adam is still there, and they have built a park around it as well. I can not wait to go and see it. 

The contrast of the lush south of Iraq with the rest of a country which is often too bare can be seen very well, and even better on side-trips up the rivers. Each river has a strongly defined character: the banks of the Euphrates are the more wooded and picturesque, and the Tigris is the busier.

The backwaters, creeks and side channels of both are exceedingly beautiful, and here one can get a glimpse of the fertility that must have belonged to Mesopotamia when it was a network of streams and when the forests abounded.

The region of Basra, the city of Sinbad the Sailorand the starting point of his famous adventurous voyages to the World, is, some would say, the most beautiful part of Iraq, outshining both the Persian miniature scenery of the central Euphrates and the cool, majestic north.

But Basra retains a romantic aura. So does the whole area of the south from Shatt El-Arab (the meeting point of Tigris and Euphrates rivers) up to Amara on the Tigris and Suq Eshiukh on the Euphrates: it is lush, watered, full of trees and gardens and canoes gliding on the mirror-surfaces of calm lagoons. It is an area of countless birds and a variety of animals. You feel that lions, possibly dragons or the Great Roc of A Thousand and One Nights may appear.

Basra is Iraq’s 3rd largest city and main seaport, situated 67 km to the north of the Arabian Gulf and 549 km south east of Baghdad. When you see it today, you will be reminded of the commercial importance it has enjoyed for centuries; endless ships shuttle back and forth on Shatt El-Arab.

Ashar is the heart of the city and the old commercial center; its covered bazaar and mosque mark the end of the creek that links it and the river to Old Basra. Upstream is Margil, the garden suburb fanning out from the forest of cranes at the wharves of the Old Basra port and the railway station; and a little further you cross to the island that faces the Shatt El-Arab Hotel, where Basra’s airport was sited until the 1960s when it was moved to Shuaiba. Here are flowers and palms and that blessed water that is the glory of all Iraq, but particularly of the south

Basra was founded in 637 AD by Utba bin Ghazwan on order from Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab (634-644 AD), as soon as the Sassanian capital at Ctesiphon fell to the Muslim armies. It was made into a military base, and a mosque was built there of mud and reeds. Of that and of the original palace nothing can be seen today. 

Basra looms into history once again with the raising there by Zubeir ibn Al-Awwam and Talha bin Ubaidullah of a force to resist the claim of Ali, the Prophet Mohammad’s cousin, to the Caliphate after the murders of Caliphs Omar and Othman. A battle took place outside Basra to the west and it resulted in the deaths of both Zubeir and Talha. Zubeir was buried on the battle-site and that is why the small town that has grown up there is called Azzubeir to this day.

Today the older parts of Ashar are still attractive. The covered bazaars is full of beautiful old-style houses with balconies leaning over into the narrow streets and beautiful wooden facades in the style of old Arab architecture (called Shanasheel). They have character and are worth wandering through. They are quite extensive; the shops are well-stocked; they smell of spice and herbs and coffee; there is an old-world atmosphere there.

Now, to me, I love the old buildings and the history. I like to search in them, and if they allow me to, when we get to Iraq, Insha Allah, I will!!! History by reading can get boring to me, honestly. But actually walking and touching things that are ancient……that is amazing. I can not wait.

For the Love of Spices!!!

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Spices and presentation are what give each and every single dish in any cooking, it’s personality. This is my opinion. There are indeed many dishes around the world that are similar to one another, from each country, and this is for sure. One of the biggest differences, to me, are the spices. I love them. I hoard them ahahahaha….some women have a love of shoes and clothes, not this one…Mine is spices. I have the messiest spice cabinet ever but I think I have every single spice from here to Iraq and back. I just can not get enough. If a spice becomes missing from over use, I can tell it is not there and it does not feel right. So, these are some of the spices used in Iraqi cooking.

The Iraqi Kebob….no one does it like Iraq

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There honestly isn’t a kabob I have ever had with as much heart and soul as the Iraqi Kabob. It honestly requires a great deal of skill and patience, although it looks easy and fast, it is not. The men, either my husband or our family friend Ahmed, make the kabob. Here where we live, my husband has a life time friend who owns the “halal” (slaughtered accourding to Islamic rules) store ad prepares the special ground mix of meat and fat used to form these mouth watering perfect ground meat rolls that go from the fire to your plate and into your stomach within 5 minutes flat…..only because they are amazing. So, a typical recipe for them would be something like this:

 

3 lbs of an equal mix of ground lamb and ground beef…the fattier the better for kebob

1 onion grated up

1/4 c of bread crumbs

1 tsp or more depending on taste, of salt and black pepper

some people add some allspice, but we do not. the fire gives it the flavor

if you want to be all traditional, get a whole onion and like 3 whole tomatoes to barbecue as well

you will need the long kebob sticks and form the meat around each one making sure your hands stay wet while doing so

and place them on the fire with a fan pointed at the flames to keep a good temp and fire going

line a large plate with a piece of the tanoor bread or parsley (my fav)

each kebob that is done after flipping and cooking, gently set on the bed of bread or parsley and sprinkle with sumac

cover with another layer of bread to keep the heat and flavor.

continue until all the meat is used up

we sever ours with pickle mixes and breads……this is truly an awesome meal.

Fatayer-Meat/Spinach Pies

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Ingredients

Pastry

2 Cups hot water

2 Cups hot milk

4 Tbsp. shortening

4 Tbsp. white sugar

2 Tbsp. salt

2 Packages instant yeast

10-12 Cups flour

Filling

Ground lamb

Ground beef

Minced onion

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a large bowl, place water, milk, shortening and sugar (let melt).

In another large bowl place 6 cups of flour, salt, yeast and mix well.

Add flour mixture into liquid and mix.  Add remaining flour a little at a time until you get the right consistency. (It is best to have the dough a little sticky)

Knead well.

Let rest for 10 minutes then cut the dough as if you were going to make rolls. Knead each piece and let rise until each piece double in size.

Now roll each piece out as thin as you can in a circle and add a small dollop of mixture in the center and spread it.

Pick two sides of the dough together and pinch tight as if you were making a turnover. Shape in a triangle and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake until light brown (Do not over cook as the dough will become tough).

Brush with melted butter once out of the oven and let cool on rack.