Egyptian traditional; creamy savory “eggless-custard” with shredded chicken & crisp fried onions.
It’s funny…I never used to cook a lot of traditional food before I started this blog. Somehow now, I seem to be doing that more & more often. Continue reading Re-discovering “my” food & Keshk Frakh (Chicken Keshk)
My mum used to make us this dish on special occasions. It’s different than typical rice as it comes out a bit soft and a bit creamy in the middle and the rice grains are not separate like in regular rice. It’s cooked in broth and milk and is finished off with a layer of cream. The result is creamy and lucious rice with nuggets of tender beef cooked inside it.
While traditionally its made with veal I think beef gives it a deeper yet still subtle flavour
It’s easy to make and if you cook the beef in a pressure cooker you’ll shave off about an hour of the cook time.
Use medium grain round rice similar to arborio. I use regular egyptian eldoha rice and if that’s not available around you then arborio should work.
Enjoy!
My mums spicy bamia (okra) recipe and it’s a crowd pleaser:-) !
The addition of lemon juice prevents the sliminess of the okra. The addition of a hot chilli pepper gives the sauce a good kick and the “tasha”, which is a blend of garlic, coriander and ghee, added at the end, adds a depth of flavor and spice.
Choose bamia that are very short in length (size zero) but not chopped!
Don’t let the cook time fool you, it’s either simmering away on the stove top or in the oven and you are free to do what you want!
Serve with rice or pita bread or both and some extra lemon halves on the side.
Cheers!
Note: The pic above is not my photography, “borrowed” from Google.
Finally its here…the ghorayeba recipe! Taken a bit due to my technology handicap but now its done!
So in a nutshell, ghorayebas are a smoother textured cousin of the scottish shortbread and are silly easy to make! Amazing to eat a long with your evening tea or morning coffee…
‘Nuf said!
But you need to use ghee, not butter. Ghee is 100% fat while butter is about 85% and also ghee gives a richer flavor than butter.
Try it and tell me what you think,
Cheers!
I hope I’m not stepping on a hornets nest here! But yup, we Egyptians consider moussaka “mesa2a3a” an Egyptian, not a Greek dish! I guess with the historic mingling of Greeks and Egyptians and that we both are Mediterranean many of our dishes are similar like our Mahshy or Wara2 3enab which is their Dolmades & stuffed vine leaves.
Well back to the moussaka…there are differences between Egyptian and Greek, oddly enough the Egyptian is lighter as we don’t include the potatoes and the beshamel sauce.
Mine is lighter still as I oven “grill” my aubergines and peppers as opposed to frying in oil.
Why grilled? Because it’s a lot lighter for one thing! Aubergines are like sponges and when fried in oil they really soak up a lot! So the grilled Moussaka doesn’t leave you feeling heavy and doesn’t need to be pushed to the side as an occasional meal. The only drawback is grilling in the oven takes more time than frying though I believe the results are worth it. And the taste, the critical component is still lovely.
The below nutrition profile includes 140gms of steamed basmati rice as a side. I know the 18gms of fat per serving looks much but that assumes you will use up all the oil in the recipe for the grilling. Using a pastry brush to lightly brush the aubergines & peppers usually means you won’t use it all. I also think its not too bad given its a main meal and overall calories are still low. In general the adult body needs between 20 to 35% of daily calories as fat translating to 44 to 78gms based on a 2000 cal/day diet or 25 to 43gms on a 1100 cal/day diet (mine 🙂 ).
And it still remains a hearty and warming dish for these cold cold days! Working in the kitchen with the oven on is a treat, for me at least 😉
One request though. Please use a middle eastern mixed spice blend. It really does make a difference!
Grilled Moussaka Egyptian Style
Belhana wel shefa & Bon Apetite!
Cheers!
There’s a famous dish here in Egypt called Koshary. It’s a great vegetarian dish of rice, pasta and whole lentils topped off with fried onion slices and chickpeas, then you have your sauces; “da2a” which is vinegar mixed with garlic, chili sauce and tomato sauce. It sounds a lot, I know but it tastes great and its extremely filling. This dish however is not what I’m writing about.
I’m writing about the more obscure Koshary called Koshary Assfar or Yellow Koshary. You won’t find this in restaurants, only at an aunts or your grandma’s house. It’s an old traditional recipe. very nostalgic for me…reminds me of Grandma who used to make it for me as child 🙂 and her big warm kitchen, she was always cooking something delicious!
Simple yet tasty and much more delicate than its famous cousin. Still hearty, it’s traditional accompaniments are fried boiled eggs and a simple salad, transforming it into a complete meal.
Calorie wise it’s a good option coming in it at 450 calories almost despite the fried egg! So if you want to cut down more on the calories & fat content just skip the frying & keep your eggs boiled 🙂
Calories above are for 1 serving of Koshary with 1 fried egg and a tomato, cucumber & carrot salad without dressing (recipe servings here are 3).
Here’s to you grandma 🙂 !!!
The recipe: Koshary Assfar
Cheers!
No other cooking show makes my mouth water like any show hosted by Nigel Slater…oh boy oh boy…
He makes every dish look so easy to make…the way he describes the cooking & the smells and the feel of the dish he is creating…somehow as if in slow motion, is amazing… and he has a way to turn any ingredient, no matter how humble, into an amazing feast meal & the final tasting isn’t really a tasting at all…it’s more like a sensual experience…
His show “Nigel Slater’s Real Food” Chocolate episode & Sandwich episode left me drooling…and right now I’m watching his Xmas episode….
More importantly, his recipes always work.. which is great. I advise you to check out his recipes, they are great! http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/nigelslaterrecipes
I found YouTube episodes here for you to check out too.
With inspiration from Nigel, I have decided to make a lovely Egyptian soup called 3addss Maghrouf “Thick Lentil Soup”. Lentils are a humble pulse, they don’t show up a lot except as the puy lentils of fancy shows but this lentil soup recipe is the real deal. It’s my quintessential winter “soup”.
Tasty, thick, hot, smooth, velvety and filling…spiced with cumin and laced with a touch of butter…
This is a traditional dish and its served with lightly pickled bashed onions and crisp balady bread (wholegrain pita bread). 
Even with the bread & butter, its not too heavy on the calories:
My recipe makes a thick and luscious version suited for a hearty main meal. If you like a thinner soup, add more water and it will work as a first course!
Recipe: Spiced Thick Lentil Soup with Sweet Pickled Onions.
Enjoy!
Winter it seems, has finally decided to grace us here in Egypt…its getting cold and chilly and windy…
Sure there’s still a few hours (minutes?) of sunshine…but for me it’s the mood of staying in bed late under the warm covers with a nice hot coffee or cacao in hand…
With the winter mood comes my wintery cravings for food that is homely and comforting…something cozy that makes me feel all warm inside…something hearty to tuck into…
A dish that does that for me is my mums Kabab Batates (Pot Kebab with Potatoes). My mum is a great cook!
She just doesn’t like to admit it, nor does she really like to cook that much, oddly enough…
She would always make this for us and its delicious and deceptively simple and easy to make!
Kabab batates is a play on the more traditional Egyptian Kabab Halla (literally Kebab in a Pot).
Beef cubes, seared and cooked with onions & garlic, braised slowly till the meat is almost falling apart creating a thick gravy sauce with chunks of meat in it. Yummyyyyyy…..
Most recipes don’t include spices, however my mums does, which makes it in my opinion, all the more tasty. Cinnamon, a fav spice of mine along with eastern mixed spice add a lovely dimension to the kebab. The potatoes making it more filling. Served with rice, its a perfect winter meal!
Another plus for this dish is that by tweaking the cooking methods slightly you can avoid it becoming heavy with fats. And that’s something important to me. You see for the past 6 or 7 months now (less trip times of course!) I have been changing our food lifestyle…that means, while we are not on a diet, we pay attention to our calories and portion sizes. And that’s reflected in how I cook our meals. Roasting instead of frying, steamed rather than fried rice and downsizing portions. I was amazed actually that downsizing portions slightly helped us lose weight and at the same time we don’t feel hungry after eating! We eat whatever we want including sweets, desserts & chocolates yet by having smaller portions we don’t pack on kilos 🙂
In that spirit, I’ll always include tips & alternative cooking methods to help you cut down on calories if you are so inclined. Soon I’ll also start adding the calorie count for the dishes I post.
Kabab Batates for example, if cooked using alternative methods and served with steamed basmati rice, gives an approx. 700 calories, per portion. In my book that’s great for a main dish.
I calculate my calories on Weight Loss Resources which is a great database of food items and corresponding calories and lets you create your own recipes and calculate the calories per meal and per portion. Cool right? 🙂
* The calorie count above is based on 1 portion Kabab plus 140gms steamed basmati rice. Potatoes fried with 2 tsps oil in an Acti-fry.
Well, back to the food and regardless of whether or not you are calorie counting, I hope you enjoy this winter fav it as much as I do!
Follow the link for the recipe: My Mums Kabab Batates
Cheers!
Riham's Messy Kitchen! 