Some Mid-East Recipe

 Some Mid-East Recipe

1#  Tant Hoda’s Recipe for KOFTA!

I recently visited my lovely aunt, Tant Hoda, and she gave me the recipe for her amazing kofta, an Egyptian recipe for grilled ground beef. Serve this in a pita sandwich with tahina, cucumbers and tomatoes or with rice and a bit of yogurt sauce. She’s an amazing cook and was kind enough to share her recipe for kofta with me. The hardest part about making kofta is the cooking process — you’ve got to make sure that you use a grill because you want that smoky taste.

Recipe:

2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 c chopped parsley
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp pepper
salt, to taste
barbecue sticks, soaked in water

Heat up the grill. Mix all the ingredients together. Form a golf ball-sized ball of meat in your hand and shape it around the barbecue sticks, forming a sausage-like shape. Grill the kofta, rolling it around first on the grill to grease it up from the fat of the beef, and then leave it alone for about 3 minutes on each side. Gently remove the barbecue stick at the last moment to serve. 

2#  Egyptian Liver recepi... 

Serving Ideas: The sauce from this dish is so yummy! So you want to serve it with a thick bread that will absorb this sauce.  It could also be served with rice or pasta.

Condiments: Tahini sauce and mixed pickles.

Servings: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:1/3 cup cooking oil
1 lb (400 gm) calf’s liver, chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 chili pepper, seeded and chopped (add as many as you want to make it really spicy)
1 1/2 Tbs cumin powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp cloves powder
1/4 tsp cardamon powder
Juice of one lime or lemon
1 tsp salt

Directions:

~ Start by choosing a large pan with a cover.
~ Over high heat, Heat the oil in the pan.
~ When the oil is very hot, add the liver.

~ Liver is delicate. Quickly and carefully stir fry it until it changes color.

~ Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

~ Cover the pan. And over medium low heat, cook the liver for 15 minutes.
~ That’s it. The liver is ready!

Variations:Instead of just bell pepper, add chopped tomatoes and chopped yellow onions.  All three vegetables should come together as about one cup. With less peppers in the dish, the flavor will be different, yet still delicious and healthier as you add more veggies.

Egyptian Molokheya – The Soup of Jute 

 Serving Ideas: Molokheya is served as a side dish with steamed rice or with warm pita bread.

Condiments: Quickly Pickled Onions gives it a nice tangy flavor .

Servings: 6 bowls

Ingredients:

1 lb (400 gm) Frozen finely chopped Jute / Molokheya Leaves
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp cardamon powder
2 Tbs butter or cooking oil
6 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tsp coriander powder

Directions:

~ In a saucepan combine the broth, frozen molokheya, salt and cardamon.

~ Over medium heat, warm up the molokheya until it’s fully defrosted. Stir occasionally. This process will take about 15 minutes.

~ The most important step is to time the preparation of the garlic dressing, so that it’s ready as soon as the molokheya is all defrosted and the soup is beginning to boil. Preparing the garlic dressing takes about 5 minutes.
~ To prepare the garlic dressing, melt the butter in a small pan over medium high heat.

~ Add the garlic and coriander to the melted butter.

~ Stir fry until the garlic takes on a light golden brown color.

~ As soon as the molokheya is beginning to boil, add the garlic dressing and quickly cover the saucepan. Covering the saucepan will allow the smell of the dressing to be infused in the soup.
~ Ten seconds after, remove the cover. Warm up the soup again without bringing it to a boil.

~ Now it’s ready to serve with the pickled onions, pita bread and steamed rice.
 Test with rice, bread and any spice food... 

Irani Inspired Salad With Sweet Potato and Spinach

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups spinach
• 1 sweet potato (sliced)
• 1 cup garbanzo bean
• 1/4 cup dill
• 1/4 cup parsley
• 3 tbsps spearmint
• 1 onions (chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (diced)
• 1 tbsp butter (ghee)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 garlic (stems chopped)
• 1 tbsp rose water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 pinch saffron
• salt
• red pepper flakes
• yogurt (garnish)
• pine nuts (garnish) 
• Mix all Ingredients and enjoy with your recipe. 
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