For the February daring cooks challenge,Manal from Manal’s Bites invited us to celebrate the most important meal of the day Middle Eastern style!
Traditional breakfast in the Middle East seems to be such a wholesome meal what with all the fresh dips and salads, lots of olive oils and spices it has. I've never been to visit the area except for the few plane changes in Abu Dhabi. So I was quite surprised to know that hummus is for breakfast! In our house it's a dip for snacks. The salad is very similar to the Greek one especially because I used feta cheese since I can't find halloumi any where near us.
What a revelation these dishes were so thank you is in order to the Daring Cooks and Manal for coming up with this interesting challenge. For one, it's my first time to make soft cheese. As expected, it's delectable. While for the hummus, I never thought fried pitta bread would be great dipped in it.
The labaneh cheese is easy enough to make though I don't have a big enough cheese cloth for the whole lot. So I just put them in small little bundles. I didn't have any place to hang them so I put them in a colander over a bowl to catch the drips.
Speaking of cheese cloth (they are also called muslin cloth), if you buy them from kitchen shops they're quite expensive. I just realised recently that I could buy them cheaper from baby shops. You see, the cotton cloth nappies (diapers) are made of muslin cotton! Ha! That's my bargain tip of the day.
Hummus Fatteh 1 recipe of Hummus pitta bread reserved chickpea water or plain water salt and lemon juice olive oil pine nuts (optional) cooked chickpeas (optional) chopped mint or coriander or parsley
Cut pitta bread into big chunks (about 1-inch square). Fry in olive oil.
Scatter at the bottom of a serving bowl.
[Optional] Fry pine nuts briefly in a pan with olive oil until brown and aromatic.
[Optional] Sprinkle water with lemon juice and salt on the fried pitta bread.
Pour hummus on top. Serve sprinkled with chopped herbs, fried pine nuts and chickpeas (if using). Drizzle a little olive oil on top.
1 kg natural full-fat Greek style yoghurt 1/4 cup water 1 Tbsp fine sea salt cheese cloth (muslin cloth) chilli powder za'atar (optional)
Dissolve salt in the water.
Add the yoghurt. Stir to mix well.
Put the yoghurt mix in the cheese cloth, tie up and hang (or put in a colander over a bowl) to drain the water. Hang this for about 24 hours.
The labaneh cheese is now ready. Serve with olive oil and chilli powder or za'taar sprinkled on top.
Note: This will keep in the fridge for 1 week in an airtight container.
Mixed Salad 2 big red tomatoes - chopped into about 1/2-inch pieces 1 12-inch cucumber - chopped into about 1/2-inch pieces 3 Tbsp lemon juice 6 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup cubed halloumi or nabulsi or feta cheese 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves (or coriander or parsley) 1/2 cup chopped red onion or 2 green onions - chopped
Mix together the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and cheese in a serving bowl.
The October Daring Cooks’ Challenge was brought to us by Andrea from 4pure. She introduced us to one of her family favorites which is soon to become one of yours, too. Welcome to the world of Dutch Bitterballen!
Actually before I made these Dutch treats I haven't tried nor heard about bitterballen. But it's not foreign to most people - it is a variant of a deep-fried croquette. I did the cheese bitterballen and was gearing up to make the prawn version but I ran out of time for the deadline. You can head to the Daring Kitchen's website for the recipes of the beef and prawn renditions of this delicious snack.
I froze my bitterballen for deep-frying a week later. They froze rather nicely.
As instructed by Andrea, you have to add 1 minute to the deep-frying time for frozen bitterballen. It was delicious! Although next time I would do the egg dip and breadcrumbs at least twice to make the breaded crust thicker and crunchier. Plus also making the balls smaller - perhaps 3/4-inch in diameter only. I would prefer more starch/crust in the crust-cheese ratio to make it less rich. All these personal changes are reflected in the recipe below.
Everyone in the family loved it including my youngest who was busy speed reading the very recently released book of her favourite novel series.
Cheese Bitterballen
1/2 cup [125 g] butter 3/4 cup [110 g] plain flour 2 cups [500 ml] full-fat milk 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg 2 egg yolks 1/3 cup [80 ml] single cream (light cream) 2 tsp gelatine 80 g hard cheese (parmesan, grana padano, pecorino, etc.) - grated 80 g soft cheese (brie, camembert, cream cheese, etc.) - sliced into small pieces 80 g matured cheddar - grated salt and pepper
Add flour all at once and stir to cook for 3 minutes on medium heat.
Add milk and bring to boil while stirring continously.
Bring heat to lowest and simmer for about 10 minutes stirring from time to time.
While it is simmering, dissolve gelatin with about 2 Tbsp water. Set aside.
Add nutmeg. Taste sauce and add appropriate amount of salt (about 1/2 tsp) and pepper.
Stir in the cheese until well mixed in the sauce.
Add in the dissolved gelatine and stir until well combined.
Remove from heat and spread out the sauce in a baking dish or plate.
Cool for about 30-60 minutes then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
*Breading:
After refrigeration, the mixture would have hardened. With a spoon, scoop out enough cheese mixture to form into a 3/4 - 1-inch ball.
Roll the ball in the plain flour; then dip in the beaten egg; then roll in the breadcrumbs. (The breading may be repeated if you want a thicker crust.) Do the same for the rest of the mixture.
Rest the breaded balls on a plate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
At this point you may freeze the bitterballen if you wish.
*Deep frying:
Heat at least 3/4-inch of oil in a heavy saucepan to 180°C/350°F.
Deep fry the bitterballen for 3-4 minutes until golden. (For frozen bitterballen, add 1 more minute in cooking time.)
This month, the Daring Cooks challenged us to think inside the box - the icebox, that is! Audax taught us some really cool tips and tricks for stocking our freezers with prepare-ahead meals that can keep our taste buds satisfied even during the busiest of times.
Apart from the Mac and Cheese, I've never done a baked pasta dish with white sauce. I thought this will be a good test if white sauces freeze well. And it really does. Thanks is in order to Martha Stewart's website for the recipe that I adapted. It just needed a little tweaking in salt and pepper department plus extra cheese to prevent the sauce getting too bland. This recipe also confirmed my dislike for chicken breast. Believe me, it didn't do anything to the dish in terms of flavour. It was just there as a cardboard-like protein but virtually no chicken flavour. I even bought a free-range one but it was just ... meh! So next time either I add in non-breast chicken meat or maybe put in some chicken powder in the sauce. This recipe is definitely still in the tweaking stage so don't be surprised if there are changes later. However, I do love the garlic in the sauce that really lifted it up from the ordinary.
Baked Pasta with Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes
500 g penne rigate or rigatoni 6 Tbsp butter 1 Tbsp minced garlic 1/2 cup plain flour 6 cups whole milk 2 tsp coarse sea salt 450 g boneless chicken meat - cut into bite-sized pieces 1 tsp olive oil 300 g white mushrooms - trimmed and thinly sliced 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes - drained and thinly sliced 2 cups grated provolone or matured cheddar 125 g [about 1 cup] finely grated parmesan some salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cook the pasta 3 minutes short of package instructions. So if it says cook for 12 minutes then cook for just 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Grease ovenproof pasta dishes and set aside.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Pour in olive oil, heat for a minute then add the chicken. Season with some salt and pepper and cook until opaque throughout, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
In a 5-liter heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat.
Add garlic, cook for about 1 minute or until aromatic.
Add flour, whisk for 1 minute.
Gradually add 2 cups of milk while whisking all the time. Bring to a simmer. Repeat this until all milk is used.
Add 1 tsp of the sea salt. Simmer for another 2 minutes.
Add the mushroom and sun-dried tomatoes; cook for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and gradually stir in the provolone (or cheddar) and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese.
Taste the sauce. If need be, add the remaining 1 tsp sea salt and some ground black pepper.
Add the chicken and pasta to the sauce. Divide among the prepared dishes and sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake uncovered in a preheated 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F oven for about 25 minutes.
*Note:
To freeze: do up to step no. 12. Cover tightly with cling wrap and/or foil and freeze up to 3 months.
To bake from frozen: Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F and bake covered in foil on a baking sheet until centre is hot, around 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil and bake until golden, about 15 minutes. *OR* Defrost completely and follow baking instructions in step no. 13 above.
This is the longest recipe I've ever typed in this blog. I never knew something so homely can involve a lot of work! But I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the eating so much more. I've heared about this intriguing dish from American friends and family and in a lot of food magazines. So it was a delight to find out that this was our next task in the Daring Kitchen.
The July Daring Cooks' Challenge took us to Korea, where Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado taught us to make bibimbap. This colorful rice dish can be customized to meet any taste, and is as much fun to eat as it is to say!
The traditional Dolsot Bibimbap involves a heated stone bowl which my kitchen definitely do not have. So the alternative is use warmed bowls which was quite sufficient as evident in the recipe that I adapted from Bon Apetit. I did not do the crunchy rice step because we're definitely not fans of tutong. My husband and I really enjoyed eating this sort of Korean hot salad and I was pleasantly surprised with the gochujang (Korean chili paste). It's not as scorchingly spicy hot as I imagined it would be. For me, the best part of this is the bulgogi. It's the one thing that I would definitely keep making over and over again. But with everything else considered I think it will take quite sometime before I make all of these again. There's just a lot of little things to do including a lot of washing up!
Home-style Bibimbap
Marinate the bulgogi and prepare all the rest of the listed ingredients listed here. Then proceed to the assembly section.
Bulgogi: 1/4 cup light soy sauce 1/3 cup finely grated Asian pear with juices (about 1 pear) 2 green onions - thinly sliced 2 garlic cloves - minced 1 Tbsp demerara or brown sugar 2 tsp grated ginger 500 g very thinly sliced boneless beef (rib-eye steak or short ribs)
Mix all ingredients, except the beef, in a bowl until combined.
Marinate beef in the mixture for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Sesame Oil Mix: 6 Tbsp toasted sesame oil 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt 3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Cook while stirring occasionally until just tender (about 3-4 minutes).
Soy-Glazed Shiitake Mushrooms: 3 cups of dried shiitake mushrooms 3 Tbsp light soy sauce 1 Tbsp demerara or brown sugar 1 cup water 1/2 tsp toasted sesame seed freshly ground black pepper
Put the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat medium-low and simmer until mushrooms are softened and all liquid is absorbed (about 15 minutes). If the liquid is drying out but the mushrooms are not yet done, add a few tablespoons of water and continue cooking.
Cool the mushrooms a little. Remove stems then slice thinly.
Transfer to a bowl then add in the sesame seed and black pepper. Toss to mix.
Garlicky Spinach: 500 g fresh spinach 2 Tbsp sesame oil mix 2 garlic cloves - minced 2 tsp light soy sauce 1 tsp distilled white or rice vinegar
Cook the spinach in a pot of boiling water.
Once it boils again, remove and drain.
Plunge into cold water to stop the cooking.
Drain well and squeeze out excess water.
Heat a skillet over medium heat.
Add sesame oil mix and saute the garlic until fragrant.
Add the soy sauce and vinegar. Stir to mix.
Add the cooked spinach and stir to mix. Separate the spinach as much as you can while mixing. Cook just enough to combine it well (about 1-2 minutes).
Cook, while stirring occasionally, until just tender (about 3-4 minutes). Season with gochugaru.
Green Onion Slaw: 2 bunches green onions - julienned into 3-inch lengths 1 Tbsp sesame oil mix 1 Tbsp distilled white or rice vinegar gochugaru or ground chili
Place green onions in a bowl of ice-cold water (to crisp).
Just before serving, combined sesame oil mix and vinegar in a bowl.
Drain and pat dry the green onions then add in the vinegar mix. Toss to coat.
This was supposed to be my submission for the Daring Cooks in October. But for some reason I wasn't able to blog. So here it is and what a very good recipe to keep. Actually, I made a lamb biryani earlier using a recipe from another book. You could probably hear the crash it made when I tossed it in the rubbish bin. The dish that came out of that was vile! And the meat was so tough I wasn't able to eat it. Well I say good riddance. One less cookbook on my bookshelf.
My ever reliable cookbook by Angela Nielsen, The Ultimate Recipe Book, was the source that I adapted for this keeper of a recipe. The accompanying tomato raita paired very well with it. My only gripe was that it took quite sometime to make and involved a lot of steps and ingredients. But it is perfect for those infrequent special occasions where your effort will be well rewarded with one delicious complete meal.
Lamb Biryani
600 g lean boneless leg of lamb - cut into 1-inch pieces
*Marinade: 1 Tbsp minced or grated garlic 1/2 Tbsp grated ginger 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 3/4 tsp turmeric 1 tsp sea salt 150 g natural yoghurt
*For the rice: 300 g basmati rice 1 cinnamon stick - halved 5 green cardamom pods - lightly bashed 4 cloves 1 tsp cumin seeds 700 ml chicken stock
*For the drizzle: 5 Tbsp lukewarm milk generous pinch of saffron strands 1 tsp garam masala 25 g butter - melted
4 medium onions - cut into half lengthwise then very thinly sliced 5 Tbsp vegetable oil 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder 1 - 2 fresh chillies - chopped (optional) 60 ml [1/4 cup] hot water
*To serve: 1/2 cup toasted almonds or cashews 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves (optional) 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves Coriander and Tomato Raita
Marinate the meat - combine the yoghurt, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, and salt in a bowl. Mix in the lamb and marinate for 2-3 hours or more.
Dissolve the saffron in the lukewarm milk. Set aside.
Combine the melted butter and garam masala. Set aside.
Once the lamb has marinated, saute one of the sliced onions in 1 1/2 Tbsp oil in a saute pan. Fry over medium-low heat until it has softened (about 5 minutes).
Add the marinated lamb (including the marinade) a tablespoon at a time, cooking and frying briefly before adding the next one. This helps stop the yoghurt from curdling.
When all the lamb has been added, cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the chilli powder and/or fresh chillies (if using) and fry for a few seconds.
Mix in the hot water. Bring to boil and then turn the heat to low and simmer covered for about 1 hour or until meat is very tender. Stir from time to time.
Put the rice in a bowl cover with cold water and soak for about 20 minutes. Drain. Set aside.
While the rice is soaking and the meat is cooking, cook the rest of the onions in a large saute pan with about 2 Tbsp oil on medium heat. Sprinkle salt on it to stop it from burning.
Fry for about 25 minutes or until golden brown all over. Tip the onions onto kitchen paper towels, spread them out in thin layer and set aside to cool.
To cook the rice - heat the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp oil in the pan used for the onion. Fry the cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves and cumin seeds for about a minute or until you could smell the aroma.
Add the drained rice and fry for a minute, stirring all the time. Add in the stock and bring to boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 6-7 minutes or until the all the stock has been absorbed. Take off the heat, let stand but keep the cover on.
Heat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Butter a 2.5 litre casserole dish or pot.
Fluff the rice with a fork while picking out the spices from it.
Spread in half of the lamb at the bottom of the casserole.
Scatter a third of the fried onions on top.
Spoon half of the rice on top of the lamb and onions, then pour the spiced butter all over.
Repeat the layers and finish with a sprinkling of the spiced milk on the rice, then the rest of the fried onions and toasted nuts.
Cover tightly with foil then put the casserole cover on and bake in oven for about 20 minutes.