Moughrabiyeh / Spiced Lebanese Couscous with Chicken, Lamb and Baby Onions Recipe

Serves 4-6

Lebanese couscous is quite different from the North African couscous. The grains are bigger, more like small beads, and you can buy them fresh, as with fresh pasta. However only the dried variety is available outside Lebanon. It is just as good as the fresh moughrabiyeh that is available in Lebanon.

Ingredients

1 medium chicken, (about 1.5 kg)
300g lamb meat from the shanks, cut into medium-sized pieces
4 Adonis Cinnamon Sticks
1½ tbsp coarse sea salt
½ tsp Adonis Cinnamon Ground
500g dried moughrabiyeh
60g unsalted butter
16 baby onions, peeled
400g net weight ready-cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tsp Adonis Moughrabiyeh Spices

Cooking instructions

Put the chicken in a large saucepan. Add 1.2 liters water. Put the lamb meat in another pan. Add 600 ml water to the lamb. Place each pan over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Just as the water is about to boil, skim the surface clean in both pans. Then add 3 Adonis cinnamon sticks and 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt to the chicken. Add 1 Adonis cinnamon sticks, ½ tablespoon salt and ½ teaspoon Adonis ground cinnamon to the lamb. Reduce the heat to medium under both pans. Boil gently for 1 to 1 ¼ hours.

Put the dried moughrabiyeh in a bowl, cover with boiling water and let it sit for 15 minutes. Stir as soon as you add the water so that grains do not stick together.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Drain the moughrabiyeh and saute in the butter until the grains are well coated. Set aside.

Fifteen minutes before the chicken is ready, add the baby onions to the chicken. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until the onions are tender and the chicken is done. Add the chickpeas to the lamb.

Transfer the chicken onto a carving board. Cut into 4 or 8 pieces. Discard the skin and keep warm. With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions from the pan and add to the moughrabiyeh. Strain the chicken stock. With a slotted spoon, remove both lamb and chickpeas and add to the moughrabiyeh. Add 150 ml chicken stock to the moughrabiyeh and season with Adonis moughrabiyeh spices and salt to taste. Mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly. If the moughrabiyeh is too al dente, add more stock and cook until it is done to your liking. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Transfer to a preheated serving dish. Arrange the chicken pieces over the moughrabiyeh. Serve immediately.

Samkeh Harrah / Spicy Baked Fish Recipe

Serves 4-6

Samkeh Harrah is specialty of Tripoli, a coastal city north of Beirut and Lebanon's second largest city. The fish is served at room temperature, making it an ideal dish to include in a cold buffet or summer meal. Any of the following fish are suitable for use here: Sea Bass, Sea Bream, Grey Mullet, Cod, Grouper, John Dory, and even Pike, which, although a fresh water fish, has a delicate, firm white flesh that works very well with the stuffing.

Ingredients

One whole white fish (about 1.4 kg), scaled and gutted
10 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tsp Adonis Hot Fish Spices
60g pine nuts
60g walnuts
400g fresh coriander (2 bunches), most of the stalk discarded, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, diced
150 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to grease baking dish
Juice of lemons, or to taste
8 small firm tomatoes, topped, deseeded and drained

Cooking instructions

Pull the gills out of the fish without damaging the head. Rinse in cold water. Pat dry with kitchen paper and rub with a little salt, inside and out.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Put the garlic cloves in a food processor, together with the Adonis Hot Fish Spices ground coriander and a pinch of salt. Process until fine. Add the nuts and grind until medium fine - do not pulverize into a fine powder, as the stuffing should retain a nice crunch. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the chopped coriander, onion, tomato, olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt to taste. Mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Sew up about 5 cm of the fish belly, starting from the tail end, to begin forming the pocket for the stuffing. Use a thick thread and prick the needle well inside the edge of the flesh so that it does not come apart during cooking. Put as much stuffing as you can inside the fish and into its mouth, then sew up the rest of the belly to close it. You can use tooth picks or mini metal skewers to close the fish but the presentation will not be a nice as with the sides sewn.

Grease a large baking dish with a little olive oil. Place the fish inside it. Wrap left over stuffing in aluminium foil and place next to the fish. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until the fish is done to your liking.

Fill the prepared tomato halves with the cooled extra stuffing. Arrange around the fish and serve at room temperature.

Spiced lamb and herby quinoa crumble recipe

Serves 4
Hands-on time 50 min, oven time 20-25 min
Easy

Who said a crumble can't be savoury? This one combines spiced lamb with a crunchy quinoa topping for an impressive Middle Eastern-style dish with a difference.

Nutritional info per serving

Calories 680kcals
Fat 39.2g (16.8g saturated)
Protein 41.5g
Carbohydrates 38.9g (8.5g sugars)
Fibre 6.1g
Salt  1.5g

INGREDIENTS

500g lean British lamb mince
1 tbsp light olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 green chillies, chopped
5cm piece fresh ginger, grated
2 fat garlic cloves, crushed
500ml fresh chicken or lamb stock
200ml tomato passata
Seeds ½ pomegranate

For the herby quinoa crumble

190g uncooked quinoa, rinsed 
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
150g feta, crumbled
Zest 1 lemon
Handful fresh mint, leaves sliced
Handful fresh parsley, leaves chopped

You’ll also need…

1 litre ovenproof dish

METHOD

1. Fry the mince, without oil, in a non-stick frying pan, breaking it up with a fork or wooden spoon as it browns. Transfer to a colander set over a bowl to drain.

2. Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper, then add the light olive oil and heat. Cook the onion over a low heat for 10 minutes or until softened. Stir in the flour, spices, chillies, ginger and garlic, then cook for 2 minutes. Return the mince to the pan (discard the drained juices) and pour in the stock and passata. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

3. Meanwhile, simmer 150g of the quinoa in a medium pan of boiling water for 15-20 minutes, or cook according to the pack instructions. Drain well, then set aside in a large bowl for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork, then stir in the remaining 40g uncooked quinoa along with the extra-virgin olive oil, feta, lemon zest and most of the herbs (reserve some to garnish). Taste and season. 

4. Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Pour the lamb mixture into a 1 litre ovenproof dish, then spoon over the quinoa crumble. Cook for 20-25 minutes until the topping is golden and the sauce is bubbling. Scatter over the pomegranate seeds and reserved herbs to serve.

Tips

If you have some wine open (red or white), add a glug to the pan in step 2.
The chillies add flavour rather than heat, so don’t be put off if you’re not a fan of spicy food. If you’re not keen on lamb mince use beef mince instead.

To Drink

A Spanish red, especially a young tempranillo or garnacha, is a lively match.

Fried chicken biryani recipe

"Biryani " is a mixed rice dish with spices, rice, meat or vegetables. Though biryani is originated in Persia, it is more popular in malabar areas in Kerala.Here am sharing a special chicken fried Dum biryani. For this you can either deep fry or shallow fry the chicken, then mixed with the gravy / masala and finally the dum process which makes the biryani heavenly taste.

INGREDIENTS

Marinade
1000 grams Chicken
1 tablespoon turmeric
2 tablespoon Chicken masala
1/2 tablespoon red chilli powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon Paprika Powder or Kashmiri Red Chilli
1/2 tablespoon pepper powder
3 tablespoon Yoghurt / Lime Juice
Salt to taste
8 tablespoon Oil

Gravy
2 bulbs(approx 80 grams) garlic
100 grams Ginger
4 (approx 580 rams) ripe tomatoes
3 (approx 400 grams) red onion
3 tablepoon Oil
Salt to taste

Garnish
2 (approx 250 grams)  onion
1 bunch coriander leaves
25 numbers Cashew nuts
3 tablespoon ghee
2 tablespoon Oil
salt to taste

Rice
5 cups Water
3 cups(approx 600 grams1)  Tilda Basmati Rice
1 inch Dried Ginger
5 numbers Pepper Corns
5 numbers green cardamoms
1 Star Anise
3 inch cinnamon stick
2 numbers Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tablespoon ghee
salt to taste
15×15 inch Cheese Cloth
5 inch Cotton String

Dough
1 cup plain flour
Water as required

Instructions

1. Chicken – I choose drumsticks and thighs, (thigh has the best meat of chicken). Skin removed, and shave off most fat.
2. Mix all ingredients (except oil) under ‘marinade’ and rub into the chicken, marinate overnight for best results, if not atleast for 4 hours in a fridge, covered.
3. Chop ginger / garlic / tomatoes / onion finely and store separately.
4. Clean and cut the coriander leaves.
5. Wash rice once and soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain, keep aside till required.
6. Step 1 – Frying Chicken
7. In a non-stick pan, heat half the oil under ‘marinade‘ section, fry half at a time, the chicken pieces, about 6 minutes on each side. Maximum for about 15 minutes, as we want only about 70% done chicken.
8. Using a slotted spoon, spoon the fried pieces onto a plate spread with kitchen towel, to absorb excess oil.
9. Step 2 – Preparing the Garnish
10. While the chicken is getting fried, heat oil under the ‘Garnish‘ section, sauté the cashew nuts for about 2 minutes on low flame, till lightly golden brown on all sides equally.
11. In the same oil, fry the onions till they are crispy. Add salt while doing this, this helps the onion sweat fast and get crispy.
12. Keep aside till needed.
13. Step 3 – Preparing the Gravy
14. Heat the oil under the ‘Gravy Section‘, sauté the onions along with salt, on medium flame till soft and caramelised (about 15 minutes), while stirring occasionally.
15. Add ginger and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
16. Add the tomatoes and sauté till soft and melted, about 15 minutes on medium flame.
17. Step 4 – Rice
18. In the cheese cloth, gather all spices under the ‘Rice‘ section and tie it up, this is known as `Potli` in Northern India.
19. Bring to boil the water along with salt, ghee and polti, lower the flame. Remove the potli.
20. Tip over the rice, bring it to boil, lower flame and simmer for 10 minutes till about 50% done.
21. Leave it open, or better still spread on a large serving tray and allow the steam to escape and the rice to cool down, this prevents the rice from further cooking.
22. Step – 5 Layering and Baking
23. Make a dough of the flour and water under the ‘dough‘ section, roll into a long strip and apply on the edges of the deep bottomed pan.
24. Apply 1 tbsp ghee on all sides of the vessel, (use the ghee mentioned in the ‘Garnish‘ section).
25. Spread a layer of gravy and some chicken pieces. Top it with a layer of rice and spread little ghee, cashew nuts and coriander leaves.
26. Repeat the above step till you have a last layer of rice, decorate with the remaining, coriander leaves, cashew nuts, fried onions and ghee, evenly across the top.
27. Secure the lid on the dough. In a pre-heated oven, cook for 30 mins on medium.
28. Serve hot with a cooling cucumber raita, lime pickle, masala poppadum and sweetened Indian butter milk (aka Lassi).
29. You could also hard-boil eggs, quarter them and decorate on the rice.

Kibbeh Bil-Saniyeh / Baked Kibbeh Recipe

Kibbeh is one of Lebanon's great national dishes and until the arrival of the food processor, the meat was pounded by hand in a marble or stone mortar (jorn) with a wooden pestlem(m'daqqa). Because of the time and effort involved in its preparation, kibbeh was - and still is - a festive dish. It is a highly seasoned mixture of finely minced lamb, burghul and very finely chopped onion. When it is served raw, kibbeh is made with less burghul and a handful of crushed basil or mint leaves are added to give the meat a fresh, fragrant flavor. A little liyeh (fat from the sheep's tail) is also added to make it more velvety.

Ingredients

90g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease baking dish
60g pine nuts
500g large onions, finely chopped
200g lean minced
4 ½ tsp Adonis Kibbeh Spices
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
500g lamb from the leg, boned, skinned, defatted and finely minced 200g fine burghul
4 ½ tsp Adonis Kibbeh Spices
Unsalted butter

Cooking instructions

Melt the butter in a deep frying pan over a medium heat. Saute the pine nuts, stirring constantly until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a double layer of kitchen paper. Saute the chopped onion in the same butter until soft and transparent. Add the minced meat and cook until it loses all traces of pink. Keep mashing and stirring the meat with the back of a wooden spoon or fork so that it separates well and does not form lumps. Remove from the heat. Season with the Adonis Kibbeh Spices and salt to taste. Add the pine nuts. Mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Set aside.

Put the quartered onion in a food processor and until very finely chopped. Add the minced meat, Adonis Kibbeh Spices and salt to taste and process together until smooth. Prepare a bowl of lightly salted water and have it on hand.

Wash the burghul in two or three changes of cold water. Drain well and add to the meat. Mix with your hand; dipping it every now and then in the salted water to moisten both your hand and the kibbeh. Knead until the mixture is well blended. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Grease a deep baking dish about 30x20x5 cm with a little butter. Preheat the oven to 180° C.

Divide the kibbeh in two equal parts. Moisten your hands in the salted water and pinch off a handful of kibbeh from one piece. Flatten it between your palms to a thickness of about 1 cm and place on the bottom of the baking dish, starting from one edge. Smooth it evenly with your fingers. Pinch off another handful from the same piece of kibbe. Flatten and lay next to the first piece, slightly overlapping it. Dip your fingers in water and smooth the pieces together until the joint disappears. Be sure to connect the kibbeh pieces well so that they do not come apart during cooking. Continue the above process until you have covered the bottom of the pan. Go over the whole layer with moistened fingers to even it out.

Spread the stuffing evenly over the kibbeh and make a top layer, using the other half of the kibbeh and laying it over the stuffing in the same way as with the bottom layer. You may find the top layer slightly more difficult to do as you will be laying it over the loose stuffing instead of the smooth surface of the baking dish. Do not worry. You will soon get the hang of it.

Cut the pie into quarters, then with a knife make shallow incisions to draw a geometric pattern across the top of each quarter. The decoration work is time consuming and can be omitted without affecting the taste, although the presentation will be less attractive and less traditional. Press your index finger in the middle to make a hole. Place a knob of butter over the hole and one knob of butter over each of the quarters. Insert a round-pointed knife between the edge of the kibbeh and the side of the pan and slide it all alongside the edge to detach the kibbeh from the sides of the pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pie has shrunk and the meat is just done. Serve hot or warm with a yoghurt and cucumber salad.

Kaftah / Minced Meat Kebabs Recipe

Serves 4

Kaftah is traditionally molded onto skewers to make a kind of minced meat Sausage but you can just as easily shape it into patties or meat balls to either grill or cook over the stove, preferably in a non-stick pan.

Ingredients

2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
50g flat-leaf parsley (1/4 bunch), leaves only
600g minced lamb, preferably from the shoulder
1 tsp Adonis Kaftah Spices
Sea salt
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp Adonis sumac
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large pita bread, opened at the seam

Cooking instructions

Put the onion and parsley in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Transfer to a mixing bowl; add the minced lamb, Adonis kaftah spices and salt . Mix well with your hands until well blended. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Divide the meat into 12 equal portions.

Pre-heat your grill to high, or prepare a charcoal barbecue.

Roll each portion of kaftah into a ball. Place one ball of kaftah in the palm of your hand, take a long skewer, preferably a flat one as the meat will hold better onto it, and start wrapping the meat around the skewer, squeezing it upwards, then downwards to bind it around the skewer in the shape of a long sausage. Grill for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the meat is done to your liking.

Mix the ingredients for the salad garnish together. Season with salt and Adonis Sumac to taste. Arrange the two layers of pita, one on top of the other, rough side up. Spread the garnish over the bread. Then slide the kaftah off the skewers onto the salad garnish. Serve immediately.

Meat Crescents / Sanbusak bil-lahmeh Recipe

Makes 25-30

You can vary on the taste here by replacing the lemon juice with either vinegar, verjuice or pomegranate syrup. Each

Ingredients

150 g plain white flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to brush dough
50g unsalted butter
25g pine nuts
125g lean minced lamb
¼ tsp Adonis ground cinnamon
½ tsp Adonis Seven Spices
1/8 tsp Adonis ground black pepper
2 tsp lemon juice (or your choice of variation mentioned above)
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for frying

Cooking instructions

Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the oil to the well and, with the tip of your fingers, mix the oil with the flour until well incorporated. Gradually add 90-100 ml water (it is difficult to measure the exact amount of water as it depends on the brand of flour you are using) knead until you have rough dough.

Remove the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes. Invert the bowl over the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Knead for another 3 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Form into a ball, cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and saute, stirring constantly until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a double layer of kitchen paper to drain of the excess fat. Cook the minced meat in the same butter, stirring and mashing it with the pack of a wooden spoon or fork so that it separates well and does not form lumps until it loses all traces of pink. Season with Adonis cinnamon, Adonis Seven Spices, Adonis ground black pepper, and salt to taste. Add the lemon juice (or vinegar, very juice or pomegranate syrup) and sauteed pine nuts. Cook for another minutes or so. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Set aside.

Divide the dough into two balls. Place one on a lightly floured surface. Flatten it slightly and sprinkle with a little flour. Roll out into a large circle, about 2 mm thick, turning over the dough regularly and sprinkling with a little flour every now and then so that it does not stick. Use a 7 cm round pastry cutter to cut the flattened pastry into as many circles as you can. Pick up the excess pastry, knead together and let it rest under the damp cloth.

Turn the circles over. Then take one and lay it on the fingers of one hand. Put a tea spoon (or less if you are making smaller crescents) of the meat filling in the middle and fold the dough over the meat, aligning the edges to form a half circles. With your free thumb and index finger, pinch the edges together into a thin flat edge, starting at one end of the half circle. Slide the filled pastry onto the tips of your fingers so that the flat edge is on the outside. Pinch the end that is furthest from you to flatten it even more and fold it towards you into a little diagonal pleat. Continue pinching and pleating the edge until you form a fluted edge (or until you form a border resembling a twisted cord)- this is done to decorate as well as to seal the pastry tightly together so that it does not open during frying. Place the finished crescents until you finish the first lot of circles.

Fill a large frying pan with enough vegetable oil to deep fry the pastries and place the pan over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot - test with the corner of one pastry; if the oil bubbles around it, it is ready - slide in as many crescents as will fit comfortably in the pan and fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon onto several layers of kitchen paper to drain of the excess oil.

Take the oil of the heat and roll out the remaining dough. Knead the cut outs together. Cover and let rest while you make and fry more crescents. Roll out the left over dough and finish making the crescents - you should end up with 25-30 pieces. It is important you make and fry the crescents in batches so that the dough does not dry up or rise too much. As with fatayer, sambusak freeze well, but here it is best to freeze them raw and fry them frozen. Serve hot or warm.