Chicken in Salt Crust.

Hello everybody.
After a discussion the other day between members of my group about fish in salt crust, I did a quick research and found out that it can be done with chicken as well, so today was my first trial.

I also did a layered veggie pot containing pumpkin, eggplants and potatoes with sweet peppers and tomatoes on top and full of herbs. Only cooked on low heat then drizzled with olive oil and roasted.

Ingredients and method of chicken :
* 1 whole chicken.
* onion,garlic, oregano, cinnamon sticks, cardamom and rosemary for stuffing the chicken.
* butter.
* for the dough you’ll need :
* 1 3/4 cups salt.
* 4 1/2 cups flour.
* tsp of oregano and mixed herbs.
* 1 cup water.
* mix all dough ingredients till easy to handle and stiff, you may need a bit more water.
* clean and dry chicken well then stuff inside with all stuffing mentioned ( you can change or add anything you like)
* rub butter, pepper and all spice all over chicken,or you can put butter in between flesh and skin.

* cover chicken with dough and seal completely very good.
* bake in a medium heated oven for 2 hours.
* crack open the crust and serve.
Note: crust must be discarded not eaten cause it’s too salty.

peeled crust.

chicken all wrapped.

final look after baking.

layered veggies.

Kebab with Tomatoes ( كباب هندي)

Hello everybody.

Had to go to Irbid this morning so I needed to cook something quick, after giving the boys two options kofta or spinach they agreed on the first, I even cooked the onions and tomatoes last night to save time.

Early this morning I added ketchup, mustard and to kofta, made them finger shaped,sautéed them in some oil then added them the the sauce, I even cooked the rice in case I was caught up in time which is exactly what happened.

Ingredients and method:

Ingredients and method:
* kofta meat ( ready from butcher)
* onions.
* garlic.
* tomatoes.
* green peppers.
* 1 can chopped tomatoes
* 1 spoon ketchup and mustard.

* mix kofta with ketchup and mustard.
* form it to small kebabs finger shaped.
* coat them with flour then keep in fridge for a while.
* heat some olive add the kebabs till brownish from all sides.
* add chopped onions, garlic, peppers sautee with meat till tender.
* add 2 peeled chopped tomatoes and the can.
* leave to simmer for 30-40 minutes. Or you can put it the oven if you like.
* serve with rice.

I added some potato slices today as a change.

a real comfort food in this weather.

Homemade Msakhan Bread! (مسخن)

Hello everybody.

Due to weather conditions it’ll be risky to go out and stuck in snow and since the plan was to make msakhan today

so I decided to bake the bread at home,after searching many websites to find a way of baking it in a regular oven I found this good one,very easy and outcome was superb !!

Msakhan is an old traditional dish made from chicken,onions,plenty of summaq and olive oil all placed on special kind of bread with nuts on top.

ingredients and method of bread:

Note : this quantity makes 4-5 bread pieces.

* 2 cups flour.

* 1 tsp salt.

* 1/2 cup warm milk.

* 1 1/2 spoons instant yeast.

* 1 tsp sugar.

* 1 cup warm water.

* Mix water,yeast and sugar and cover till bubbles are formed.

* add to flour milk and salt.

* knead well by hands for 10 minutes.

* cover and leave to rest and rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

* divide to 4-5 balls.

* roll or spread them into bread shape.

* heat the oven very well with a big oven tray in it.

* when well heated turn on the upper flame .

* place the breads on the tray and bake till surface is golden,bottoms will be done cause tray is already very hot.

* do all breads the same way,make sure the pan is always very hot before each batch.

You can do these not only for msakhan,actually boys ate some as is before lunch. Fresh bread is the best food ever 🙂

final outcome .

Msakhan.

Oatmeal Soup.

Hello everybody.

I bet you’ll be dieting after the holidays, a few pounds extra are inevitable in these occasions. One can always sart a diet when done and enjoy this week as mush as possible after all you only live once.

This soup is awesome for this purpose,healthy and fulfilling plus it contains lots of fiber for those with bowel problems and of course everybody knows that oats are super cholesterol reducing kind of food.

Lunch today is Kabseh with meat not chicken and a salad.

I also made another batch of cream cheese with added garlic and herbs to half the amount:)

Ingredients and method:

* 2 cups oatmeal.

* 1 small chopped onion.

* 2 cloves chopped garlic.

* some grated carrots.

* some chopped celery.

* 1/2 cup milk.

* 1 cube Maggi or 4 cups chicken broth.

* some cheddar cheese.

* lemon juice,salt and pepper.

* saute onions,garlic and celery in some oil or butter.

* add carrots and oats.

* add cube,salt and pepper and 4 cups water.

* leave to simmer till oats are done.

Arabic Fried Crepe (زلابيه) and Chicken in a bag :)

Hello everybody.

As I said today is a compensation to last week’s lousy food ! since I’m free this morning plus no car available, which is a blessing sometimes, I made stuffed chicken with veggies,freekeh soup, beetroot salad and this traditional kind of sweet called Zalabia which is as described best fried Crepe.

Continue reading →

Spinach Pastries.

Hello everybody.

Cold and rainy this morning and expected to continue till tomorrow, a warm comfort meal is in demand !

I cooked spinach with minced meat and rice on the side,kids love this dish though my husband hate it,so I made this new way of spinach pastries which are usually done as a big loaf ,very thin and full of olive oil, but made them as small squares and not soaked in oil a lot.

You make a simple no yeast dough,flour,salt and water only. leave to rest then form it into small balls, roll each one into a thin layer then add spinach mixed with cooked onions,salt,pepper,chili and lemon juice to make 2 layers of spinach and three of the dough then fold it as square and pat them as thin as you can.

Bake in a greased pan in a well heated oven till golden, really good with some fresh yogurt from Irbid.

Tomato Thyme Pastries.

Hello everybody.

End of a long holiday,rearranging Eid sweets and Arabic coffee stuff,back to cooking and kitchen work.

lunch was fava beans with rice,didn’t make much cause only me and my youngest son like it,so I made some pastries the old fashion way, dough is simple flour (whole grain and white),yeast,oil, salt then added some sesame seeds and black seeds (قزحه).

Filling was green thyme leaves,finely chopped onion rubbed with salt and pepper,finely chopped fresh tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes, salt,pepper and chili powder and a good amount of olive oil.

Make the dough into balls then spread them,fill and close as triangles,I filled the extra dough with cheese and turkey.

Fish Fillet with Tahini sauce.

Hello everybody.

Usual Saturday! took out some fish fillet from the freezer before going shopping, been waiting to do this recipe for a while thought today will be good cause weather is cool so fish will be convenient.

Ingredients and method:

* 1 kg fish fillet cut to large pieces.

* 1 large thinly sliced onion.

* sliced colored peppers.

*salt,pepper,cumin and lemon juice.

* tahini sauce.

* heat some olive oil in a large pan then season fish and coat with some flour and grill on both sides till golden.

* add onions then peppers,simmer till all are tender.

* before serving add tahini and simmer for another 15-20 minutes on low heat.

Well that’s it,super easy healthy dish right? Thank you dear Rana for the recipe.

Eggplants with Kibbeh (Iraqi dish)

Hello everybody.

Since I have a loads of eggplants,tomatoes and peppers my husband got from the farm,had to make something with them right?

I learned this dish from my sister in-law,it’s an Iraqi recipe resembles a lot moussaka but using special kind of flat kibbeh with eggplants and tomatoes instead of usual minced meat,really good and tasty.(كبه تبسي ) the name of the dish is تبسي باذنجان.

Ingredients and method:

* flat meat stuffed kibbeh ( the ones I found today were small usually they use bigger wider ones) you can find it in most store called ( كبه تبسي)

* fried or roasted eggplant slices.

* peeled sliced tomatoes.

* sliced sweet peppers.

* sliced onions.

* chopped parsley for decoration.

* tomato and pomegranate sauce (دبس رمان)

* salt,pepper and all spices.

* boil kibbeh if not cooked before freezing in a some water till it softens a bit.

* add eggplants on top .

* add tomatoes,peppers and onions.

* dissolve 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce and a tsp of pomegranate sauce in 2 cups water then pour them over layers.

* season with salt and pepper.

* leave to simmer or in the oven till all done ( approximately 1 hour).

* serve alone

with rice or pitta bread.

Eggplant Pizza.

Hello everybody.

I was planning to make eggplant with rice for lunch today ( maqloubeh) but my youngest rejected the idea cause he doesn’t like it,so I switched to homemade kebabs and made this new eggplant recipe that my cousin posted on my fb page.

Turned out really tasty nutritious and light,eggplants are very full of fiber and you can find so many recipes for them,but in general not so many people like them, I have many in my family 🙂

Ingredients and method:

* 2 large eggplants half peeled and thickly sliced.

* 1 small finely chopped onions.

* 1 clove garlic.

* 2 large chopped tomatoes.

* feta and kashkaval or mozzarella cheese.

* salt ,pepper,pesto,oregano and olive oil for seasoning.

* Mix all ingredients together except the eggplants.

* brush a pan with some oil then add eggplants with topping.

* cover and leave to cook on low heat,when almost done add cheese on top and leave to melt.

Rest of eggplants I dipped them in some eggs and breadcrumbs then deep fry,really crunchy and yummy.

made some cooked tomatoes with the kebabs also.

What to cook today?

day by day cooking ideas

onions

Chicken in Salt Crust.

Like this:

Kebab with Tomatoes ( كباب هندي)

Like this:

Homemade Msakhan Bread! (مسخن)

Like this:

Oatmeal Soup.

Like this:

Arabic Fried Crepe (زلابيه) and Chicken in a bag :)

Like this:

Spinach Pastries.

Like this:

Tomato Thyme Pastries.

Like this:

Fish Fillet with Tahini sauce.

Like this:

Eggplants with Kibbeh (Iraqi dish)

Like this:

Eggplant Pizza.

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