Syrian recipes

[Beauty4Ashes]

Here's what I'm craving at the moment:

Zahara (cauliflower)

1 head of cauliflower cut into medium sized chunks
2-3 cloves of garlic crushed with some salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup of fresh chopped cilantro

Fry the cauliflower in a deep fat fryer until a light golden brown color. Mix the lemon juice with the garlic and salt. Pour over the cauliflower and sprinkle with cilantro. Eat with warm pita bread. Serves 4.

Fasoolya bi zeit (green beans in oil)
1 pound of fresh or frozen green beans
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 medium sized tomatoes
2 cloves of crushed garlic with some salt
1/2 cup of cilantro
olive oil, salt, pepper

Saute onions in vegetable or corn oil until soft. Add green beans, salt and pepper to taste and cook until tender but still a light green color. Add tomatoes and cook the whole thing a minute or two. Just before serving add the garlic and allow it to cook with the green beans, onions, and tomatoes just a minute. Before serving, add the cilantro and more olive oil, preferably when it is on the table. Eat with warm pita bread. Serves 4.

Fasoolya (green beans)
1 medium onion chopped fine
1 1/2 cups of ground meat or ground lamb
1 lb. fresh or frozen green beans
1-8 oz. can of tomato sauce
water, salt, pepper/all spice

Serve over rice.

Saute onions in vegetable oil or corn oil until golden brown. Add ground beef and season well with all spice, salt, and pepper. The meat should be well seasoned and flavorful but not spicy. I'm not sure how much spice I add, it's to taste. Add water, just enough to cover and allow the meat and onions to cook together for 10-15 minutes. Add green beans and saute them for 2-3 minutes. Add tomato sauce, salt, pepper, and water to cover everything. Bring to a boil and after boiling, allow to cook at a low simmer for maybe 10 minutes. While this is cooking, make rice. Serve over rice. Serves 4 people.

[Mothering by Heart]

:yum Thank you!

[Mothering by Heart]

:yum Thank you!

[Beauty4Ashes]

More to come...how many of you own a hand meat grinder? I will teach you all to make home made falafel if you want.
Tammy

[Beauty4Ashes]

More to come...how many of you own a hand meat grinder? I will teach you all to make home made falafel if you want.
Tammy

[Beauty4Ashes]

Kebab and Falafel

Kebab is actually pretty easy. All that it is is ground meat with a bunch of spices molded into a stick about the size of your thumb in width and maybe 5-6" in length. We ate kebab last night.

We bought Australian lamb chops (they tend to be more tender and less fatty than American lamb. It's also known as spring lamb) and some london broil meat and ground the two together. You need to add tons of all spice, maybe a teaspoon or two and maybe 1 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper to the meat after it's ground. I think that dh also ground up one medium onion with the meat, and about 1/2 a cup of fresh parsley. You'll need some kind of a skewer to mold the meat around. We have one of those grills that you set up on top of your stove top. He brushed it with some olive oil so the meat wouldn't stick. With kebab, you want to cook it quickly, I think it only took 10 minutes total.

For falafel, we make enough for 6-7 meals and freeze it. I'm going off the top of my head here. You will need to soak 2 cups of dry chickpeas and 2 cups of dry fava beans over night. Throw the beans in the grinder a handful at a time. Add to the grinder corriander seeds, maybe 1/2 cup, 1 cup of fresh parsley chopped, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion, a handful of red pepper, and I think that's about it. You will need to grind the whole thing together at least twice, maybe even 3x. After grinding it, add salt and pepper and mix the whole thing with your hands. I'm not sure if you'll need to add an egg or not. When you go to make the falafel, roll it into balls and fry it in a deep fat fryer. Chop some lettuce and tomatoes and slices of pickles. The sauce is made with 1-2 cups of plain yogurt and 2-3 tbsp. of tahini (sesame seed paste). Eat it in a pita bread.

[Beauty4Ashes]

Kebab and Falafel

Kebab is actually pretty easy. All that it is is ground meat with a bunch of spices molded into a stick about the size of your thumb in width and maybe 5-6" in length. We ate kebab last night.

We bought Australian lamb chops (they tend to be more tender and less fatty than American lamb. It's also known as spring lamb) and some london broil meat and ground the two together. You need to add tons of all spice, maybe a teaspoon or two and maybe 1 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper to the meat after it's ground. I think that dh also ground up one medium onion with the meat, and about 1/2 a cup of fresh parsley. You'll need some kind of a skewer to mold the meat around. We have one of those grills that you set up on top of your stove top. He brushed it with some olive oil so the meat wouldn't stick. With kebab, you want to cook it quickly, I think it only took 10 minutes total.

For falafel, we make enough for 6-7 meals and freeze it. I'm going off the top of my head here. You will need to soak 2 cups of dry chickpeas and 2 cups of dry fava beans over night. Throw the beans in the grinder a handful at a time. Add to the grinder corriander seeds, maybe 1/2 cup, 1 cup of fresh parsley chopped, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion, a handful of red pepper, and I think that's about it. You will need to grind the whole thing together at least twice, maybe even 3x. After grinding it, add salt and pepper and mix the whole thing with your hands. I'm not sure if you'll need to add an egg or not. When you go to make the falafel, roll it into balls and fry it in a deep fat fryer. Chop some lettuce and tomatoes and slices of pickles. The sauce is made with 1-2 cups of plain yogurt and 2-3 tbsp. of tahini (sesame seed paste). Eat it in a pita bread.

[righteous mama]

You're killing me. We're having Kraft Mac n Cheese tonight 'cause dh works late. I'm drooling on my keyboard (not really). Yum!!!!!

I need a good idea for dinner for tomorrow night. Dh's birthday is the 29th and since there is no 29th this year, I want to make him a nice dinner tomorrow. He loves ethnic food...thai, indian, etc. Any ideas? PM me if you'd like. :grin

[righteous mama]

You're killing me. We're having Kraft Mac n Cheese tonight 'cause dh works late. I'm drooling on my keyboard (not really). Yum!!!!!

I need a good idea for dinner for tomorrow night. Dh's birthday is the 29th and since there is no 29th this year, I want to make him a nice dinner tomorrow. He loves ethnic food...thai, indian, etc. Any ideas? PM me if you'd like. :grin

[Embracing Grace]

Wow! These are great! :yum Keep 'em coming if you have more! :tu

[Embracing Grace]

Wow! These are great! :yum Keep 'em coming if you have more! :tu

[Beauty4Ashes]

Tonight I am making fete dajaaj. Anything eaten over dried bread with a sauce is fete. Dajaaj=chicken

I boiled 5 chicken legs in plain water a couple of times and threw away the junk that rose to the top to clean it. The third time, I added cardomon pods, salt, and pepper. This is to take away the bad flavor/fleshy flavor from the chicken. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover, and cook it until tender.

Take 2-3 pita breads and dry them out in the oven until crunchy. Break them up into smaller pieces. Or tear them before you dry them out in the oven.

Pour some of the water from the chicken over the pita bread until it becomes soft, but not too soggy, maybe 1-1 1/2 cups. Arrange the chicken on top of the bread.

Mix 2 cups of plain yogurt with 2-3 tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste) and add one clove of crushed garlic to it.

Pour that over the chicken.

Right before serving, melt butter or margarine in a pan, say 1/2 cup. Add pinenuts or cashews to the butter/margarine.

Pour the butter and nuts over the whole thing. Eat then and there.

It's not exactly kosher, but it's delicious. Bon Appetit!

[Beauty4Ashes]

Tonight I am making fete dajaaj. Anything eaten over dried bread with a sauce is fete. Dajaaj=chicken

I boiled 5 chicken legs in plain water a couple of times and threw away the junk that rose to the top to clean it. The third time, I added cardomon pods, salt, and pepper. This is to take away the bad flavor/fleshy flavor from the chicken. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover, and cook it until tender.

Take 2-3 pita breads and dry them out in the oven until crunchy. Break them up into smaller pieces. Or tear them before you dry them out in the oven.

Pour some of the water from the chicken over the pita bread until it becomes soft, but not too soggy, maybe 1-1 1/2 cups. Arrange the chicken on top of the bread.

Mix 2 cups of plain yogurt with 2-3 tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste) and add one clove of crushed garlic to it.

Pour that over the chicken.

Right before serving, melt butter or margarine in a pan, say 1/2 cup. Add pinenuts or cashews to the butter/margarine.

Pour the butter and nuts over the whole thing. Eat then and there.

It's not exactly kosher, but it's delicious. Bon Appetit!

[expatmom]

Oh that chicken dish sounds so yummy!

Do you make your own pita or any other breads? I'd love recipes for them.

Also, if I don't have a meat grinder for the falafel, do you think any of these might work: baby food hand grinder, food processor, or hand blender?

[expatmom]

Oh that chicken dish sounds so yummy!

Do you make your own pita or any other breads? I'd love recipes for them.

Also, if I don't have a meat grinder for the falafel, do you think any of these might work: baby food hand grinder, food processor, or hand blender?

[Beauty4Ashes]

I don't make my own pita breads, but my bread maker machine has a recipe for the pita breads. Let me see if it works out okay and I'll let you know. I make lemon bread, lemon poppy seed bread, and date bread. Sometime when I get a chance, let me post my recipe for date cookies (mahmoul).

If you could, show me a picture of your grinders? The thing is that fava beans and chickpeas are kind of tough to grind. We grind them 2-3 times when making falafel. I don't know how strong is the blade on your baby food grinder or food processor or hand blender. I'd hate for you to ruin the blade or the motor on your food processor, because I imagine that it's expensive to replace. Angela (Thirsty Turtle) said that she could probably find a hand grinder for $20-$40. We bought ours in Syria for $10.

Tammy

[Beauty4Ashes]

I don't make my own pita breads, but my bread maker machine has a recipe for the pita breads. Let me see if it works out okay and I'll let you know. I make lemon bread, lemon poppy seed bread, and date bread. Sometime when I get a chance, let me post my recipe for date cookies (mahmoul).

If you could, show me a picture of your grinders? The thing is that fava beans and chickpeas are kind of tough to grind. We grind them 2-3 times when making falafel. I don't know how strong is the blade on your baby food grinder or food processor or hand blender. I'd hate for you to ruin the blade or the motor on your food processor, because I imagine that it's expensive to replace. Angela (Thirsty Turtle) said that she could probably find a hand grinder for $20-$40. We bought ours in Syria for $10.

Tammy

[Beauty4Ashes]

Dinner two nights ago:
Basela (peas)

1 lb. of peas, either fresh or frozen
1 1/2-2 cups ground meat
1 8oz. can of tomato sauce
water
2-3 tbsp. all spice for the meat
salt to taste for meat and all

Saute ground meat and add salt, pepper, and the 2-3 tbsp. all spice. Add a little water, just enough to cover and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add the peas to the meat and toss for a couple of minutes. Add tomato sauce, spices to taste, and enough water to cover and simmer maybe 5-10 minutes maximum. Serve over rice.

[ShangriLewis]

:yum

I hope you just keeping adding. Maybe we could get some pictures.

[Beauty4Ashes]

I'm glad you are enjoying the recipes...Let me see if my Arabic cook book has any pictures that I could scan in. Not sure if the scanner is working or not, but dh would wonder what on earth I am doing taking pictures of food. I do have a picture of a couple of feasts we had in Syria, would that do?

Just an aside, all of the recipes which call for ground meat can also work with chunks of meat or chicken drumsticks...If you use chunks of beef or the drumsticks, you will need to boil it first and discard the junk that floats to the top. I do this at least once, maybe twice depending on how much junk comes to the top before adding spices and simmering. With the chicken, I usually use cardomon pods or a cinnamon stick in addition to salt and pepper/all spice.

This next recipe can actually be made with bamya (okra), the ingredients and methods are the same.

Zahara-cauliflower

1/2 head of fresh cauliflower
1 1/2-2 cups ground meat
1-8 oz can of tomato sauce
water
2-3 cloves of garlic crushed with salt
lemon juice
1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro

Saute meat in vegetable oil or corn oil or olive oil. Add salt, pepper, all spice to the meat to taste. Add a little water to the meat, cover, and simmer for a while until tender. While you are sauteeing the meat, fry the cauliflower in a deep fryer until golden brown. Drain the excess oil from the cauliflower. Add the cauliflower to the meat. Add tomato sauce and add water, just enough to cover it. Let the whole thing cook together for 10-15 minutes. add the garlic and let it simmer for a few minutes. Just before serving, add lemon juice and the freshly chopped cilantro. Serve over rice.

[chelsea]

This all sounds SOOOOOOOO good! :yum

I'm glad you are enjoying the recipes...Let me see if my Arabic cook book has any pictures that I could scan in. Not sure if the scanner is working or not, but dh would wonder what on earth I am doing taking pictures of food. I do have a picture of a couple of feasts we had in Syria, would that do?
Any pictures would be awesome. You could take pics while your hubby isn't looking though! :giggle

[Sarai]

YUM! My great-grandfather was Syrian and my great-gram used to make grape leaves (I don't know the *real* name for them)- it's been so long but they were yummy. :yum

I am going to print these and try them sometime! You mentioned you have an Arabic cookbook- would you mind sharing the title (if it's in English, I mean? Won't do me much good otherwise LOL).

Thanks! :mrgreen

edited to correct spelling errors

[Beauty4Ashes]

:) Unfortunately it's in Arabic, but there is one called A taste of Lebanon. Lebanese food is very similar to Syrian food, so that could help. did I post the grape leaves recipe yet? In syria, they call them yebra.

[Sarai]

:) Unfortunately it's in Arabic, but there is one called A taste of Lebanon. Lebanese food is very similar to Syrian food, so that could help. did I post the grape leaves recipe yet? In syria, they call them yebra.


Thanks for the title- I'll have to look for that. I did scroll down,but I don't see a recipe for the grape leaves. Yum....I am hungry just thinking about it!

[arwen]

you totally rock!
thank you so much!!!! :rockon

[Beauty4Ashes]

Sorry it took me so long to type out how to make grape leaves...but I'm throwing in a recipe for stuffed squash absolutely free :P~

That is what I am cooking tonight. It's a kind of complicated dish, I have yet to get it 100% correct, but here goes.

The filling works for both the stuffed grape leaves and the stuffed squash...

Filling:

1 1/2 cups Medium grain rice

2 lamb shoulder blades (lamb chops???)**I prefer to use the Australian lamb chops or spring lamb, as it is not so fatty as the American lamb chops. If you don't have lamb, you can use ground beef**

3-4 tbsp. cumin seed
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 cloves of garlic crushed with some salt.

Soak the rice for an hour in water and clean it. Remove the meat from the bones of the lamb chop and put the meat in the food processor to grind it. Save the bones from the lamb chops. Mix the cumin seed, salt, pepper, and meat with the rice. If you are using ground beef, you will need to add some butter or margarine, maybe 1-2 tbsp. and mix it with the lamb/rice/spice mixture. Do not cook!!!

Refrigerate the filling overnight, for the best flavor.

For the grape leaves, buy a jar of Orlando Grape Leaves. It's a 2 lb. jar and it's $4-5. Remove the grape leaves from the jar and rinse them with water. Squeeze the excess liquid from them. Cut the stems with a knife. If you want, cut the leaves in 2 pieces, using the middle vein of the grape leave as your guide for cutting. Put 1/2 tsp. of the filling on the grape leave--vein side up. Fold the grape leave from the two ends (the longer, less wide part) together. Then roll the wider part of the grape leave, as you would roll a cigarette. The ideal is to make the grape leaves of a uniform size and thickness, like small thin cigars, but if I am in a rush, they don't turn out that way. Repeat over and over and over again. I might use half a jar of grape leaves for a meal, it makes close to 100. After you have say 10-15 grape leaves finished, tie them into bundles with string.

For the stuffed squash, dh bought me a dozen of the smallest spanish squashes that he could find, because they have the best flavor. They are light green in color. Cut off the stems. With an instrument that looks like a ducks bill, scoop out the insides of the squash. The goal is to not poke any holes in the sides or bottom of the squashes and to make inner walls of the squash as thin as possible. Stuff the filling inside the squash. Use pieces of the inside of the squash as a cork. Do not fill the squash all the way to the top, leave about 3/4" of space unfilled.

To cook the squash and grape leaves:
You will need a really large pot, say a 3-4 qt. pot. Arrange the squash and the grape leaves neatly in the bottom of the pot. Fill the pot with enough water to cover. Crush several cloves of garlic with some salt and add to the water. Add the juice of 1 lemon. Add one lamb chop and the left over bones from the lamb chop used in the filling. Put a bowl turned up side down on top of the squash and grape leaves. Put a cup filled with water on the bowl. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Put a lid on the pot. Allow to cook for 3-4 hours.

These are dishes that the women begin at least one day in advance and they stuff grape leaves while the dc are in bed and they are watching t.v. It's a very social thing among the women. If they have company coming and have to make many grape leaves or stuffed squash, they may be working on these dishes for several nights before cooking it.

[arwen]

yum!
you've inspired me and so the other nite we had ground lamb, pita bread, yogurt, hummus, lettuce, cucumber, and tomato...it was so yummy!
it needed a good feta cheese or some other sort of cheese but it was good non-the-less.

thanks

[Beauty4Ashes]

;) glad to be of service.

[Garnet]

is zemata Syrian? I had that at a cultural show once and it was very good. Its black durum wheat flour with honey, gum arabic, cloves, cinnamon and icing sugar.

[Beauty4Ashes]

Zemata? I'm not sure, it sounds more like a Northern African dish, maybe Morocco or Algeria or something. Let me see if I can find out anything about it. No luck. But I don't think it's eaten in the areas of Syria/Jordan/Lebanon/Israel/Palestine.

[Garnet]

now that you mention it I had Morroccan pancakes hsaped liek turbans (dipped in honey oh my so good) nearby so it was probably morracan.

[RealLifeMama]

Did you ever post the baba ghanoosh (sp?) anywhere?
I have tons of eggplant now!

[Beauty4Ashes]

I'll try to post it in the next couple of days. time is limited today.

[musicmama]

Is Mujadra/majadera syrian? When I have it at my fav middle eastern restaurant in Dearborn, MI, it's dark brown, almost black, and when I try recipes at home it's light brown and not so appetizing looking :cool Do you have a recipe?

I'm *so* craving falafel right now...

[Beauty4Ashes]

Mujadera...that's the one with lentil and cracked wheat and onion, no?

[musicmama]

yes ma'am!!

Do you have a curried lentil soup recipe, too? :yum :yum :yum :yum

[Beauty4Ashes]

I'm afraid not. When I try to make lentil soup like mil does, it doesn't come out right.

[HadassahSukkot]

Kebab and Falafel

Kebab is actually pretty easy. All that it is is ground meat with a bunch of spices molded into a stick about the size of your thumb in width and maybe 5-6" in length. We ate kebab last night.

We bought Australian lamb chops (they tend to be more tender and less fatty than American lamb. It's also known as spring lamb) and some london broil meat and ground the two together. You need to add tons of all spice, maybe a teaspoon or two and maybe 1 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper to the meat after it's ground. I think that dh also ground up one medium onion with the meat, and about 1/2 a cup of fresh parsley. You'll need some kind of a skewer to mold the meat around. We have one of those grills that you set up on top of your stove top. He brushed it with some olive oil so the meat wouldn't stick. With kebab, you want to cook it quickly, I think it only took 10 minutes total.

For falafel, we make enough for 6-7 meals and freeze it. I'm going off the top of my head here. You will need to soak 2 cups of dry chickpeas and 2 cups of dry fava beans over night. Throw the beans in the grinder a handful at a time. Add to the grinder corriander seeds, maybe 1/2 cup, 1 cup of fresh parsley chopped, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion, a handful of red pepper, and I think that's about it. You will need to grind the whole thing together at least twice, maybe even 3x. After grinding it, add salt and pepper and mix the whole thing with your hands. I'm not sure if you'll need to add an egg or not. When you go to make the falafel, roll it into balls and fry it in a deep fat fryer. Chop some lettuce and tomatoes and slices of pickles. The sauce is made with 1-2 cups of plain yogurt and 2-3 tbsp. of tahini (sesame seed paste). Eat it in a pita bread.


I wondered if there is any alternative for the fava beans? Due to their nature I am worried about using them since I have thyroid issues and my dad (who I share a lot of food tendencies with) is allergic to them... I don't want to tempt fate.

I had not heard of grinding them together. That probably explains why all attempts at making this have been a total failure before.

[Naxi]

Can we pin this post? I would hate for it to expire!