Syrian recipes

[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]

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!

Originally Posted by mom2bashar n danny

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!

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.

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!

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.

Originally Posted by mom2bashar n danny

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!!!!

[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

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.