cracked wheat pilaf
Cracked Wheat Pilaf (Bulgur Pilav ? Turkey)
1 cup bulgur (cracked wheat)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 1/4 cup water
2 teaspoon instant beef or chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cook and stir bulgur and onion in butter until onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until bulgur is tender but firm, 20 to 25 minutes.
Yields 6 servings.
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honeyed carrots
Honeyed Carrots
This popular Middle Eastern dish probably had its roots in ancient Egypt.
12 medium carrots, sliced
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Heat 1 inch salted water to boiling. Add carrots. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and cook until tender, 12 to 15 minutes; drain.
Cook and stir remaining ingredients in 10-inch skillet until bubbly; add carrots. Cook uncovered over low heat, stirring occasionally, until carrots are glazed, 2 to 3 minutes.
Yields 6 servings.
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dried fruit compote
Dried Fruit Compote (Khoshaf)
1 (8 ounce) package mixed dried fruit
3/4 cup dried figs
3 cups water
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Cut dried fruit and figs into bite-size pieces. Heat dried fruit, figs, water and raisins to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
Stir in honey and lemon juice. Top with sweetened whipped cream and sliced almonds if desired.
Yields 8 servings.
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seneyat macarona bel-laban
Seneyat Macarona bel-Laban (Spaghetti with Yogurt)
Source: Saudi Arabia Magazine (an official publication of the Information Office of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia), Summer 1997
3 cups spaghetti (break into 2-inch lengths)
3 eggs
3 tablespoons corn oil
3 onions, finely grated
3/4 pound minced meat
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 cups yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt to taste
1/2 bundle fresh parsley
Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Strain. Hard-boil the eggs, then peel and slice into rings. Heat the oil and the onions, minced meat, cumin and black pepper with a little water. Cook over medium heat. Put spaghetti in a saucepan. Add butter and stir over heat for five minutes. Put spaghetti in a baking dish. After mixing yogurt with garlic and salt, pour over the spaghetti. Cover this with minced meat, egg rings and parsley. Put dish in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for five minutes.
Serve hot.
Serves 4 to 6 persons.
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chicken with olives
Chicken with Olives
Source: A Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
This excellent Middle Eastern dish is a particularly Moroccan specialty.
1 large roasting chicken (about 4 pounds)
2 1/2 tablespoons oil
2 onions, sliced
Salt and black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon paprika
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 pound green or black olives
Juice of 1/2 lemon, or more
Wash the chicken and wipe it with a damp cloth.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add about 3/4 cup water very gradually, stirring vigorously. Add onion slices, sprinkle with salt, pepper, ginger, and paprika, and lay the chicken on top. Cook over low heat, covered, for 1 hour, turning the chicken frequently. Add a little more salt if necessary, and the finely chopped onion, and cook for 1/2 hour longer.
Pit the olives. Put them in a pan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, and leave for 1 minute. Drain off the water and repeat the process. This will remove excess salt. Add the olives to the pan and cook with the chicken for a few minutes only.
Just before serving, squeeze a little lemon juice over the dish. Sometimes a few pickled lemon slices are added just before serving. Serve with plain boiled rice or couscous.
Serves 6.
The vow of silence, thats the mind-blower. See, talking is what I do… i ts a real need with me, a craving, Im like a word junkie. I never shut up. I talk to myself, I talk in my sleep. The idea of voluntarily turning off that tap, I can imagine it Itd be like, I don know, all the rivers in the world just slammed to a stop. No churning, no flowing, no white water, just stillness, crushing stillness. I don think I could stand it, locked up like that in my own psyche. Id collapse into myself, Id implode — Andrew Schneider
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pot-bottom crust with chicken
Pot-Bottom Crust with Chicken
From the kitchen of Lior - Israel
This is a Persian recipe which delights everyone!
Tahcheen
1 pound long grain rice.
1/2 cup (4 ounce) cooking oil.
1 cup (8 ounces) plain yogurt
2 teaspoons saffron
1 pound various chicken pieces.
6 egg yolks
Zereshk
1 cup red currents (zereshk), presoaked and washed.
1 teaspoon dried saffron
1 tablespoon lemon juice or 1 fresh lemon, squeezed
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
A touch of turmeric
Presoak the rice in hot water and salt for about an hour before cooking. Cut up the onion in large pieces. Wash and devein the chicken pieces, put them in a pot with some water, add the onion, turmeric, salt and a touch of saffron and let it cook until the meat softens. Take it out, drain it and set aside.
In a medium size pot, half filled with water, boil the rice for a few minutes, until the rice is half crunchy half soft when you chew on it. Take it out, drain it and set aside. You may want to wash off the rice in a stringer, if you used excessive amounts of salt to soak the rice.
In a bowl, mix the egg yokes and yogurt and beat it until it has a smooth texture. Mix in about a cup full of cooked rice.
In a medium size pot, pour half of the cooking oil in the bottom of the pot, evenly pour in the egg-yolk/yogurt mixture in the bottom, place the chicken pieces on top of it and top it up loosely with the remainder of the boiled rice. Sprinkle the remainder of the oil on top of it, close the lid, put the heat setting at high for a minute or so until the rice starts steaming.
Turn the heat setting to low and let it cook for about an hour and a half to two hours. The lower the heat and the longer the cooking time, the crustier and darker the bottom layer becomes. Careful not to burn it 
In a cup containing two ounces of boiling water, pour the saffron, cover the cup and let it sit for a while (until it forms a rich color). In a pan, pour one tablespoon of oil; put the heat setting at medium-low, pour in the red currants, saffron liquid, sugar, turmeric and lemon juice and stir fry it for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves.
The zereshk is spread over the rice at serving time.
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spinach pies
Spinach Pies (Fatayer Bi Sabanekh)
Posted by FootsieBear at recipegoldmine.com 8/26/2001 3:02 pm
Source: Lebanese Mountain Cooking
Some consider the pine nuts in this recipe optional, but as an addition they are visual and flavorful delight. Makes 12-15 pies, freezes well.
1/2 recipe Basic Savory Pie Dough (recipe follows)
2 pounds fresh spinach or 3 (10 ounce) packages frozen spinach
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper (optional)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts browned in 3 tablespoons
butter and drained (optional)
Lemon wedges
Basic Savory Pie Dough (Aajeen)
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups lukewarm water or milk
1/4 cup olive oil
(makes 25 four inch or 40 three inch pies)
Combine flour and salt in large bowl. In another bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Let sit 5 minutes. Stir yeast mixture into remaining water, or milk and add to flour mixture. Mix well with wooden spoon and turn onto floured board. Knead well for 8-10 minutes, until dough is very elastic and smooth. Place in greased bowl and cover with dry towel. Set dough in warm spot until it has doubled. Punch down and form into a ball. Let dough rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into 25 or 40 pieces. Coat hands with oil and form each piece into a ball. Cover dough with dry towel and let rise 30 minutes. Roll balls into circles 1/4 inch thick for fatayer or fill and form into meat or spinach pies.
Divide pie dough into 12-15 balls and roll into 4 inch circles about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.
Wash, Drain and chop fresh spinach or cook frozen spinach, drain and chop. Lightly squeeze out moisture and place in large bowl. Add onion, salt and optional pepper to spinach. Mix well and let stand a few minutes. Stir in lemon juice and oil. Add browned pine nuts if desired. It should taste like a good salad.
Place a small amount of spinach mixture in center of each round of dough. Form a triangular pie by drawing two sides of dough to the center and pinching shut a seam from center to the corner. Then draw up the remaining flap of dough and pinch shut the remaining seams, leaving a small opening to vent the pie in the center. Or make vertical pleats of dough around the filling to form a round open tart. (The former method is more traditional). Brush with olive oil.
Bake at 375 to 400 degrees F for 15 minutes , until brown on top and bottom. Serve warm or cool with lemon wedges.
Servings: 12
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zhug
Zhug
Source: Liors Kitchen Talk
The most popular spice mixture of Yemen, and now adapted to tastes throughout the Middle-East, can be purchased at ethnic delicatessen stores but if you cannot find it, you can make it at home by pureeing together 1 cup of fresh chili peppers and then adding 1/2 cup each of parsley and coriander leaves, blending again and then adding 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper and ground cumin and a pinch of ground cardamom.
Keep in mind that this flavorful blend is fiery hot and should be used only in very small quantities.
History is not going to be kind to liberals. With their mindless programs, theyve managed to do to Black Americans what slavery, Reconstruction, and rank racism found impossible destroy their family and work ethic. — Walter Williams
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halva
Halva (Almond Dessert)
Source: Where East Meets West
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup honey
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
1 cup raw cream of wheat
Combine the sugar, honey, water, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat 20 minutes.
While the syrup is cooking, melt the butter in a skillet; add the almonds and cream of wheat. Cook over low heat, stirring steadily, until browned.
Add to the syrup (after syrup has cooked 20 minutes), mix well, cover, and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. pour into a buttered 8 x 10-inch buttered shallow pan. Cool.
Cut into squares and sprinkle with confectioners sugar or cinnamon.
Makes 20 (2-inch) squares.
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samak tahini
Samak Tahini (Perch Baked with Sesame Seed)
Serve this with Moroccan Herbed Olives, Pocket Bread or hot cooked rice for a simple meal.
1 medium red onion, sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup sesame seed, toasted
1/4 cup water
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Dash of ground red pepper
Olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons snipped parsley
1 pound perch fillets
Parsley
Ripe olives
Cook and stir onion in oil until tender. Mix sesame seed, water, garlic, salt, lemon juice and red pepper. Lightly brush an 8-inch square baking dish with oil; sprinkle with bread crumbs and parsley. Pat fish dry; arrange in baking dish. Pour sesame seed mixture over fish; top with onion Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F until fish flakes easily with fork, 20 to 25 minutes.
Garnish with parsley and ripe olives.
Principal Mr. Madison, what youve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. — Billy Madison
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