Juicy Baked Chicken & Potatoes in Mouthwatering Lemon Garlic Sauce

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I originally did this post for EZPZ meals a few weeks back (http://www.eazypeazymealz.com/juicy-baked-chicken-potatoes-in-mouthering-lemon-garlic-sauce/) and I've made this dish so many times since!! The potatoes in this dish are everything! And there is a actual secret that makes the potatos in this chicken & potato dish different than any other chicken and potato dish you've tried!

This particular dish has always been a family favorite and of course everyone fights over the potatoes.  Once you know the secret to why the potatoes are so amazing you'll understand why my mom couldn't simply add more potatoes to satisfy everyone.  If it was going to be amazing, there had to be limited potatoes and they were hot commodity. 

My mom usually uses regular russet potatoes sliced into 1/2 inch thick circles but I thought it would be fun to use a variety of colorful small potatoes.  Either way, they're amazing.  So are you ready for the trick of what makes it amazing?? ...... 

Okay.

Funnily enough, the secret to this dish is a trick that I didn't even know was a trick! The first time I made this dish, not realizing there is method to the madness, I didn't stay true to the trick and the results were off.  

The placement of the potatoes is the trick!

Placing the potatoes at the bottom of the pan makes them so flavorful and juicy because they are pressed down by the weight of the chicken and absorb all the juice from the chicken and the garlic lemon sauce.  A side of rice is usually served with this but a side of salad is just as great!

INGREDIENTS

12-15 small potatoes (or any kind of potatoes)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

6-8 chicken thighs or drumstick skin on BONE IN (the bone will extract a lot of flavor)

2 teaspoon garlic powder

Juice of 3 lemons (roughly 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of water

4 pressed garlics

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven at 400

Rub salt, pepper, garlic powder on chicken thighs, cover and put in fridge

Spread tablespoon of olive oil at bottom of the pyrex or dutch oven

Layer potatoes along the bottom

Place chicken thighs on top of potatoes

In a small bowl whisk together juice of lemons, olive oil, water, garlic, and salt to taste

Pour over chicken and potatoes

Cover and put in the oven for 45 mins or until chicken is fully cooked through

I like to broil on high for 3-5 minutes at the end to give it the skin that nice golden crisp but thats optional of course!

One Pot Creamy Tomato Harissa Shrimp Past

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It’s funny because a lot of my friends think just because I own a food company or a food blog that dinner is always easily available at my home and I never need to ask myself whats for dinner.  I'm here to tell you, this is not true and you are not alone!  I am surrounded by food all the time and I too get stumped sometimes and I don’t always have the time to spend figuring out what to make. 

Enter one pot dinners into my life. 

I’ve just been fascinated with the idea that I use one pot, throw in all my ingredients, and voila dinner is made!  It reminds me a lot of the "ma'loubay" dishes made in the Middle East which is the "upside down" dishes.  Basically a bunch of ingredients are put into one pot with rice and then flipped upside down.  I posted my favorite one here .  

Usually if I was to make a pasta dish it would take me 10 mins just to boil the water and pasta where as with this one pot pasta dish, the entire dish is complete in 20 mins!

Honestly, for me, the olives are everything in this dish.  In fact, my husband picked out all the olives that I ended up just adding more afterwards.  The green olives I get are from the Middle Eastern supermarket.  They have a hint of lemon to them that make them so delicious against the creamy tomato sauce and perfect kick from the harissa. 

Oregano is a very popular herb used in the Middle East to season meats and kabobs.  I used Italian seasoning, which I commonly use in my cooking, to give it that extra flavor.  You can do this dish without the heavy whipping cream if you are trying to be healthier and the dish will still taste amazing.  A lot of the flavor is going to come from the olives, tomatoes, Harissa, seasoning, onions and garlic all being cooked together.

Best of all, Ayla approves :) 

INGREDIENTS

1 box of pasta

1 24 oz can of diced tomatoes

1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup green olives

2 cups chicken stock

1 small onion sliced

5 garlic crushed

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablsepoons olive oil

1 teaspoon harissa (more if you prefer it spicier)

1 cup raw shrimp tails off & deveined

1/2 cup crumbled feta

INSTRUCTIONS

Add first 11 ingredients into a pot (preferably a dutch oven) for 15 minutes

Remove from heat

Add shrimp and cheese cover for 10 mins off heat

Refreshing Sumac Salmon Kale Salad with Tahini Vinaigrette

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Recently, my husband and I have been listening to a lot of podcasts and watching documentaries about health and diet.  The concept that food is medicine seems so revolutionary and yet so simple at the same time.  I recommend everyone watch the documentary “Forks over Knives” and read the book or watch on Youtube “The China Study”.  Whole food plant based diets are linked to complete decrease in cancer and cures to autoimmune diseases.

I can go on and on about this documentary but I’ll just let you watch it.  Just know that I’ll be eating a lot more vegetables and salmon and a lot less meat and I hope I can inspire you to do the same! Enter Salmon kale salad with Tahini Sesame Vinaigrette and Pickled Turnips into my life and in my belly. 

Recently, I went to a restaurant in LA called Fundamental LA and they had an amazing Salmon Kale salad with pickled turnip and a ginger vinaigrette.   You know how super giddy I get when I see anything Middle Eastern in my cuisine.  That was me when my salad came out with pink pickles on top.  The pickled turnips are so nostalgic of Syria and the Middle East because they’re consumed all the time!  Mainly in a falafel sandwich or with certain entrees but we like to even eat them solo as a crunchy snack.  I call them the Middle Eastern pickle because that’s exactly what they are.   Pink pickles. 

I’m working on a separate post on how to make pickled turnips because there is a natural trick to achieve that color and because they're just that good.  So stay tuned!  In the meantime, you can find pink pickles at any ethnic Middle Eastern supermarket. 

The addition of fresh mint and thai basil leaves really make this salad such a burst of amazing flavors.  Combine that with the tahini dressing and the sumac salmon and then top it off with crunchy pink pickles and we got ourselves a winner salad. 

INGREDIENTS

3 cups Kale, chopped

1/4 cup Fresh mint

1/4 cup Fresh thai basil

1/4 cup pink pickles, thinly sliced

1 salmon

1 teaspoon sumac

1 tablespoon sesame seed (optional)

For the Vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup tahini

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup rice vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Add greens into one bowl

In a separate bowl, mix ingredients for vinaigrette

Add salt, pepper, and sumac to the salmon

Heat olive oil in saucepan and sauté the salmon over medium heat for a few minutes on each side (keep on stove until its cooked to your desired liking)

Add Sumac Salmon to the greens

Top with pink pickles thinly sliced

Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional)

Chicken Shish Tawook

The best thing about Shish Tawook is it taste better when marinated longer so you can make it the night before and when you’re ready to grill all you have to do is skewer the chicken!  So simple and delicious.  I, once again am feeling like the father in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding telling you guys the root of every word but its just so interesting!  Shish comes from the Turkish word meaning skewer and Tawook comes from the old Turkic word tavook which means chicken.  Turkic is a language family of some thirty five languages spoken by Turkic peoples from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China.  The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish.  So there you have it, shish tawook translates to skewer chicken which is exactly what it is. 

Shish Tawook to Syria and Lebanon is the equivalent of a hamburger in the US.  It’s at every fast food restaurant and its simply chicken wrapped in warm pita bread and served with garlic sauce and/or pickles.  Sometimes they will even add french fries to the sandwich or lettuce and tomatoes.  It’s so good and its all in the marination.  It varies from place to place based on the spices used but for the most part its a yogurt tomato based marinade.  

Metal skewers are ideal to use because it allows the chicken to be cooked inside out and it’ll even decrease the cooking time.  But if you only have bamboo that’ll work.  I found this tip online years ago and it’s life changing.  I can’t remember the exact source to properly credit it but if I do I’ll update this.  This tip will make the chicken super moist and tender; after you marinade the chicken, skewer them and grill you should put the chicken in a warm pot with the lid tightly secured for roughly 10 minutes and that will retain the heat and make them super moist.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb chicken breast

6 garlic cloves crushed

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 cup yogurt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon sumac

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the chicken breast into 1 inch cubes

Mix all the ingredients together in a ziplock bag and let it rest marinade in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight

Skewer the chicken right before grilling

Grill for 12-15 minutes on medium heat

As soon as you remove them from the grill, place the chicken in a warm pot with a tight lid closed for 5 minutes to make them even more moist

Serve over pita bread and garlic paste or hummus

Freekah Kale Salad

In the Middle East and growing up we never consumed Freekah in a salad.  I paired it with honey roasted sweet potatos and kale and it was perfect.  So filling, healthy and the right amount of sweetness and smokiness. 

Freekay, Freek, Freekah is an ancient whole grain that is harvested when it's still young and green, then it's roasted and rubbed to create a unique smokey flavor.  Across the Middle East freekah is prepared usually with lamb or chicken or as a soup (which I love and thinking about making it tonight!).  Freekah has been around for centuries but Oprah featured it on an episode in 2010 and since then it's become more popular.  

The freekah process was actually discovered by accident almost four thousand years ago in the Middle East, most sources agree.  The story is a group of villagers were trying to protect their wheat crop from an enemy attack so they harvested the unripe grain.  The enemy still set the crop on fire but because of the moisture inherent in the green kernel only the dryer outer shells were charred.  The grains were then rubbed together, hence the name "freekah" which means "to be rubbed", and the shells were removed.  The wheat was saved and a new grain smokey grain was discovered.  

The superfood grain is also mentioned the Old Testament.  In book Leveticus Chapter 2 verse 14, the verse says "when you bring a meal offering of the first grain to the Lord you shall bring your first grain meal offering from "barley" as soon as it ripens parched over the fire, kernels full in their husks "ground into" coarse meal.  

Freakah is packed with fiber, more than twice the amount of quinoa and three times the amount of brown rice!  It's also high in iron and a good amount of protein, a true super food.  There is an Australian study (read it here) that shows that because the freekah is harvested young it retains more of the fiber, proteins and minerals than mature wheat.   

It used to be hard to find freekah in the local supermarkets and my mom would have to wait until someone was traveling from the Middle East to bring some back with them.  So eating freakah when I was young was always special.  Luckily, I can find it at Whole Foods now but my mother in law does bring me some whenever she visits because it seems the grain from the Middle East is larger and greener.  

Because the freakah is roasted there are sometimes burnt pieces that are dangerous because they become so hard they can crack a tooth.  Although the freekah cooks in roughly 20 mins the most time consuming part used to be sorting through each freakah to remove the burnt pieces.  My grandmother and aunts would make a morning get together out of it.  They would get the kids together, drink tea, catch up and sort through their freekah.  Nowadays, the freekah I buy from the supermarket is already sorted through but out of habit I still do a quick sorting through just to make sure no one will break their teeth eating my freekah.  

Freekah is sold in two kinds;  whole and cracked.  Cracked is basically whole freekah broken down even further.  Whole freekah takes a little bit longer to cook and has a slightly different texture.  It takes about 35-40 minutes while cracked freekah takes about 15- 20 minutes.   There are different ways to make it too; some cook it like they do pasta, boiling it in water or stock and discarding the excess liquid.  While others cook it until all the liquid is absorbed.  I cook it 1 cup of freekah to 2 1/4 cup of stock for about 20 minutes.   

INGREIDIENTS

1 cup of Sweet Potato diced

1 tablespoon honey

2 1/4 cups chicken stock

1 cup freekah

1 cup packed kale

Salt

For dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice of 2 lemons

1 tablespoon honey

Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350

Toss diced sweet potatoes with honey

Put in the oven for 15 minutes or until tender

Cook freekah according to package instructions using olive oil (I bring 2 1/4 chicken stock to a boil then add freekah, cover and lower heat for 20 minutes)

When freekah is done put it in the salad bowl

Add kale to the freekah pot with a touch of salt and sauté for 1-2 minutes

Add sautéed kale to freekah

Add roasted sweet potatoes

Mix olive oil, lemon, honey in a bowl and toss with remaining ingredients

Muhammara Chicken

MY MUHAMMARA IS A FINALIST FOR A SOFI AWARD!!!!!  I was literally shaking when I got the call because I know what a big deal it is.  There are thousandssssss of amazing sauces and dips out there and for the judges to pick mine out of such a great group, I was just ecstatic.  When I first decided to package my moms Muhammara, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.  How hard can it be, I thought.  I'm glad I didn't know how difficult and challenging it was going to be because I might have been too intimidated but thankfully I was naiive.  If any of you are ever thinking about taking a recipe to market, please ask me first! There are tons of avenues to take and a lot to know but it is possible so you should do it!  

Hands down the recipe I've been making almost every other day, but you already knew that from Snapchat haha (@nadiahubbi).  So this is an interesting dish because Muhammara is not traditionally cooked in with food, it's served as part of a meze platter and eaten the same way hummus is.  I was playing around with different ingredients in the kitchen and created this dish.  My husband immediately told me to write it down because he knows me better than I know myself, I happen to still be in the stage of denial as to how bad my memory has gotten so I assume I can remember how I made it.  He says, please just write it down in case you forget how you made it.  Glad I listened to him!  

Muhammara has complex flavors stemming from the red peppers, walnuts, pomegranate, chili, among other ingredients.  It's texture is unique because bread crumbs are used and the flavors marry each other well.  This dish is so simple but it screams exotic and mysterious because untouched taste buds will be activated.  The already complex flavors of the Muhammara combined with the sweet potatoes, the chewy dates, and the sweet onions makes for one party in your mouth.  No one is going to believe this dish took less than an 45 minutes to make!  It might take a little longer if you don't have Sweet Pillar Muhammara in stock but have no fear, it's still easy!  I have the Muhammara recipe posted here and you can always make some and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or oil of choice)

1/2 onion sliced

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 lb chicken thigh

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

3 tablespoons of Muhammara

1/2 cup water

1 cup diced sweet potatoes

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

5 medjool dates pitted and sliced

Salt & Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Sautee sliced onions and crushed garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil (I used vegetable oil) until lightly browned 2-3 minutes

Remove onion and garlic

Add chicken, salt & pepper and light brown on both sides 6-7 minutes

Add browned onions and garlic back to pot

Add sweet potatoes and stir for 1 minute

Add 1 can of tomato sauce, 3 heaping tablespoons of muhammara, 1/2 cup water

Stir and cover on low heat for 13 minutes

Add cilantro and dates and stir

Cover for another 4 minutes

Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice

The BEST CREAMY Tahini Salad of ever!

So remember I said I come from a family of traditions... well, this is one of them!  My family goes all out for Sunday brunch with all the usual Middle Eastern suspects; jams, cheeses, fava bean salad (ful mdamas), chickpea yogurt dish (tisi'ya// fetay), eggs, walnut stuffed pickled eggplants (makdoos), olives, and pita bread galore.  I remember my dad would always cut the pita bread into half circles and make us fava bean salad pita sandwiches drizzled with yogurt (so. friggin. good btw).  So when my mom would make breakfast, she would make this tahini salad and as a separate brunch dish she would make the fava bean salad which is called Ful.  The ful dish is made up of basically this tahini salad plus boiled fava beans and more olive oil.   My siblings and I never knew the name of this particular tahini salad so we would always beg my mom to make it and refer to it as, the ful without the ful salad.  

So I present to you the "ful without the ful salad".   There was a period where I would eat this every single day.  The way the tahini lemon sauce marrys the crunch cucumber and juicy tomatoes is just out of this world.  

I can eat this salad on its own but its also great served with chicken kabobs or lamp chops or really anything. 

This dressing is everything.  Make some and store for later! 

It's important to toss the salad because you want all the flavors to combine with the tomatoes.  You want the onions to release their flavors as well.  I've been trying to stay away from consuming too much bread (very difficult because bread is def one of my weaknesses) so I eat this salad as is, but it's actually good with warm pita bread.  Feel free to add more or less of whatever you like.  My sister loves cucumbers so she usually adds way more cucumbers, I like it more lemony so I'll add more lemon.  Don't be afraid to adjust to your liking! 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups cherry tomato or 2 Tomatos diced

2 Cucumbers diced

1/2 Red onion diced

3 Tablespoons tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

2 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Dried Mint

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Dice all the ingredients and place into a bowl

Wisk together Tahini, Lemon, Olive Oil, Dried Mint, & Salt

Toss together and serve!

Syrian Cheese pizza

I know I know it's been a long time and I really missed photographing and writing.  I did some photographing actually but not so much the writing.  It's been a rough and tough couple of weeks, maybe I'll go into detail next time.  Side note, my mom came to visit me from New Jersey and I always have lists upon lists of all these dishes I want to make/learn from her, places I want to take her to, and things I'm going to show her and it never fails that somehow we run out of time before I am even able to pull out my list. 

My mom is a funny lady, literally great sense of humor and just one of those moms thats so amazing and always leaves you wondering how she did it all.  She came to the US pregnant with my younger sister, I was not even walking and my older sister was still a toddler too.  In Syria, almost everyone at the time was educated in French not English so she didn't speak much English.  She raised 5 of us, almost all of us are a year or two apart.  We always had breakfast, lunch and a full dinner at the table.  She managed to always be optimistic, upbeat and happy even through the brutal New Jersey winters!  She functioned on little sleep and barely drank coffee.  Tea of course is another story, she drinks that several times a day.  Now that I have my daughter, I think about how my mom did it, almost on a daily basis.  How did she juggle it all.  I'm bringing this up now, because when she came here she of course cooked and baked daily.  Heaven for me of course because I wanted to soak it all up, photograph everything, write things down.  But like a true natural mother, before I even had the chance to grab my laptop or pull out my camera, she already finished the dish and made something extra that she whipped up with some left over ingredients.  There was no way she was going to slow down for me to measure her ingredients.  Day after day, I would leave to drop my daughter off at preschool and I would come back and 3 dishes were made and I couldn't take step by steps or write down recipes. I was upset but amazed at the same time.  Will I ever be that mother that just whips up a few gourmet snacks, dinner, and dessert so effortlessly??   This is starting to sound like a Mothers Day shoutout but I got carried away thinking about the last few weeks.  I'll go into detail next time.  

Back to the food at hand.  Syrian cheese pizza.  This cheese combination can be tossed with pasta like I did HERE , made into rolls, made into pizza, baked into savory pies called fatayir.  On @sweetpillarfood instagram I asked if anyone can guess what I was making and it was so cool to see all the different responses.   People said fatayir, barak, carbonara, cheese rolls, bourek, quiche and so many other things which are essentially the same thing.  It really showed me that all across the world our roots are all the same, we enjoy the same things but add our own little twist to it.  

Fatayir, the Arab word for it, is something that I like to always have at home for those times when my hubby is hangry and I need to give him something quick, or when Ayla is hangry and I need to give her something quick haha.   They are so similar those two.  Or if I don't have time to eat anything and I'm on the go I'll grab a few.  They make them with a variety of fillings, spinach and cheese are my top favorites but there are meat fillings and zaatar and the list goes on.  They're basically the Arab version of empanadas.   I plan on making and photographing a variety of them soon (if you follow me on snapchat @nadiahubbi you would've seen that I made the spinach ones today! )  but in the meantime I used store bough pizza dough and this was so easy to put together as a result.  The combination of parsley and cheese is just so good I can't even handle it.  

INGREDIENTS

Syrian Cheese (or substitute with Queso Fresco)

Mozzarella

Feta

Finely Chopped Parsley

Black Sesame Seeds

1 egg

Pizza dough (I used pillsbury)

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix cheeses together with chopped parsley and black sesame

The egg is optional, traditionally it is used however I didn't notice much of a difference with it or without so it's up to you. It does hold everything together slightly better with the egg but if you don't have an egg then don't worry about it.

Spread on dough

Bake according to package instructions

Eat while hot with a crunchy cucumber for optimal flavor!

Green beans in a tomato onion stew

This dish is pronounced fasuleeyay in Arabic.  And it's yet another dish that I make quite often because it tastes amazing and is so simple to make.  In fact when I make it, everyone eats it so quickly that I end up making more as everyone is finishing the last few bites, its that easy.  

My brother recently argued with me saying Middle Eastern cuisine is mainly vegetarian and the meat is just an accessory.  I disagreed at first because any Middle Eastern person will tell you, Arabs love their meat.  If you're having guests over, more meat means you're more generous and hospitable.  Every occasion is marked by the amount of meat that was served.  So of course I disagreed with him.  But then the more I thought about it the more I agreed.  Most middle eastern dishes can stand alone as completely satisfying vegetarian dishes and the meat is just an accessory added at the end.  This is one of those dishes.  I tend to eat it with no meat and it tastes amazing but my mom sometimes adds tender meat chunks and it also tastes amazing.  On a Middle Eastern table, if there is meat on it it can be served as an entree, but without the meat its a side dish.  However you decide to serve this make sure you have warm pita bread to eat it with! 

INGREDIENTS

1 medium onion diced

1 lb fresh green beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium tomato diced

salt

1/4 cup chicken stock (optional)

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 tablespoon tomato paste

4 garlic cloves crushed

INSTRUCTIONS

Add onions to olive oil in pan while olive oil is still cold

Sautee for a few minutes on low med heat

Add green beans

Cover on med heat for a few minutes

Add tomato and salt

Cover until green beans are semi soft

Add chicken stock, tomato sauce and tomato paste

Cover for another 7-8 minutes on low heat

Add garlic at the end and cover for a few more minutes

Sumac Cumin Crusted Salmon

Ok so confession, I didn't necessarily love salmon until recently.  Anyone else feel this way? Anyone?  It used to always taste kinda bland to me.  For a while the only way I would make it, (and the only reason I only did make it is because I knew of the health benefits), was with a touch of olive oil, lemon juice, and rosemary baked in the oven.  It was good but I needed more.  I then did a little Asian switch it up and started adding vegetables and soy sauce and some other flavors and that was good.  Salmon was on its way up for me. BUT then my husbands cousin, who happens to be a male foodie that loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen (lucky wife) told me about this recipe and this has been my go to salmon recipe ever since!  The combination of sumac, cumin and yellow mustard seeds creates this super flavorful crust that is the perfect crunch texture contrast to the melt in your mouth salmon.  It's so good, and it's so easy.  Seriously.

Sautee the kale in the same sumac, cumin, honey mustard rub for a few minutes

Today was a particularly long day for me.  I'm in the middle of production for one of the Sweet Pillar products (can't tell you which one yet :) and there is just so much that goes into producing a product that it's so non stop.  It's like conducting an orchestra, every piece has to be played correctly at the correct time in order for it all to work smoothly and successfully together.  But I digress.  I can talk about this stuff all day I worry I bore people with this food production talk haha. 

I was almost going to pick up take out as it was such a long day AND it was drizzling in Orange County, which means everyone was panicking and it was extra chaotic and busy.  I'm so glad I didn't order take out and made this instead.  I always get my salmon from Whole Foods and it tastes amazing and dinner in its entirety ends up taking 10 minutes from start to finish.

This particular dish is not a Middle Eastern classic that I grew up with although the sumac and cumin are very much staple spices in any middle eastern spice cabinet.  If you're feeling fancy but don't have the time, this is what you should make. 

Yellow mustard seeds

Ground up yellow mustard seeds

Sumac

Sautee in a tablespoon of olive oil

INGREDIENTS

5 pieces of Salmon

1 Tablespoon yellow mustard seeds ground up (important to get them in seeds and ground them up yourself)

1 Tablespoon sumac

1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin

Salt & Pepper as desired

1 Tablespoon olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Ground up yellow mustard seeds

Mix yellow mustard, sumac, cumin, salt and pepper together

Rub onto salmon

Heat olive oil in pan

Place salmon and sautee until inside is not raw (5-6 minutes)

Flip salmon on other side for another few minutes

Serve over sauteed kale or with rice

**After I removed the salmon from the skillet I immediately added the kale, mixing it for a few minutes with a wooden spoon and they tasted amazing

Valentines Day Semolina sponge cake aka Namoura || Basbousa || Hareesay

What is everyone doing for Valentines Day??? I have such a love hate relationship with this holiday and let me explain why.  Despite the fact that my last name means love in Arabic, so I believe everything love and hearts and pink and frills is in my blood because c'mon obviously my name is indicative that either my great grandfather was cupid himself or worked very closely with him.  So I love love.  But I hate feeling forced to celebrate something just because I'm a consumer, and I am very much a sucker consumer.   I buy something just because they're giving out samples (to be fair, I usually like it and  I like supporting small business and usually they are small businesses), or the packaging is pretty (again, to be fair, I'm a huge packaging fan).  I love the holiday itself, I love celebrating love.  I also love an excuse to throw a themed party, and make everyone wear red or pink.  But I don't want to be told to.  I don't want to go out to a restaurant on Valentines Day with my husband just because its Valentines Day.  I much prefer to go out the day before or after Valentines Day just to be rebellious.  On Valentines Day I prefer to stay home or have friends over and make a home cooked meal, something special and celebrate love the way I want to, on my own terms.  

Use a Turkish/Arabic coffee "dolay" {coffee pot} as a decorative piece

This year I wanted to make a middle eastern style Valentines Day get together and reinvent fun middle eastern dishes and desserts.   I'm going to post them in stages because it takes so much time to write up a post and I don't want to keep you waiting as I get it all together!   

Semolina yogurt sponge cake is known as Hareesay in Syria, Namoora among Palestinians and Lebanese and Basboosa in Egypt and North Africa.  It's the equivalent of brownies and is commonly consumed with tea or coffee.  But then again, in the Middle East they drink tea and coffee all day everyday so pretty much everything is consumed with coffee haha. 

This is yet another thing my mom used to make that I always thought was sooo impossible to make and again I'm surprised that it's so easy! The only downfall is I found out how much sugar is in it and that was a little scary.  But there is yogurt in it so that's good, right?

Moving on.

The way to make this dessert is by mixing all the ingredients and then letting it sit for a little while it all rises.  Then incisions are made, usually in the shape of diamonds so it bakes into the shape of diamonds and its easily cut off.  Almond halves or pistachios are usually used to top each diamond for a nice little crunch but mainly decoration.  To make this Valentines Day appropriate, I thought to make heart incisions instead of the diamonds but that seemed wasteful because there would be so much extra cake.  So, I purchased little candy lips from the supermarket and topped each one off with that instead of the almond or pistachio. 

My daughter Ayla is in the phase of wanting to "help mommy" So everything is "I help mommy" "mommy I do it" " Ayla help".  So she threw these cookie cutters on top as I was taking pictures and I actually liked it.  She was so proud of herself too haha.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups semolina course

1 cup sugar

1 cup full fat yogurt

1 tablespoon table baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)

FOR SYRUP

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

3 drops lemon juice

3 drops vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix sugar and yogurt until sugar is dissolved

2. Add semolina, baking powder, and baking soda

3. Last, add melted clarified butter or ghee

4. Spread tahini on bottom of pyrex and around the corners (if you don't have tahini use butter or flour)

5. Add mixture to pyrex 9x9

6. Let it sit for a few hours covered on side so baking powder does its job and semolina soaks up the yogurt

7. After a few hours use a knife to make incisions

8. Put in oven 350 30-35 minutes uncovered

9. While its in the oven make syrup

10. Mix 2 cups sugar & 1 cup water over medium heat

11. Let it boil for exactly 9 minutes

12. Add 3 drops of lemon juice, 3 drops of vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon of butter AFTER the 9 minutes of boiling

13. As soon as the semolina cake is out of the oven pour the room temperture syrup on top. The more syrup the better because the cake will soak it all up so it might seem like a lot of syrup but it wont be

Kofta Tahini

THERES MORE TO DO WITH TAHINI THEN MAKE HUMMUS!  I feel like with all the hummus recipes out there I even forget that we use tahini for so much more then just hummus!  And this is one of those things, kthanksbye. 

But seriously, tahini is one of those things that makes me laugh because my mom would have to climb mountains and cross rivers to go to a little ethnic store over a half hour away (thank God my local supermarket carries it now haha) that would import this and we were the only kids in the entire neighborhood that even knew what it was.  She would always do her ethnic grocery shopping on Saturdays because that was when the pita bread was fresh but also because my dad wanted to go too, he's a secret foodie.  It was like a family field trip and we would stock up on fresh pita bread, tahini, all kinds of fresh produce, different cuts of meats, an assortment of middle eastern cheeses and olives.  We would come back home with bags of groceries and I remember my siblings and I not even waiting until the groceries have been put away to stuff our faces with fresh pita sandwiches my mom would make on the fly.   It would be happy chaos in the kitchen as everyone is rummaging through bags trying to figure out what they want to eat.  My mom, the savior that she is, would somehow make this tahini sauce in minutes without anyone even noticing and hand everyone a fresh falafel sandwich using the crispy cucumber and fresh tomatoes we just got drizzled with the tahini sauce, or a Nabulsi cheese with crunchy green pepper and fresh tarragon wrapped in warm pita.  

Now, it's like the world has discovered our little kitchen gem and it makes me smile like ya, I knew about that before I was even born, welcome to the club :)  In the Middle East, they use tahini to make hummus, sauce, breakfast, cookies, cakes, the list goes on.   I tend to make a lot of tomato and eggplant based dishes I'm realizing and when I want to change it up I usually go Asian or this dish.

The sauce is this amazing yogurt based tahini lemony based sauce that like I mention already, we use for falafel sandwiches, shawerma meat sandwiches (we always use a garlic sauce for the chicken shawerma sandwich), fava bean breakfast dish called foul mddamas or on a potato dish.  Usually everytime I make this I'll end up with extra sauce (intentionally) which I store in tuber ware and I'll make falafel the next day and use the leftover sauce.  Done and Done.  But no joke, it might be one of my all time favorite sauces because its so full of flavor yet feels light and smooth.

In fact, I posted and raved about the amazing sauce right here http://www.sweetpillar.com/blog/2015/10/7/zaatar-crusted-shrimp-with-lemon-tahini-drizzle

This dish is kofta skewers baked with a yogurt tahini sauce and then topped with potatoes.  Some people opt to not spend the extra time making little kofta skewers and instead just pressing it onto the pyrex so its one giant kofta pizza basically and then topped with the sauce and potatoes.

I like the addition of the potatoes because it gives the dish an additional texture.  If you notice I leave the skin on the potatoes because most of the nutrients of the potatoes is actually in the skin so I just scrub them really well and leave them on but you can remove the skin or remove the entire potato addition from the dish if you don't like potatoes.  

I first put parsley and onions in the processor so all the juices come out and can be absorbed by the meat.  I then add the spices and parsley onion mixture.  Usually I add this amazing Turkish spice blend that I purchased at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul a few years ago but that has since finished and I don't even know the name of it to purchase more.   When I bought it they put it in a little plastic bag which I transferred to a mason jar and that was it.  No name, no label.  I've tried to hunt it down but haven't found anything comparable.  So if anyone can help, let me know!  But anyway since I've departed ways with my Turkish blend I use a middle eastern all spice which is a mix of cumin, coriander, paprika, etc.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb Ground beef (or lamb - if using lamb combine it with beef otherwise it's too heavy)

1 Small onion

2 Garlic clove

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon All Spice (if you cannot find middle eastern all spice you can mix 1/2 teaspoon of each ground cinnamon, paprika, cumin, ground cloves, nutmeg & coriander)

Salt

Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350

Combine all the ingredients for the yogurt tahini sauce in a food processor and set aside (see link for previous post with ingredients for sauce)

If frying potatoes, heat up vegetable oil and fry at this point and set aside

If baking potatoes, put potatoes on baking sheet and drizzle with oil and put in the oven for 10-12 minutes

In food processor pulse onion, parsley, and garlic

Add onion mixture to ground beef along with spices, salt and pepper

Mix with your hands long enough for all the flavors to really mix together (1-2 minutes)

Using your hands make round balls then press them so they elong and are fingerlike length and form kabob shape

Using either vegetable oil or sunflower oil sautee the kabobs in a frying pan. Sautee them about 5-6 minutes so they are brown on the outside but still slightly rare on the inside (we're going to put them back in the oven so you don't want them to overcook but instead finish cooking in the oven)

Place the kabobs on a pyrex

Pour the tahini yogurt sauce over the kabobs and top with potatoes and put in the oven for 5-7 minutes

Garnish with parsley, paprika, and/or pine nuts

Serve with rice or pita bread

Zaatar Crusted Lemon Chicken

First of all, let me clarify how it's pronounced.  It's not zaatar like some sort of Zoro Spaniard sword fighter, it's actually pronounced za'tar.  The apostrophe is a slight pause and a sound that is only found in the Arabic language.  Its a sound released from the depth of your throat, almost like you're about to gag but you decide not to and then continue the rest of the word.

But you know what, zaatar, za'tar, tomato, tomatoe, potato, potatoes.  Pronounce it as you please, I'm not judging.

Zaatar is one of those things that I grew up with and was as common to me as hummus and pizza were.  At home we ate it one of two ways and that was either mezze style right next to olive oil or like an open faced pizza with olive oil called "mana -eesh".  Olive oil and Zaatar go hand in hand like.... peanut butter jelly time.  

So the way its done is as follows;  there is always a slightly shallow bowl of zaatar and another slightly shallow bowl of olive oil.  You take your fresh warm pita bread and dip it in olive oil, then quickly in the zaatar; the olive oil helps the zaatar stick to the bread and then you eat it.  It doesn't end there.  While the bite is still in your mouth you either crunch on a fresh cucumber or drink a sip of hot tea, or both.  And thats how its done, as simple as that.  Obviously the steps to do this become so second nature and it just becomes a dip, dip, crunch, sip and repeat situation.

That's how it's done in Damascus at least, next to your bowl of olives, your plate of lebne, hummus, eggs, jams, cheeses and whatever else you're having for breakfast.  I specify Damascus because in even the close neighboring countries, (literally an hour drives away from Damscus is Beruit, Lebanon), zaatar is consumed in so many different ways.  In fact the zaatar from Syria and Lebanon is slightly different then the zaatar from the Jordan and Palestine region and extremely different then anything I've seen in the US. 

The zaatar that is not from the Middle East will never taste the same because it uses wild thyme specific to the Levant region (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine etc) Zaatar is prepared using this dried wild thyme, toasted sesame seeds, oregano, and sometimes sumac all ground up. In fact, the main difference between the Palestinian version and the Syrian/Lebanease version is the sumac berries and sometimes pomegranate molasses which gives it a shade of red versus the Palestinian/Jordanian version which is the commonly seen green zaatar.  The Palestinian version is pretty famous throughout the entire region and everyone everywhere is always trying to find someone that is coming from there to bring a bag of authentic Palestinian za'tar.  

I learned as I got older that some people don't only serve the olive oil and zaatar in separate shallow bowls but instead they just mix it together and you just dip once (gasp and super shock)  I also learned that some people (my husband taught me this one) make a lebne sandwich with olive oil and zaatar in a pita bread wrap and call it lunch.  Some people make an entire chicken dinner with zaatar and lemons.  I mean the possibilities are endless.  It has a slightly sweet but mainly tart taste which makes it so unique and full of flavor.  

There is so much to say about zaatar, I could go on all day.  Literally!  For now, I'll leave it at this.   ** If you follow me on snapchat (@nadiahubbi)  I said I was going to make an announcement today BUT i'm actually not ready SO I'll save it for next week :):)

I wanted to take make a chicken dish using zaatar and I remember following a recipe years ago pre Pinterest days so of course I had no idea where to find it again.  I perfected this recipe so its easy and the chicken is moist on the inside.  I used bone in skin on chicken thighs but you can easily substitute chicken breast but just make sure its bone in otherwise it will be on the dry side. 

INGREDIENTS

6 chicken thighs bone in skin on

2 Tablespoons zaatar

3 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup diced potatoes

Salt & Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400

Clean chicken

Rub chicken, zaatar, lemon, potatoes, salt and pepper together

Place in 9x9 pyrex

Evenly distribute chicken stock over chicken

Cover and put in the oven for 45 minutes

Uncover for 5 minutes to brown the top

Serve with couscous, rice, or on its own!

Baked Eggplant in tomato meat stew [ Sayniya’it baitinjan a.ka. Tray of Eggplant]

******** When I typed this post I was in the Middle East BUT the internet connection was so poor that I literally couldn't post this!  I had all these plans of posting so much and writing as I learn but that clearly didn't happen.  BUT I'm back in California now and I had enough time with the lack of internet to get lost in my head and swim in ideas that I want to implement in 2016 so get ready for tuesday posts!  Hope everyone had an amazing holiday season and a happy new years.  =)=) *********

The title of this dish literally translates to tray of eggplant, so simple and straight to the point.  I never really paid particular attention to what is consumed in traditional middle eastern cuisine until I started writing down recipes and saving them.  I’ve since noticed that eggplants are maybe the number consumed vegetable, at least in my family.  Does anyone else see this trend too?? We stuff them, ferment them, bake them, fry them, the list goes on.  I have yet to meet a Middle eastern that says they don't like eggplants.  If you’re out there, come forth at once.

I’m actually in the Middle East as I type this.  I’m in Kuwait doing culinary research and getting inspiration, and eating tons of amazing food.  Kuwait is part of the Gulf region and very different than the Levantine countries which includes Syria, where my parents are from and really all I knew until I was exposed to people from other Arab countries.  The Kuwaiti Arabic dialect is so different than Syrian dialect Arabic that at my moderate level of Arabic comprehension I actually don’t understand it very easily.  Kuwait itself is a lot more Western developed so walking into a mall here (and there are a ton of large extravagent malls here) you’ll see all the shops you would find in a high end mall in the United States or Europe.   If it wasn't for some of the women dressed in all black you could easily mistake yourself for being in the US.  On the contrary, you won’t find any of that in the Syria.  You will find a lot of authentic shops that have been there for centuries.  I have such a warm spot for Damascus in my heart because I spent quite some time there as a child.   The people are so warm, friendly with a unique sense of humor.  The type of humor that cuts through the awkwardness of meeting someone new and makes you feel like you've known each other forever.  Some of the best food i've ever had was in Damascus.  There is a street lined with shawarma shops in an area of Damascus called the Meedan that have been there for decades and people drive from all over for late night shawarma cravings.  I'm going to try to dig up some pictures of Damascus but in the meantime, tray of eggplant it is!  There are a few variations of this recipe but this is my go to one that I make pretty often.  My mother in law makes a real amazing one where she includes jalapeños for a great kick at the end, i'll get that recipe up soon. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 large eggplants (peeled and cut into 1 inch slices)

Olive oil to brush on eggplants if baking

Vegetable oil to fry eggplants if frying

1 tablespoon vegetable oil to sauté onions

ground beef

1/2 medium size onion

1 can diced tomato

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon tomato paste

salt

Pita bread or white rice to serve with

INSTRUCTIONS

Peel and cut the eggplant in 1 inch slices

Place eggplant on paper towel and sprinkle salt on them for 20 mins

*This step is very important because it will drain the eggplant of excess water. If you skip this step the dish will lack flavor because the excess water will dilute the taste. *

Wash eggplants after 20 minutes and pat dry with paper towel

Either fry them in heated vegetable oil or bake them for 25 minutes at 350

Place the baked or fried eggplants onto a pyrex so they are completely pressed against each other

*The more you squish in the better because they will thin out during cooking.

On a stovetop sauté onions in oil for 1-2 minutes until they are soft and then add beef and brown the meat with salt and pepper to liking

Add 15 oz can of petite diced tomato, chicken stock and tomato paste and let it simmer together so flavors mesh together for 10-12 minutes.

Top the tomato mixture onto the eggplants. Cover and put in the oven for 25 minutes at 350

I like to broil it uncovered for a few minutes at the end to give it a nice overall finish.

"Eggplant Upside down" Rice, Eggplant, & Tomato dish called "Ma'loubay Betinjan"

Upside Down aka Ma’loubay

The name of this dish, ma’loubay literally translates to “upside down” because of the way it is served by first flipping it upside down like a beautiful cake with layers of rice, meat and vegetables.  

Think about it, isn’t everything better upside down.  I actually can’t think of anything else thats better upside down.  Maybe headstands.  But is that really better?  Okay moving on.

I DO know that a rice, meat and vegetable dish IS better upside down because the flavors all marry each other and the best of the flavors fall to the bottom and when flipped upside down it brings the best of the bottom to the top.  #started from the bottom now we’re here haha

There are many variations across the Levantine (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, parts of Turkey) which include mainly a variety of vegetables usually eggplants, cauliflower, potatoes, and carrots.    I’ve seen tons of images, but of course I can’t find a single one to post now, of 2-3 women and men all holding a ginormous pot trying to carefully flip it over.  They’re usually served with yogurt or a simple Middle Eastern salad which includes tomatoes and cucumber.  

I had to experiment with a few pots I own and found one that works perfect for my measurements and I just stick with it.  Usually, every Middle Eastern home has a special straight edged pot that makes it easier for flipping.

This dish could be time consuming because of the prep work required but it is NOT difficult.  Once everything is prepped, its just a matter of layering them together.  Do not be intimidated by how pretty it looks!  And even if your ma'loubay flops when you flip it over it will still be an amazingly tasting and aromatic dish!

Feeds 3-4 people (or just the three of us with just a little bit of leftovers haha)

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 large eggplant sliced
2. .3 pounds ground beef
3. 1/4 diced tomato
4. 2 tablespoon pine nuts (or substitute almonds)
5. 1 1/2 cup jasmine rice
6. 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
7. 3 tblspoon tomato paste
8. oil for frying or for brushing eggplants for broil
9. salt & pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. peel and slice the eggplants 

Lay them on a paper towel and salt them.  

Let them sit for 30 minutes

2. Put the jasmine rice in a bowl and cover with water

Let it sit for 30 minutes

3. Meanwhile, brown the meat with salt and pepper

Sauté the pine nuts with 1 tbl vegetable oil

Combine with meat and set aside

4. On low heat add chicken stock, tomato paste and salt and pepper to taste 

Whisk it all together until paste completely dissolves

5. When the eggplants are done straining wash them off with water and pat dry

Heat up oil and fry eggplants (OR the healthier version is to skip the initial part about straining them and just brush the eggplants with oil. sprinkle with salt and put in a preheated broiler until they are brown on each side).  

6. When the 30 minutes is over for the rice, sauté for 1-2 minutes in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and mix in 1 tablespoon tomato paste (this is optional but I feel it gives the rice a little more flavor and makes the rice more moldable and easier when flipping upside down).

Now that everything is prepped all we have to do is assemble.

• Start by placing the diced tomatoes at the bottom
• Add the meat and pine nuts
• Layer the eggplants (see image)
• Add the rice inside the eggplants and carefully pour the tomato stock on the rice
• Bring to a quick boil then lower heat and cover for 15 minutes.  
• Keep it covered for an additional 5 minutes
• Uncover, place plate on top of pot, say a prayer and flip that bad boy

This picture was taken right after I flipped it and a lot of the tomato and meat were still stuck to the bottom of the pot.  I fixed that problem by just scraping the pot and putting them back on top.

Mjaddara {Rice & Lentils with Carmalized Onions}

The onions are everything! 

I'm not going to lie, this is not the first dish that comes to my mind when I think of what to make for dinner.  I usually only make it when my husband requests it, which happens to be pretty often.  Buttttt, whenever I do make it, I love it so much and end up eating most of it lol.

This is also the only dish (correct me if i'm wrong) that is Middle Eastern, Vegetarian, and acceptable to eat as a main dish lol.  Usually, at least in my family, if there is no meat, then it's just an appetizer or side dish.  So bring it on meatless Mondays, Mjaddara is ready! 

Growing up my mom always made this with bulgar (#3) and lentils with tons of onions and a tomato salad on the side.  My husband grew up eating it with rice and lentils with a tomato sauce not he side so I tend to make it that way (also because I always have rice handy but don't always have bulgar).  For me, the onions make the entire dish.  The way they melt in your mouth and compliment the lentils is just so good.  

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE MJADDARA 

• 2 onions sliced
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1 cup rice
• 1/2 cup lentils
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tbl ground cumin
• 3 tbl olive oil
• 1 tbl vegetable oil
• salt & pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• Add the oils to a saucepan and immediately add sliced onions before oil heats
• Leave on low heat until onion begins to brown (15-20 mins)
• In separate medium pan lightly sauté lentils with diced onion (1-2 minutes)
• Add 1 cup chicken stock
• Cover and lower heat to medium for 10-15 minutes until lentils are soft
• Add rice
• Add remaining chicken stock
• Add reserved oil from the caramelized onion
• Add cumin, salt and pepper
• Bring chicken stock to boil
• Reduce heat to low and cover for 15 minutes
• Let it sit for 5 additional minutes covered off heat
• Top with onions and serve with tomato sauce

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE

• 1/4 chopped onion
• 2 minced garlic
• 5 tomato chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tbl tomato paste
• 1 tbl olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

• Sautee onions and garlic in oil over medium heat
• Add tomatoes and sauté for a few more minutes
• Add chicken stock and bring to a boil
• Cover and lower heat to medium for 5-10 minutes (until tomato is soft)
• Add tomato paste and stir
• Cover and continue to let the flavors immerse in each other 5-7 minutes
• Use a handmixer to mix if you prefer it to be smoother
• Serve with Mujaddara

Middle Eastern Rice and Peas with Cucumber Yogurt {Riz ou bazalaya}

I'm eating this dish as I type this post, and I forgot how much I love it!  Miss no appetite ever Ayla is asking for more and I'm sitting here wondering why I don't make this more often!

It's SO easy.  

Is everyone sick of me saying everything is SO easy haha.

But seriously,

It is.  

Like if you can boil water you can make this dish.  But the best part about this meal is the cucumber mint yogurt served on the side.  

SO FRIGGIN GOOD and SO FRIGGIN EASY.

On a separate note, I took a personality test today.  I know it sounds like I'm a weirdo lol but it was one of those emails that every one of my friends took and we talked about the results and the analyzation and mine was so accurate, actually all of them were creepily accurate!  My analysis said I like to inspire people and I couldn't agree more.  

I really hope my recipes and dishes inspire someone, anyone, to explore Syrian and Middle Eastern cuisine.  I was always so intimidated because I saw my grandmother spend allllll day cooking and I assumed it was such a time consuming style of cooking but its actually not that bad!  My grandmother and mother were just cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for an entire tribe basically!  Anyway if anyone wants to take the test its at www.16personalities.com and mine is ENFP.  If you take it please comment and let me know what you got, it's so much fun!  I feel like I know myself a lot better now, and who doesn't want that.

INGREDIENTS FOR YOGURT SAUCE

• 2 cups yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber shredded (1/4 cup)
• 1 T dried mint
• A lot of salt ( cucumbers are very watery and they'll water the sauce down so compensate by adding more salt than usual)

INSTRUCTIONS

• Mix all the ingredients together! As simple as that

INGREDIENTS FOR RICE & PEAS {Riz ou Bazalaya}

• 1 cup jasmine rice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 lb chicken (I used boneless chicken thigh for this one)
• 1 cup sweet green peas
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (or substitute slivered almonds)
• 1 t olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

• Boil chicken in water covered for 35 minutes (I also add bay leaves, onions, cardamon, cloves, black whole pepper, salt and cinnamon stick.  Feel free to add all or some for more flavorful chicken stock)
• In the meantime sauté the green peas and pine nuts in oil until pine nuts are golden brown and set aside
• Take 2 cups of the chicken stock and let it come to a boil
• As soon as it boils add the rice, reduce heat to low, cover and set timer for 15 minutes
• Let it sit covered for another 5 minutes before removing the cover
• I like to brown the chicken by broiling it in the oven for several minutes
• To serve; put rice first, chicken, and top with peas and pine nuts
• Serve immediately with cucumber yogurt
• Enjoy!

Zaatar Crusted Shrimp with Lemon Tahini Drizzle

You have no idea the high that I get after my husband gives me the thumbs up after trying something that I "created" in the kitchen!  This was one of those highs.   

So what ha happened was, I met up with a friend, a fellow mom foodie that thinks about food just as much if not more than I do to talk about work, seriously.  We spent about 2 hours talking about the kids and food, just kidding it was pretty much all food and sweet pillar, work, you know.  Zaatar came up in the conversation.  That was that.  

I came home, saw the shrimp I got for a lemon shrimp pasta dish I was planning on making.  Lightbulb.  Zaatar from my subconscious jumped out, the shrimp was right in front of my face, boom bam, next thing I know I'm creating Zaatar crusted shrimp with lemon tahini drizzle.

I thought it tasted great and I love that it was so different.  My mom and grandmother, both the best chefs I've ever known literally make so much food on a daily basis for the family, the kids, and non stop guests it's as if they were running catering businesses.  My mom makes and experiments with food all the time and cooks every cuisine under the sun, but when it comes to Arabic food she is NOT comfortable experimenting.  If I ever consulted with her about making zaatar crusted shrimp she would have freaked out, gave me a look of confusion, and would've just said in arabic "we just don't do that.  we don't eat zaatar and shrimp.  It's just not done."  There is one way to eat zaatar and its taking pita bread, dipping it in a bowl of olive oil then a bowl of zaatar and then sipping tea.  I'll update this post and tell you her reaction once I show her the pictures and tell her what I did.  Insert emoticon of monkey covering his face here.  haha. 

So this is actually pretty easy to make.  The lemon tahini sauce is used for multiple dishes so it's definitely a recipe to hold on to and know how to access later.  Ayla eats this sauce with just pita bread, she loves it so much.  I made the shrimp the same way I would if I was making buffalo shrimp or coconut crusted shrimp and then I just drizzled the zaatar marinade at the end.  The challenge is making the zaatar wet enough to stick on to the shrimp.

INGREDIENTS for TAHINI LEMON SAUCE

• 1/4 cup tahini
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup water
• salt

INSTRUCTIONS for TAHINI LEMON SAUCE

• whisk all ingredients together
• As simple as that

TIP:

• If it is too pasty, add more water until desired consistency is achieved
• If you don't taste the lemon burst of flavor, add more
• I tend to use a lot of garlic, so feel free to add more or less depending on how you like it

INGREDIENTS for ZAATAR CRUSTED SHRIMP

• Egg
• Flour
• 8 Raw Shrimp, deveined
• 1/4 cup Zaatar
• 2 Tbl Olive oil
• Frying oil (I used vegetable)

INSTRUCTIONS for ZAATAR CRUSTED SHRIMP

• Create an assembly line by whisking egg and a little bit of water in one bowl, flour in the second bowl and shrimp in a third.
• Start by dipping the shrimp in the egg mixture then the flour
• Refrigerate while creating the zaatar mix and heating the frying oil
• Once the oil has heated, fry the shrimp for 2-3 minutes
• Remove and place on a paper towel to remove excess oil
• Mix zaatar and olive oil 
• Drizzle on shrimp
• Done and Done!

Muhammara & Cauliflower Soup

I obviously love Muhammara and judging from the past few post and Instagram photos, I obviously love cauliflower.  Not sure what my thought process was that led me to come up with this genius idea :)  I do know that the idea simmered in my mind for a few days before I actually executed.  The stars aligned a few days ago and the universe was basically forcing me to make this soup.  I had preordered a book called Soup for Syria,  a humanitarian cookbook project whose profits will be donated to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to provide urgently needed food relief for Syrian refugees, which arrived that day.  I also caught the first glimpse of fall which for Southern California included 10 minutes of drizzle and some clouds, but it was enough for me to jump on the opportunity to make this soup.

Muhammara is a red pepper spread which originates in Aleppo, Syria.  It's made from roasted red peppers, walnuts, and sautéed cumin.  Traditionally it is only used as a dip but I literally with no exaggeration use it almost every day for everything.  Most often, I use it as a paste to thicken and add flavor to any sauce slash soup I'm making.  

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoons of Muhammara 
• 2 cups baked cauliflower
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 small onion sliced
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350
• Drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper on cauliflower and bake for 10 minutes or so
• On stovetop medium heat sauté sliced onion in olive oil to caramelize
• Add chicken stock and muhammara to chicken stock
• Add baked cauliflower to chicken stock for a few minutes so flavors can simmer together 
• Add everything to blender and blend until desired consistency
• Optional: Serve with pita chips and spoon of muhammara

INSTRUTIONS TO MAKE PITA CHIPS

• Preheat oven to 350
• Cut pita bread into desired shape
• Drizzle with olive oil and whatever seasoning (I did just salt and pepper)
• Put in oven for 5 minutes
• Monitor carefully remove when golden brown

INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE MUHAMMARA in case our store is out of stock =(

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons tahini
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 3 red bell peppers
• 1/2 small yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• 1 tablespoon Chili paste or Chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

• Roast the red peppers on the stove top until skin starts to peel off
• Roast the walnuts in the oven at 350 until they are golden brown
• Pulse walnuts in food processor until they are desired size (some like it bigger for more crunch, some like it finer) set aside
• Add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse
• Add walnuts at the end
• Keep in the fridge for up to a week

Lemonade & Mint Drink "Limonana"

This drink is screaming summertime and granted its almost October, but in Southern California its still in the 80s so I think its appropriate to make and drink this!  But truth be told, I actually make this drink in the wintertime too, those days when I'm craving summer.  The original Lemon & Mint (laymoon ou na' na') drink is basically just lemons and a ton of mint but we decided to go a step further and add watermelon which also tasted amazing.

Happy summer in October =) 

INGREDIENTS Lemon Mint

• 2 cups Lemon Juice
• 6 cups of water
• 1 1/2 cup fresh mint
• 1 cup sugar (or honey)
• Ice as desired

INGREDIENTS Watermelon Lemon Mint

• 3 Cups Watermelon
• 2 Cups Lemon Juice
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 1/2 Fresh Mint
• Ice as desired

INSTRUCTIONS

• Peel the lemons and stick them in a blender
• Use a strainer to get rid of the pulp and seeds
• Put lemon juice back in the blender
• Add mint, water, ice, and sugar or honey ( & watermelon if making watermelon drink)
• Adjust to make it sweeter or tangier

Tips:

• Add more lemon juice if its too diluted
• Add more mint if the mint flavor isn't strong enough
• Add more sugar/honey if it's too sour