Lahm ib'ajeen (meat tarts)

These beauties are arabic mini meat pizzas that every middle easterner absolutely loves. I've always wanted to learn them and I've decided to make them today! I've had 2 weeks off for xmas break so I've been using up this opportunity to learn to cook the things I've always loved and I'm sure my husband will love.

Meat Tarts - LAHM BI 'AJEEN

Pastry:
2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened plain yoghurt (this is optional and since I didn't have any I didn't use it but my mum says it tastes better with yoghurt)

Filling:
500grams minced lamb (or beef)
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 finely chopped tomatoe
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Good with a summer salad, these pastries may be prepared ahead of time, stored in a deep freeze, and reheated until piping hot in the oven.

Prepare pastry by sifting flour with salt. Add the yeast and olive oil. Stir in the water gradually until the dough can hold itself but too soggy (might not be exactly 1 cup of water). Knead until smooth, adding more water if necessary to make dough easy to handle. Let stand an hour covered with a damp cloth. Divide pastry into portions the size of an egg. Pat each with the hands, or roll out on a board until round and pastry-thin.

While the dough is rising, make the filling by adding some oil to a pan, when hot enough add the onions until slightly golden. Add the meat and pepper. Once the meat has lost its pink color you can start adding in the tomatoe paste first, the chopped tomatoe and salt to taste. I like adding in my own flavors to it which included some garlic flakes, a little bit of tomatoe sauce for more color and flavor, nandos sauce, hot sauce and some paprika. It's good to experiment with these things, I would have also added in some capsicum and parsley but I didn't have any at the time. Leave the filling to simmer and mash up the tomatoes until they are soft enough to disappear into the sauce.

Place a spoonful of filling on each pastry. Bake in hot oven until meat is browned and pastry is crisp and golden. Serve hot. (Can be frozen and reheated later)

Parda Palaw (Rice pie)

This is arabic dish (or maybe Turkish, I'm not really sure) can be found in many arabic restaurants and it is a delicious main course that looks like a rice pie made with puff pastry. I never really found out the actual recipe and I searched everyone on the net so is my stab at it:

Parda Palaw

1 Potatoe
1/4 cup Peas
3 Layers of puff pastry
1 cup of white rice
1-2 Tbsp Tomatoe Paste
1/3 of a large eggplant
Some almonds (slivered or sliced) and raisins, about 1-2Tbsp (you can leave out the raisins if you don't like them)
Salt to taste

Rice:
In a medium saucepan on high heat, add a little bit of oil to the pan then add the tomatoe paste, fry it until the tomatoe paste starts to sizzle, add the rice and enough water to cover the rice and about an inch above it, stir add salt to taste. Keep the heat on high until most of the water has evaporated and the rice starts to sizzle and spit out water, reduce the heat to low, stir and cover. Allow the rice to simmer, mixing every now and then until the rice has fully cooked.

While the rice is cooking you can get started on the vegetables. Fry the potatoes golden and crunchy, add salt and set aside on some paper towels to absorb the oil. Fry the peas and do the same. Cut the eggplant into circles (see image on the right) and fry in plenty of oil, add salt and set aside as you did with the potatoes. Fry the peas, then the almonds and raisins in the same way but with little oil.

After the rice is cooked, mix everything together. Add some meat to your liking, I personally like to use cooked pieces of chicken.

Prepare the pie dish:
Get a round, deep ceramic type dish. Butter or oil the dish so that the pastry doesn't stick to it when it's flipped. Cut up the puff pastry and cover the inside of the dish with it just as you would do with a pie.

Fill the dish with the rice and cover it with more puff pastry. Then make small cuts at the top so the steam can escape. Put the dish into the over until the pastry is cooked (since the rice is already cooked).




You can flip it or eat it straight out of the dish. It's delicious and full of flavor!

Turkish Kufta

I got this one from "Fresh", an Australian cooking show and I'm going to try it out soon, will post a picture as soon as I do.

Turkish Burgers

400 grams of lean ground lamb
breadcrumbs
1 egg
pinch of allspice
pinch of cumin
pinch of chilli
pinch of paprika
1/2 onion
salt and pepper to season

Knead the mixture, form the patties then grill. Suggested serving with sumag yoghurt (greek yoghurt, lemon & sumag).

Can you smell what I'm cooking?

I'm Rua and I love cooking, I don't have time to do it as much as I'd like but I still consider myself a decent cook, I also love trying out new things so I've decided to start up this blog to keep track of all the recipes I make. It's a good place for anyone who loves middle eastern cooking as well because I'll be making a lot of that! I also loove Italian, Mexican and Asian food so sit back, relax and enjoy!