Sorry if someone already asked, but I dont feel like reading thru 40 pages

Hummus Fateh recipes anyone?
I cant seem to get it down, and it seems so simple! I finally mastered homemade hummus. yum yum (I never thought I would really like it, but thats cuzz the ready made stuff totally sucks) hee
My husband says.. oh! its so easy!
The guy at the rest, oh! its so easy!
Ya ya... can someone dumb it downfor me please lol

Lisa

Some of them look like marzipan (which I find gross lol). Do you think some of them have marzipan involved?

Yes .. every sweet in NA involves either almond or peanuts ... me too donnot like it but seem to be surrounded by it here! Peanut baklava is one of the nasties things on this Earth!

Ladies - We're having a big dinner party this weekend and I need a Moroccan chicken recipe. I know a few but want something extra special - dinner is for about 25 people so something that can be doubled or tripled will be best!

Chicken w/ Olives is always a huge success- people love it. Also, another "unique" but delicious dish is Chicken w/ onions & prunes. If you don't have recipes, let me know and I'll post them.
another good one is the chicken & olives w/ french fries on top! Unusual, but amazingly tasty!

Mmm yea those are good - the 25 people are actually all Moroccan so that probably won't be too much of a surprise for them! *sigh* I'm losing my creative food ideas. Maybe the chicken with french fries though...sounding better and better.

OOOH... I bet they'd love the chicken & fries!

I had a great video that shows how to make Charmoula Marinade for chicken but I can't find it now. I will try to remember.

In a food processor add:

1/2 cup fresh parsely
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 onion

Blend til fully mixed. Marinate the chicken (I do this overnight, but you can do it for an hour). I usually do about 10 chicken thighs, but I am sure it can do a little more. Set aside.

Peel about 5 or 6 large potatoes. Cut them in about 1 inch cubes. Add 1/4 cup green olives. Coat with about 1/4 C olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 2 teaspoons cumin.

Place in bottom of a baking dish lined with tin foil. Place marinated chicken on top and place 1/2 onion (rings) on top. Add about a half small can of diced tomatoes on top. Cover with foil and bake about 2 hours on 350 degrees. I usually take the foil off of the top for the last 20 minutes.

They have either rice, couscous or fries with all the tajines ... so whatever you pick ... could use fries with! I personally love this recipe:


Jeweled Rice:

3 cups rice (Basmati is easy and nice too)
2 organic oranges
1 large carrot
1 cup dried barberries (optional)
1/2 cup raisins
1 onion
1 cup blanched whole almonds or almonds and pistachios
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp dried rosebuds
3 tbsp green cardamom pods
pinch of saffron diluted in 1 glass water
150 gr butter
2 tbsp yoghurt

Cut the rind of an orange in long strips. Try to leave out as much of the bitter white underlayer as possible. Use an organic orange or you'll eat the pesticide, soap and wax found in the rind of regular oranges.

Peel a large carrot and continue to peel the flesh to obtain long, flat carrot strips. You can also use a very flat knife with a very steady hand or a mandoline.

Cut the orange strips sideways into tiny sticks. These will stand out on the rice like tiny orange jewels. You could also cut them in diamond shapes - that would be in the dish's spirit.

In a small saucepan combine the orange rind with 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Strain. This step helps getting rid of the rind's bitterness.
Combine one cup sugar with one cup water (picture), bring to a boil and add both orange rind and carrot strips. Boil gently for 10 minutes, strain and reserve. This process partially candies the orange and carrot.

Jeweled rice called for a magical spice mix called advieh, which you can easily make by grinding together 2 part cinnamon, 1 part cumin seeds, 2 part rose petals and 3 part cardamom pods. Remove the pods.

Wash the rice in twice its volume in water, wash and strain. Do this as many times as needed for the water to be totally transparent. Like for the Pakistani Pulao, This process gets rid of the microscopic rice dust that would turn your royal dish into Vietnamese sticky rice. It takes only a few minutes.

Boil the rice in salted water until it softens but remains slightly crunchy, 9-12 minutes. Stir to ensure grains are fully separated, strain and reserve.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large pan with a tight fitting lid. This is important as it will prevent the rice crust from sticking - add more rather than less. Mix 4 tbsp of the partly boiled rice with 1 tbsp yoghurt and a drop of saffron water. Spread this mixture in a layer at the bottom. It will turn into a delicious golden crust, the hallmark of Moroccan rice dishes.

Cover the rice-yoghurt layer with two ladles of rice and add a fourth of the orange-carrot strips. Sprinkle some advieh (the spice mix) on top, and add another layer of rice and continue like before until you run out of ingredients. Try to shape the rice into a hill inside the pan so it will have room to expand.

Add a generous amount of advieh on top and pour the rest of the melted butter and saffron water and half a cup water. Cover tightly, possibly using a towel wrapped all around the top of the pot to prevent any leakage. Cook over low heat for about 45 minutes.
While the rice finishes cooking, prepare the garnish.


Soak 1 cup barberries and half a cup raisins into 2 cups warm water for 20 minutes. Thinly slice an onion and gently fry it in 2 tbs/25 gr butter until soft and brown.

Add the strained barberries and raisins and cook for one more minute. Reserve.

Toasted nuts have a more intense flavor but too much toasting can ruin their appearance and make their taste overwhelm the rest. In a baking tray place the almonds and, if you want, the pistachios. Toast for about 10-15 minutes at 180°C while watching them continually. Nuts are easily overtoasted! Alternatively, you can gently fry them in a non-stick pan with a little oil or no oil.

Prepare a large serving platter, if possible of Persian or at least Arab origin. Carefully pile the rice in a nicely shaped mound and garnish with the Berberis-raisin-onion mixture and nuts.

For easy, large enough to feed 25 ppl memory making dinner I would make:

Moroccan Spiced Lamb Leg

• 1 leg of lamb, approx. 2.5kg
• 1-2 tablespoons ras-el-hanout
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• bunch fresh coriander, chopped

<H3 class=c03>[size="2"][/size] </H3>1.Make incisions all over the leg of lamb, and then mix the ras-el-hanout with the lemon juice, oil, minced garlic and coriander.

2.Using your fingers, push pinches of the mixture into the holes. Rub the remaining aromatic paste over the lamb and then put it into a large freezer bag, squeeze out any air and then tie it up and leave it to marinade in the fridge overnight, or for longer.

3.Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6, and take the lamb out of the fridge to come to room temperature.

4.Put the leg of lamb into a roasting pan, squeezing any marinade out of the bag over the meat. Roast the lamb for about an hour and a half, by which time it should be aromatically blackened on the outside, and still tender and pink within.

5.Let the lamb rest once it comes out of the oven for at least 15 minutes, though I leave this a good hour after it's come out of the oven.

Serve this with the rice or fries, salads (like carrot orange, fresh mint green salad) some peserved lemons and a few boureks ... ready meal to wow them with!

Ok I'm making this tonight but I have some stupid questions if anyone can help me out:
http://members.cox.net/ahmedheissa/recbirdt.htm
Egyptian's Dishes - Baird Tong Soup (Serves 4 People)

For non American: In America one cup of rice is not the same size as one cup of water. One cup of water is about 2 cups of rice.
Ingredients
1. 1/2 a cup Orzo
2. 1 pound Stew Beef meat (cut small)
3. 2 OZ Butter (1/2 stick)
4. 1/2 tea spoon salt
5. 1/2 tea spoon pepper
6. 2 medium size onions
7. 4 cups of water
8. 1/4 tea spoon of ground decorticated Cardamom (or 5 Cardamon sticks).
9. 1 Lemon.

Procedure
1. Melt the butter.
2. Add Orzo to butter.
3. Cook on a low flame and stir in the Orzo until Orzo becomes a red color.
4. Wash beef well.
5. Boil 4 cups of water and cook beef for 3 minutes. Scoop boiled blood if any.
6. Cut onion.
7. Add Onion, Orzo, salt, and pepper to beef and cook until onion and beef are cooked.
8. Add 1/4 tea spoon of ground decorticated Cardamom (or 5 Cardamon sticks) to beef.
9. Add water if needed.
10. After the soup is cooked remove the 5 Cardamom sticks.
If you failed to remove the sticks, the Cardamom will have a bitter taste when you eat it.

Serve soup while it is hot. If you like, add lemon to the soup. Enjoy.


stupid question #1: I just plop in the onion without even browning it first? Wont that taste weird?
stupid question #2: If I don't remove the cardamom sticks it will be bitter but why won't it be bitter if I just use the ground cardamom (which is what I have in my pantry)?


I can't wait to try it though! The weather is brisk here lately so this will be a good fall soup if it turns out to be a hit!

Do you bake the chicken in the casserole dish that the onions are cooking in or is that totally separate? Also, what is flat sheet bread? Is that like matza bread or like roll-up bread?

omg I just made this and it's soooooooooooooooo bland and boring! Hope hubby likes it 'cause it's all his!!! The kids and I will dine on Kraft mac n cheese tonight!

Tunisian harissa (hot sauce) We use it in everything here.. You can buy it at the store, but it can get costly or sometimes hard to find - and some people prefer it a lot hotter than you can buy or vice versa, maybe you like the flavor but the heat is too much for you .. So here's a way to make it at home!

Ingredients :

50 gm (2 oz) dried red chilies
2 x Cloves garlic salt
1 tsp Caraway seeds
1 1/2 tsp Ground cumin
2 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Crushed dried mint leaves
Olive oil

Method :

* This fiery Tunisian chili sauce, also found in Algeria and Morocco, is used in cooking, particularly in the vegetable or meat tagines (stews) that accompany couscous, and as a table condiment, rather like Indonesian sambals. The sauce can be bought ready-made in small cans, but it is easy to make at home and keeps for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.

* Remove the seeds and tear the chilies into pieces. Soak them in warm water until they soften (about 20 minutes). Drain, and pound or process. Crush the garlic with a little salt. Pound or blend all the ingredients to a paste, then stir in 15-30 ml (1-2 tbsp) of olive oil, Transfer to a jar, cover with a layer of olive oil, and refrigerate.

I just wanted to add that the harissa is great with chicken, beef, tuna, on sandwiches, with scrambled eggs in the morning - It will spice up, flavor, and compliment just about anything.


Spicy Chicken with Harissa and Mushrooms
Harissa is a fiery sauce from Tunisia. It's available in larger supermarkets and ethnic shops and is a classic accompaniment to couscous. Be warned, it is very hot and a little goes a long way!


INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
4 boneless chicken breasts
2 shallots (or 1 small onion), chopped
250g baby button mushrooms, halved or left whole
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp harissa (depending on how hot you like it)
600ml hot chicken stock
fresh parsley, chopped

Harissa is a hot sauce or paste made with chillies, garlic, cumin, coriander, caraway and oil.

PREPARATION:
1. Heat a large frying pan and dry-fry the cumin and coriander seeds until begin to smoke and become aromatic. Remove to a pestle and mortar, allow to cool, then crush.

2. Heat the oil in the pan and brown the chicken breasts until nice and golden then remove to a plate.

3. Lower the heat and cook the shallots or onion until soft then add the mushrooms and salt and cook for another 5 minutes until soft.

4. add the spices and boil until most of the liquid has reduced off.

5. Stir the harissa into the hot stock until dissolved. Pour 200ml of stock into the mushroom mixture.

6. Return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is done.

7. Meanwhile, pour the rest of the hot stock and harissa over the couscous and leave to absorb. Season with salt and fluff up with a fork.

8. To serve, spoon the couscous on to plates and lay a chicken breast on top. Spoon over plenty of mushroom sauce and garnish with the chopped parsley.

PREP/COOK
INFORMATION:

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour Serves: 4

1. Plopping the onion in whole unchopped and unbrowned will get you nothing more then whole boiled onion (good for stocks but not for stews/casseroles) You want to chop and brown the onion to get the caramelization going, which adds flavour.

2. Caradamon are seeds not sticks. Cinnamon comes in sticks only. But it bitter since the outer shell browned, thus making it bitter. Kinda like when you brown/fry paprika- it gets bitter. Grind in the coffee grinder or buy alread ground, since the shell is fine by then. Add it when there is liquid in your pot, not before!

My suggestion would be to: Wash the meat as above, but dry it so when you brown it browns, then braises. And brown the meat, remove it then brown the onions for more max flavour. Maybe add bouillon cube in there if you find it bland. Also for nicer colour add saffron! So its not dirty white/brown looking! Good eats Bridget!

In the chicken recipe, I would assume it is in the casserole like a Earthenware dish or Le Creuset type cast iron pot ... where you can brown the chicken in the pot on the stove, then cook/bake in the oven.

Flat bread- pita, pide, lavash, eisha types of bread.



Ash: I love harissa too! But the fresh kind not the ones from the can... they taste off to me! Any sandwich or quick bread with tuna or tapenade tastes fab with harissa! Steaks marinated in harissa is great too! Even fish! Mmmm

I'm sure you know all the harissa jokes then

I really love it as well.. The first time I thought my mouth was on fire - We were on the train traveling out of Tunis and heading toward Jendouba (actually really close to Algeria) and I got a tuna sub with harissa on it and I'm like hmm what is this red stuff? Oh well I'm hungry, bite, chew... FIRE FIRE LOL

It was a few days before I was willing to try it again, but by weeks, months, and years I'm now a harissa-addict and I can't resist it. I love to scramble eggs and add a few spoons while they are cooking - or make a meatloaf and sub harissa for ketchup!!

How do you tear the chilies without burning your hands? My husband would love this!!! He puts tabasco on EVERYTHING including his chips! lol

I have always just used my hands, but if your skin is sensitive to that kind of thing I am sure that you could get the seeds out with a spoon or something similar and then instead of tear you could cut into small pieces.. kef kef.. I think in the end same difference. And you can play with this one to your tastes- If your hubby likes it on fire, do a lot of the chilies for him and if you find you like the flavor and not the heat, tune it down for yourself... And stick in fridge and label :
and


I hope he likes it!! I have chicken marinating in it now - I just add a little more water when I want to use it as a marinade, put in the plastic baggies and let it sit over night before I cook (water will thin it out a little and sometimes I even cut marks across the top of the chicken or steak with a knife to let the harissa sink it good )

gloves, baby... gloves!

O ye love the stuff! My 8 yr old is even eating it now (lighten up with mayo thou) LOL! Us, too love it in eggs, sandwiches, marinades .... LOL! And yes, my first time too ... glopped a whole lot on my food .... wooooooahooooooo FIRE BREATHE!




Gloves as Nora suggested but also rub lemon over your fingers ... then the gloves for extra senstivie hands. Then be sure to cut out the seeds and veins which are the hottest .... or just cheat and use hot chilli powder!

OK, here's the original recipe from my mom, but I alter it a bit, so I'll put my alterations in parentheses.

Sunday Chicken
10 Boneless Chik breasts (I only make however many we need/want)
1 jar sliced/dried beef (we use Armour, find it where you find canned meats)
1 pint sour cream
2 cans cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
10 strips of bacon (I either don't use this at all, or use turkey bacon - it's one strip per breast, so use as needed)

Lightly pepper w/ red & black pepper the chicken breasts. Use no salt. Line casserole w/ dried beef. Wrap chick breast w/ bacon slices and place over dried beef. Combine sour cream w/ mushroom soup. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered 3 hrs @ 325 degrees. Serves 6-8. May be assembled early & refrigerated until hours before serving.
(I only cook for 1 hour on 350 since I am usually only doing 3-4 breasts and I also use only one can of soup & 1/2 pint of sour cream. This sauce is amazing and the plates get licked clean!!!)

I'll probably serve this w/ a rice pilaf and some kind of veggie - maybe a salad.

BTW, my oatmeal date bread just finished... it's cooling now so I'll get to taste it in a bit. I'll probably make a french loaf to go w/ dinner since, you know, hubby's got to have bread w/ everything!

oh noura, i think ill try it sometime, it sounds great!

YUM... I did 1/2 the Sunday Chicken recipe and it was so good. I hadn't made it in a while. So, I thought I'd post the rice pilaf recipe I used w/ it.

RICE PILAF (w/ peas & carrots)

1/2 onion finely chopped
2-3 T butter
2 C Jasmine rice
3 C water w/ 1 1/2 cube chicken Maggi
1/4 C slivered almonds
1/4 C pine nuts
3/4- 1 C mixed peas & carrots

Saute onion in butter til soft. Add water & Maggi (or chicken boullion), bring to a boil and add rice. Jasmine rice cooks much quicker than regular rice, so it's ready in about 20-30 min. Meanwhile, toast almonds & pine nuts in a skillet w/ a small bit of olive oil (or Pam olive oil spray) and in a small pot, cook the peas & carrots. When everything is finished, mix together in a large bowl and serve.

This sounds good Noura! Mmmm do you know prehaps any Muslim friendly Cajun/Creole recipes too?

Also for all you Egyptian ladies ... I see in Fatafeat, the Egyptian cooks using some type of dried beef in recipes ... what is this, called? And what does it taste like? Thanks!

I'm now addicted to this!!! Will be making this once/week during Ramadan but sucks 'cause I have to make something different for the kids since they don't care for it. I tweaked it slightly by only using chicken thighs in it and toasting the lavash bread in the oven so it was just crispy enough. I could totally just eat the crispy bread and onions and forget about the chicken!!!

I'm using the leftover broth tonight as a base for my chicken noodle soup too and it tastes yummie!!!!!

Sounds like 2 meals in one! My kinda cooking LOL!

TUNEZIAN FARKA
A breakfast pasta from North Africa!
INGREDIENTS:
•2 2/3 cups couscous (about 1 pound)
•2 2/3 cups water
•1/2 cup sugar
•1/4 cup vegetable oil
•1 1/2 cups chopped toasted mixed nuts (such as walnuts, blanched almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and pine nuts)
•1 8-ounce box pitted dates, cut into pieces
•2 cups milk, hot
•Additional sugar
PREPARATION:
•Place couscous in large bowl. Bring 2 2/3 cups water, 1/2 cup sugar and oil to boil in heavy large saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Pour mixture over couscous and stir until well blended. Cover and let stand 10 minutes. Fluff with fork to separate grains. Mix nuts and dates into couscous.

•Transfer couscous to 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Cool. Cover with foil. (Can be prepared 4 hours

ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) •Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake couscous until heated through, about 20 minutes. Spoon into bowls.

Serve, passing hot milk and additional sugar separately.

SERVES 8

One of our favorites!!! And lately Jihed has taking to dumping maple syrup on top LOL Like it needed more sugar
And it tastes really good if you want to put raisins in instead of dates

Have you had it with dried apricots? Mmmm

I wish Hazem liked sweets! LOL He is a total salty food lover...GRRR! I need sweets sometimes!!

Uhhhhh just sometimes??? It's okay, drop the sweets and say it allowed with me Nawal.... We are total sugar-o-holics!!

Nawal: My husband has this thing for snacks ... any thing to snack on in front of the TV at night! LOL I brought bags and bags of chips from the US when I was visiting him --->they would be gone within a day! LOL! And now with no "good" chips around to buy here ... he makes his late night "munchie" runs to buy nuts, Nutella, canned pineapple and yoghurt/pudding LOLOL!

First I want to say hello to everyone & thanks for posting so many wonderful recipes!

I want to try one of the recipes from the Sultan's kitchen...Kanafa, or kunefe as I know it (the Turkish spelling), but I can't find Nabulsi cheese to save my life! I live in Delaware and there is a Turkish market and an Egyptian one near me, but so far no luck at either one. I've also looked on some of the online stores such as Tulumba and can't find it there either.

Can anyone tell me if there's an online grocery that sells Nabulsi cheese, or if not, recommend a suitable substitution?

My husband's family is from Antakya, Turkey which is very close to the Syrian border, and kunefe is a regional specialty there. I'd love to surprise him with it one night.

Thanks so much in advance!

Tanya

Another VJ MENA person in Delaware?? Hehe I'm in Delaware too. Work in Wilmington and I live a little bit further south. What markets are you using? Did you try Lasani's? There's another one on Kirkwood Highway, but it's probably not going to have what you are looking for.. It's more Pakistani minded.

I'll ask around though about the Nabulsi cheese and see what I can find!! Nice to "meet" you

Haha...I bet we do the same commute...I live a little southward too (Smyrna) and work in Wilmington on 202. Thats funny.

I just mapquested Lasani's & I am headed there right after work today! I have been going to Abe's market on 896 in in Glasgow/Newark, which is a Turkish market/restaurant, and there is an Egyptian butcher/market in Dover on Loockerman street. It's so hard to find Middle Eastern groceries around here! I have been googling all morning LOL.

Thank you *so much* for your reply & it's great to meet you too!!

Tanya

I believe you can use ricotta cheese as sub for Nabulis cheese and add some nigella seeds in it for the "look" but it will tast different ... but still good!

BTW you and your man are cute together! Good luck with your petitions!

OMG I grew up in Smyrna... Went to highschool there, my family all lives there and I am there every weekend!
LOL And for a long time I made that same commute - Smyrna to Wilmington, but now it's Middletown to Wilmington - Small World ! I spend a lot of time though on 202/ Concord Pike.

I didn't know about the Egyptian Market in Dover.... That's new for me, but I would recommend that you go to Lasani's and check out what he has.. He's always getting new things in and sometimes you might get lucky!! Just a tip, as you are going there, you make the right (or left turn, depending on which direction you are going) and you are almost going to miss Lasani's - there is no big sign, but you will see a big red "Family Dollar" sign and he's right next to them in the same little shopping center.. Between the Family Dollar and a little redneck bar If you see Pat's Pizza you went too far down the road, turn around, go back and look for it on your right!

Lasani's
Abdul Chaudhary
Indo-Pak & Middle Eastern
18 Marrows Road
Newark DE 19713
Phone: (302) 738-4910


Also check this website : http://www.isdonline.org/
It's for the mosque in Delaware (one of them) and it has a Community Links area on the side where you can look for food, clothing, schools, all kinds of things and they update it alot.

The other store I was talking about is called Halal Meats and Royal Market.. It's on Kirkwood Highway, just outside of Elsmere, across from Panera Bread. Again they do a lot of Indian/Pakistani but he has a large refrigerated section that you might score some things in. The guy there isn't really knowledgeable about what he's selling though, so it might be easier to take your husband in so he can poke around.. That's what I had to do.

Now I'm going to have to get to Dover and check out the Egyptian market on Lockerman (if I can find a place to park I hate that street! )

There are a lot of places in Philly, other parts of PA, and Falls Church, VA that are going to carry more of what you want. So if you really have no luck and are up for a hike like that, let me know and I will get you information!!

Good luck on the great cheese hunt!

Wow, we are leading parallel lives! I grew up in Middletown and my family still lives there etc.

Now that you mention the Dollar Store and the redneck bar, I know exactly where Lasani's is! I can picture the shopping center in my head LOL...guess that says a thing or 2 about me

Also good to know there is another halal meat place. Up until now, the butcher in Dover (I believe it's called Sameera?) is the only place in DE we have been able to find lamb...

When my husband first came here, we were driving 3+ hours up to Pederson, NJ to do our grocery shopping! There is a whole middle eastern section of town there complete with markets, butchers, restaurants, barbers, the whole works! Its really awesome but that drive sure got old fast. We'd pack the kids in the car and make a day of it...told them we were going to "little Turkey" LoL

Anyways, thanks a bunch & I'll give you an update tomorrow on how the great DE cheese hunt goes

Thanks so much! If my quest for Nabulsi is unsuccessful, I'll try it with the ricotta...we'll see if he can tell the difference

Tanya

But if you want that salty taste, just use feta!

How is that going? I'm not sure how long your hubby has been here.. I thought about moving back to Smyrna to be closer to family, but I don't know... a town like Smyrna..... my arab husband named Jihed..... What do you think? Not that Middletown has been a lot better... Certainly hard to find work around here for him.

Pederson, NJ? Did you mean Paterson, NJ? We were talking about that just yesterday in another MENA thread! I love me some Paterson!! You are right.. It's totally "Little Turkey" or "Little Syria " or Little Egypt or Little Morocco.. Very heavy populations there and you can get anything you could get in a MENA country.

Can't wait to hear your update! I'm hoping that you can find it somewhere in Delaware.. Would certainly save a 2 hour or more drive to Paterson!! *fingers crossed for you*

Now this is the real deal !!!

rahma's mahshy

1.5 cups rice
1 small can tomato paste
1 onion diced uber fine
Garlic Salt to taste
2 T butter, melted
Grape leaves - rinsed
Broth - either chicken or vegetarian
2 T butter
Salt, Pepper to taste

Stir the first 5 ingredients together. Make sure to rinse the grape leaves well. If you don't, then they have a sour, acidic taste, like greek dolmas, which I really don't like.

Add a single spoonful (~Tablespoon, less if it's a small leaf). Don't overstuff. Again, I repeat, don't overstuff. The rice expands when it cooks, and if it's too full, your leaves will unfold.

To fold, follow these instructions:

How to Stuff Grape Leaves Step-by-Step with Photos - Basic Technique for Stuffing Grape Leaves

Then pack tightly at the bottom of a large pot. Pour broth over the grape leaves, enough to cover plus 1/2 inch. Add the second 2 T butter, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until broth is absorbed.



There are quite a few variations on the theme. You can use tomato sauce, or diced tomatos instead of the paste. You can throw in browned ground beef or lamb. Add different spices to taste. The sky's the lmiit.

Yum! this sounds so good... will have to try it soon!

You should its seriously yummy! It's the first thing my cousins make when I arrive in Jordan!! Woohoo!

Tiffers I see you down there Come out and play now!!!

I made this last night with zucchini, OMg delish!


Yellow Squash Fritters with Mint and Harissa

Recipe: Serves 4
- 1 pound small yellow squash, grated (You can use green zucchini as well)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 small bunch parsley, chopped
- ½ tsp cumin, freshly ground
- ½ tsp coriander seeds, freshly ground
- 1 tsp Harissa paste
- 10 mint leaves, chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil

Squeeze the grated yellow squash dry by wring it out in a towel. (Using a towel is the best way I’ve found to get rid of the excess water, which you can use to water your plants)

In a large bowl, combine the yellow squash with the rest of the ingredients. Heat a film of olive oil in a nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. For each fritter, pour a generous tablespoon of the squash batter into the pan. Turn them over after the bottom turns golden. Cook on the other side until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve right away.