Whats your favorite arabic dish

I really like plain falafels.  I think what we make the most, though, is the cucumber/lemon/tomato/parsley salad.

I love all arabic Syrian cuisine ! i  love my culture ..... <3 ____ <3 i love all dishes in my great Srian countries ( Lebanon , Syria

Definitely mansaf! lol :p

Surely mansaf

This is how mansaf supposed to like in my humble opinon,

To all mansaf lovers:




And here follows the recipe for the ones who get curious and want to try:

Yogurt/cream fresh (mixed) 800/800 g
Clarified unsalted butter              10 tbsp
Lamb (meat and ribs) 1 kg
Pieces and trimmed of excess fat 200 g
Baharat 2 tbsp
long-grain rice 3 cups
Salt 1 tbsp
Pine nuts 1/2 cup
Boiling water 3-4 cups
Blanched whole almonds 1/2 cup
Tahini 2 tbsp
Flat bread 2 pieces






•In a largecasserole heat 5 tablespoons of the clarified butter over medium heat,


•Then cook the lamb until browned on all sides, about 20 minutes. Remove the meat from the casserole with a slotted spoon and set aside;


•Pour off all the excess fat and liquid;


•Return the meat to the casserole addthree-quarters of yogurt and cream fresh mix, reduce the heat to low, sprinkle on the bahārāt, addsalt tothe meat to taste. Stir the meat so it is mixed well with the spices and yogurt;


•Cook uncovered, until the meat is falling off the bone, about 3 hours;


Prepare the rice:

•Soak ricein water for 30 minutes thandrain or rinsed well under running water until the water runs clear;


•In a casserole or pot with a lid, melt 3 tablespoons of the clarified butter over medium-high heat;


•Cook the rice for 2 minutes, stirring;


•Pour in 3 cups of the boiling water and the salt, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes; Do not lift the lid to look at the rice and do not stir the rice as it cooks. After 20 minutes, if the rice is not done, keep adding boiling water in small amounts until the rice has absorbed the additional water and is tender;


•When the rice is done, stir in the remaining yogurt, to make the rice a little watery.


Meanwhile

•Melt 1 tablespoon clarified butter in a small skillet and cook, shaking the skillet, until the butter is golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and set the butter aside;


•Melt the remaining tablespoon clarified butter in the small skillet and cook the almonds until light golden, about 5 minutes, tossing the nuts. Add the pine nuts and cook until they are golden, about another 3 minutes. Set the nuts aside.


To serve:

•Prepare very large tray or serving platter;


•Arrange the bread directly on the table or tray, overlapping them some, and spread some saucefrom the cooked lamb on it so it becomes soft;


•Strain the meat and place it over the bread, now soft and broken;


•Spoon the rice over next and put the remaining sauce from the lamb in a separate bowl with a serving spoon;


•Sprinkle the pine nuts and almonds over the rice;


•Pour the reserved 1 tablespoon of melted samna over everything;


Many thanks to: http://www.supercook.org/Meat/mansaf.asp

This is one of my all favorites: Musakhan from Palestina.

Unfortunately I can not post a picture of it but I find the link where you can see and make this delicious dish:

http://www.middleeastkitchen.com/poultr … icken.html

I had some great maqluba in Bangkok once.

Really???
I bet it was in an arabic restaurant.

The whole neighborhood was Arab.  There's a street lined with Arab restaurants.  We picked the one that had some English on the menu.

Monday (and the next day and the next if my children had their way :-) Upside down chicken and rice (Maqloobeh). With Molokhia soup. And Fattoush. Tea made with mariamiya (sage). Kanaafeh for dessert.
On Tuesday, - Musakhan (chicken and onions, on a flatbread base. Yum!)....
Wednesday - Dejaj Mahshi (chicken stuffed with rice) Katayef for dessert. Why wait for Ramadan?
Thursday - Kofte, either baked in the oven with tomatoes on top, or made into meatballs, in a yoghurt soup (shishbarak).
Friday - Sumaghiyyeh (beef and bean stew) OMG, I do love this dish, but for some reason it seemed to be rarely eaten in Jordan. Some of the family knew what it was but had never eaten it.
Saturday (and every other day as an accompaniament) Bamia (Okra stew)
Sunday - Lentil Soup (Shorbat adas)
Mujaddara (rice and brown lentils - vegetarian) with everything.

Is this what you eat every week on the same day as you mentioned?

Do you have a recipe of the Dejaj Mahshi and Sumaghiyyeh???

Primadonna wrote:

Hi,
                                Hi,

Let's talk about food! I indeed love to discover (and taste!) new recipes and I would be interested to know the traditional dishes you would recommend.
Mansaf, Maklubeh, Waraq dawali, Bamieh, Fasulieh, Kusa mahshieh, Kufta bi thineh, Kuftah bi batata, Molokhieh...

What is your favourite food of Jordan or more in general, Arabic food?
Same mentioned above...

What are the main differences between the local cuisine and the one of your home country?
Taste is different, more fat, Meat I guess tastes better here due to sheep and goats. Ready made food abroad is more qualitative and there is more to choose from. Abroad there is more foreign foods, extremely delicious such as Zaziki, Mozarella, Gouda, all sorts of Tortellini and spread cheese , White Beans in Glass, roasted peanuts, Fish Sticks, all sorts of cake such as Stracciatella with Cherry, and Soups...

And if you know how to prepare a arabic meal, feel free to share your recipes!
No I don't except of easy stuff like Rice, Sauce, Bamieh, Fasulieh...

Thanks for participating

Most Welcome

Tonight kofta and musakhan.

Dejaj Mahshi:
Rub the chicken with lemon and leave it standing for a while. Rub the inside and the outside with salt. And maybe some nutmeg if you have it. Then fry some beef mince with butter, quite high heat, until it's not so dry. Add salt, peper and allspice to taste. Add the rice to the pan and mix it in. Add a cup or so of hot water, for the rice. Cook for a little while, just until the rice is half cooked. maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Fry some pine nuts and mix in with the stuffing mixture. Put this mixture inside the chicken. Close it off at the end, with a couple of matchsticks. Cook, covered, in the oven for around an hour. Then uncover and cook some more, until the chicken is browned a bit, basting the chicken along the way.

Sumaghiyyeh:
Soak the chick peas overnight, and remove the skins the next day. Grind the sumac and soak it in water. Takes a while. Mix this with some tahina and add more water and a bit of flour, jjust to make it thicker. Fry some silverbeet (the one with red stems is nicer, maybe in the Middle East the English word for this is chard? Stew the beef separately, and slowly so it is really tender, can be together with the chickpeas if cooking the chickpeas from scractch. Add salt and pepper to taste and maybe a bit of chilli powder. Fry some garlic separately, maybe together with some fresh chilli if you like food to be spicy. I don't like dill, but some people add chopped dill to the dish. Mix the ingredients together. Can be eaten cold, with pita bread. I like it warm, but it's usually cold.

Sorry for the vagueness of the recipes. I'm married to a chef - i don't like cooking. So this is all just from memory. I know the process, but not the quantities, because everything seems to be done on smell and taste when men cook this kind of food.

Usually my husband cooks. It depends who is in and who is eating at home. And some things, like molokheyah soup with chicken, or lentil soup, or meatballs with yoghurt soup he makes enough for two or three days because these dishes, if they are there we all won't want any other thing to eat.

Things with sumac - that seems to be a woman's ingredient. Something I really like but he is less keen on. Every now and then I get a craving.

I'm not so into mansaf. The taste is nice, but such a big dish, with huge chunks of meat. Reminds me of tigers when I see it! A dish for the guys maybe. The men in our family don't seem to like vegetarian things as much as the women. Like things wrapped in grape leaves, something else I get a craving for now and then.

Primadonna wrote:

To all mansaf lovers:


http://ordone.files.wordpress.com/2012/ … mansaf.jpg

And here follows the recipe for the ones who get curious and want to try:

Yogurt/cream fresh (mixed) 800/800 g
Clarified unsalted butter              10 tbsp
Lamb (meat and ribs) 1 kg
Pieces and trimmed of excess fat 200 g
Baharat 2 tbsp
long-grain rice 3 cups
Salt 1 tbsp
Pine nuts 1/2 cup
Boiling water 3-4 cups
Blanched whole almonds 1/2 cup
Tahini 2 tbsp
Flat bread 2 pieces






•In a largecasserole heat 5 tablespoons of the clarified butter over medium heat,


•Then cook the lamb until browned on all sides, about 20 minutes. Remove the meat from the casserole with a slotted spoon and set aside;


•Pour off all the excess fat and liquid;


•Return the meat to the casserole addthree-quarters of yogurt and cream fresh mix, reduce the heat to low, sprinkle on the bahārāt, addsalt tothe meat to taste. Stir the meat so it is mixed well with the spices and yogurt;


•Cook uncovered, until the meat is falling off the bone, about 3 hours;


Prepare the rice:

•Soak ricein water for 30 minutes thandrain or rinsed well under running water until the water runs clear;


•In a casserole or pot with a lid, melt 3 tablespoons of the clarified butter over medium-high heat;


•Cook the rice for 2 minutes, stirring;


•Pour in 3 cups of the boiling water and the salt, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes; Do not lift the lid to look at the rice and do not stir the rice as it cooks. After 20 minutes, if the rice is not done, keep adding boiling water in small amounts until the rice has absorbed the additional water and is tender;


•When the rice is done, stir in the remaining yogurt, to make the rice a little watery.


Meanwhile

•Melt 1 tablespoon clarified butter in a small skillet and cook, shaking the skillet, until the butter is golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and set the butter aside;


•Melt the remaining tablespoon clarified butter in the small skillet and cook the almonds until light golden, about 5 minutes, tossing the nuts. Add the pine nuts and cook until they are golden, about another 3 minutes. Set the nuts aside.


To serve:

•Prepare very large tray or serving platter;


•Arrange the bread directly on the table or tray, overlapping them some, and spread some saucefrom the cooked lamb on it so it becomes soft;


•Strain the meat and place it over the bread, now soft and broken;


•Spoon the rice over next and put the remaining sauce from the lamb in a separate bowl with a serving spoon;


•Sprinkle the pine nuts and almonds over the rice;


•Pour the reserved 1 tablespoon of melted samna over everything;


Many thanks to: http://www.supercook.org/Meat/mansaf.asp

In my opinion this recipe is rather foreign since what imparts Mansaf its special taste is the dry joghurt rock (Jmeed). I don't really think  that just joghurt or creme fresh gives the same taste. I think the reason why such foods taste different in every country is when not original ingrediants are being used. That's why sometimes people like them and others not. But definetely in the middle east no one cooks Mansaf with average Joghurt or creme fresh 
PS: Never heard that Thine is being added, but obviously some do... 

If I "must" eat mansaf I prefer yoghurt over jameed.

There is no such as THE arabic recipe: every family has his own way to make food.
In that case you are right JO/EU.

Primadonna wrote:

If I "must" eat mansaf I prefer yoghurt over jameed.

There is no such as THE arabic recipe: every family has his own way to make food.
In that case you are right JO/EU.

If you google Mansaf, there are lots of arabic originated sites with recipes in english    I think they know it best 
Since it is an Arabic dish, only the Arabic recipe is THE original !  Ofcourse it can be prepared anyway, but when offering a countries recipe to the world, it should contain original ingredients. In this case it is "Jmeed".
As a substitute,  Joghurt...

Molokia and Uthi.

of course MansaF

mabdallah wrote:

Molokia and Uthi.

What is a Uthi?
Never heard of it but very curious to know