Whats cooking good looking?

Hi guys, so today I decided to do a post on what I cooked, and do a little recipe/tutorial thingy.  Today on the menu is a Lebanese bean dish with meat (Loubiyeh Bi Lahmeh) and a tasty Turkish Burghul Pilav with Pastirma (Pastirmali Bulgurlu Pilav)

First of all I dont do measurements, so you'll just have to do everything by eye like me.

You will need:  Flat beans, a nice cut of meat with no fat on it, an onion, olive oil, salt, and lebanese 7 spice mix.  For the pilav you will need: Medium grain burghul (cracked wheat) an onion, green turkish chilli (you can use a green capsicum if you cant find the chillis,) pastirma (if you cant find it you can use the italian version which is prociutto or pastrami or something)  tomato paste, salt and pepper, water.

Lets begin!

here are the beans we use

Cut your beans to this size

Dice your onions

Cut meat into cubes

Fry meat in oil

Fry until just a little brown

Here are the lebanese spices we will be using

add spices to the meat and stir until fragrant

It should look like this

Cover with water, reduce heat, and cover

In another pot fry onions with some salt in oil

It should look like this

Add your beans and stir.  Reduce heat and cover remembering
to stir every 10 minutes or so

At this point the meat is tender

Drain and put aside.

Now to begin with the Pilav.  This is the Burghul I use

Chop your Turkish chillis (Sivri Biber)

Fry your onion and chilli together with some salt
until translucent 

At this point I added my pastirma

Then add your tomato paste and fry for a little bit

Then add your Burghul and stir

Add water to cover, remembering that Burghul doesnt need
as much water as rice as it cooks quickly, cover and leave on low heat

Beans are ready :)

Still too much water in the pilav so let it cook a little more

And this is how the end product looks.

Bon Apetit!

Bukhari Rice Recipe

So lebanese cooking doesn't really divulge into Gulf (Khaliji) cooking, but for the sake of being "Arab" I thought I'd share this recipe.  This dish is similar to an Indian biriyani, and in saying that, Saudi/Khaliji cooking has alot of similarity to Indian cooking in the sense that they use alot of spices. Bukhar in Arabic "steam" and the name of this dish comes from the steam created to cook and make the rice fluffy. For those of you who have heard of "kabseh" then this is just as good.

The aroma of this dish is captivating, and will make your neighbours come over and introduce themselves if they haven't already.

Ingredients:4c basmati rice
1kg chicken (traditionally they use a whole chicken, but you may use pieces)
1/2 c oil
4 large onions cut into half rings
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 carrots (I don't like carrots so I don't use them)
1 tbs ground cumin
1 c sultanas/currents
Almonds, Pine nuts, Cashews for presentation

MethodWash rice and leave in warm salty water for an hour.  Remove skin of the chicken and wash it, cover the chicken lightly with flour and salt (this is one way to keep that 'chickeny' smell coming out in the cooking process that Arabs use, also cinnamon is used but the abovementioned method is also effective.)  Cut into 6 or 8 pieces.
In a large stainless steel pot, heat the oil, and add the pieces of chicken and cook until golden.  Remove chicken and set aside.  Add more oil and fry the onions until they are golden, add 3 cups of water and leave to boil.  Add chicken to the pot, add salt and pepper, cover the pot and let it boil for 30 mins. 
Remove chicken from broth, and add carrots to broth.  Strain rice and and add it with the cumin to the pot and stir.  Leave it to boil and add the sultanas and chicken-DO NOT STIR. .  Place a piece of foil over the pot and seal the sides and place the lid on top (this keeps the steam in)  turn down to low and leave for an hour. 
During this time you can fry the almonds, pine nuts and cashews in either oil or ghee.
Take out chicken, put rice on a platter, arrange chicken on top and then put the fried nuts on top aswel.

Enjoy!

The 1st recipe of many..

So after much deliberation, I've decided to put up recipes that have been passed down to me, or ones I've come up with in this blog also.  Some of you may be thinking:  "this is a craft blog, why would you add food to it also?"  Well thats a simple question to answer.  My grandmother was a prized cook in our city in Lebanon.  She was orphaned at a young age and went to live with her aunty who taught her all the ins and outs of lebanese cooking.  These secrets and recipes have been passed down to me and now its time to share them with you.  Yes, this is a craft blog, but its also a journey of my life through the things I love, and if I've forgotten to mention, I was a chef at a top restaurant for nearly 2 years, however due to distance and "restaurant politics" I quit and now I'm undertaking aged care.  I also indulged in Turkish cookery obviously because of my partner, and many other different cuisines, however I think for the time being I'll just stick to middle-eastern recipes.  Most ingredients can be found in your local shops, or in a middle eastern grocery.

Cooking to me is my other love alongside craft.  I cook nearly every day, and sometimes get angry at myself because I can't think of WHAT to cook.  So I'll put up a section on the left hand side of the blog called "Cooking" (obviously?) after I put a few recipes up.

One thing I'll pre-warn you all about is I'm not very good with amounts and quantities, I normally just do it by eye, so hopefully we can overcome this together!

This recipe is one of my all time favourite Turkish recipes, as I love baking.  This is a perfect thing to whip up as an entree if you cut it in slices or just as a meal on its own,  I made these the other day for my partner, he loved them of course!

Cheese Pide:  (4 serves)Dough

2 3/4c  Plain Flour
7g (1 packet) Instant yeast
3/4c  Warm Water
2 Tbs Olive oil

Filling

1c  Feta cheese (if your feta is too salty, soak it in water for 10 mins)

1c Tulum cheese (this can be found at Turkish groceries, if you cant find it, use another cup of feta)
Parsley (optional)

GlazeYogurt mixed with water
Nigella or Sesame seeds
Olive Oil

-I used my bread maker to make the dough, but if you prefer you can always do it by hand.

MethodPreheat oven! (250 dC)

Place flour, yeast, water and oil together and mix until its just a little bit sticky but not too much, watch your dough, know your dough- if it needs more water add a little at a time, if it needs more flour the same applies.
When it has come together and formed a not so sticky ball, cover it in olive oil and leave to rest for as long as you can (an hour if you are in a hurry)

While you're waiting, crumble the cheeses and chop the parsley (optional) and mix together in a bowl.

Seperate your dough in to 4 pieces, rest another 15 mins. 

Pat down the dough into oval shapes, then use a rolling pin to make it more longer and wider.  If it sticks to the rolling pin, put a little bit more oil.

Put cheese mixture in the middle from one end to another, and start to fold the edges together but leaving it open in the middle.

Glaze with yogurt mixture and sprinkle nigella or sesame seeds on the dough.

Bake in a preheated oven at 250 degrees C on a tray lined with baking paper

Glaze with olive oil as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Enjoy!