Watermelon halva pistachio and orange blossom water salad
This is one of my favourite late night snacks or desert when I have family or friends over it takes minuets to make and it is mouth-watering and just delicious !
Ingredients
- Half watermelon diced bite size pieces
- 1 cup of helva with pistachio broken up
- ½ cup mint leaves
- 2 table spoons of orange blossom water
Method
- Place watermelon into a serving dish
- Spinkle the orange blossom water ontop
- Sprinkle the helva and mint leaves on top
- Enjoy
Bemya
Slow cooked okra with lamb. This dish is delicious with rice or couscous.
Ingredients
- x2 400g bags of frozen okra ( you can use fresh but I use frozen for this dish)
- ½ kilo small diced shoulder of lamb (clean from fat)
- 1 table ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 small bunch of coriander finely shredded stems and leaves
- 4 small cloves of crushed garlic
- Good pinch of salt
- Good pinch of baharat spice mix (7 spice mix) if not available use cracked black pepper
- 2 table spoons of tomato paste
- 2 table spoons of pomegranate molasses
Method
Place a heavy base pan on high heat once it is hot add your ghee and lamb pinch of salt and baharat spice mix, fry off until sealed and browned all over. Then add the garlic and coriander and fry off for 30 sec until fragrant.
Add the okra and stir until all coated with the coriander and garlic. Then add the tomato paste and pomegranate molasses. Mix well until all coated and cook for 1 min stirring occasionally.
Add 2.5 litres of water constantly stirring to dilute the tomato paste add a small pinch of spice mix once it comes to a boil reduce to medium heat and cook for 2 hours stir occasionally until the meat is falling apart.
Once the meat is tender the liquid should have reduced in the pot and thickened a little have a taste and adjust salt to liking. It should look like this please enjoy with a serving of plain boiled rice or vermicelli rice.
Fatet jaj
My first dish of the day on MasterChef I have not come across anyone who has dis liked this particular dish yet this is a must have at home.
Ingredients
- 3 pita bread torn to bit size peices
- 3 tbs ghee
- 2 tablespoons hot paprika
- 2 tablespoons hot paprika
- 2 tbsp. salt
- 3kg chicken thighs fillet
- 2kg Greek yoghurt
- 1 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbs ghee
- 150g slivered almonds
- 150g pinenuts
Salad
- 2 carrots peel with a vegetable peeler for thin strips
- ½ cup sugar, plus extra for dressing
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 1 teaspoons salt, plus extra to taste
- 2 lemons, juiced
- ½ cup (125ml) olive
- ½ red cabbage, shredded
- 1 bunch mint, leaves picked
- 1 bunch of coriander leaves picked
Traditionally this dish is layered bread then chicken then yogurt then nuts but I turned it into a modernised version on MasterChef and it got me dish if the day! A lot of Lebanese people make this dish mine is a little different I like to play around with my dish so I hope you all like it.
Method
Chicken
For the chicken, combine spices and salt in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat. Heat ghee in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. In batches, cook chicken until golden.
Return all chicken to pan. Add enough water to just cover the chicken, then bring to a simmer season with pinch Lebanese spice mix and a good pinch of salt and cook for 40 minutes or until tender and cooked through. Remove chicken from stock and set aside to cool. Increase heat to medium-high and continue to reduce stock by half. Once cool enough to handle, shred meat and return to stock. Reheat when ready to serve.
In a bowl combine yogurt and garlic salt to taste and refrigerate until needed.
Tear up the flat bread to bite size pieces and fry in a pan with 2 tbsp. ghee on medium heat until golden place on absorbent paper until needed.
For the nuts, heat ghee and oil in a large frying pan over low-medium heat. Cook nuts for a minute or until golden.
Salad
For the salad, whisk sugar, vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt in a bowl until sugar has dissolved. Add carrots and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to pickle.
For the dressing, whisk lemon juice, olive oil, salt to taste in a large bowl until salt has dissolved.
When ready to serve, rinse and drain carrots, pat dry with paper towel. Add vegetables and herbs to bowl with dressing and toss to combine.
To serve, layer flatbread in a large shallow serving plate, top with a ladle chicken and drizzle 4 tbsp. of sauce. In a separate bowl place 4 large tbsp. of yogurt and also in a separate bowl 2 tbsp. of nuts. When each person has their plates they will the poor the yogurt on top a sprinkle the nuts over it. And enjoy