Loco Moco

This recipe is really a general one. I use either hamburgers we have made or leftover hamburgers from grilling or pre-shaped ones. Just use the ones you like. It is really tasty and makes a filling meal. I serve it with garlic rice and fruit, vegetable or salad. This week, we made roasted asparagus with it, as well as having some fruit. Because of Jerome's dietary restrictions, I used oil and bacon grease in place of the butter and increased the worcestershire sauce and left out the soy sauce. Normally, though I use the butter and soy sauce, and it really is better that way (though the bacon grease cooked onions are pretty good). We also skipped the fried egg for him. Next year, we will go back to normal. The way I have written the recipe here, it serves our family of 10. You can easily adjust for the number of portions you need.

10 hamburger patties

Gravy:
4 tablespoons butter
4 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I prefer either sweet onions or red onions)
4 cups strong beef broth
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup soy or tamari sauce
4 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
generous amount freshly gound black pepper
1/4 cup corn starch
1/3 cup water

oil or butter to fry eggs
10 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste

white rice or garlic rice
1 large bunch parsley, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons per person)
2 bunches scallions, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons per person)

In a large skillet, fry your hamburger patties about 4 - 5 minutes per side. Set aside on a plate.

In the same skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat and sauté the onions until well browned and soft. Remove from pan and set aside.

Pour in the beef broth, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and water. Bring to a boil and season with black pepper.

Make a slurry with the corn starch and water and drizzle into gravy mixture to thicken. Remove from heat.

Fry the eggs sunny side up in an another pan, seasoned with the salt and pepper. I cook them about a minute covered, then uncovered for 2 - 3 minutes, but if you like your eggs more or less cooked than that, adjust as you wish.

To serve: Place a scoop of rice on the plate, put a hamburger patty on top of that, top with some of the sautéed onions, ladle some gravy over this, then place a fried egg on top, sprinkle parsley and scallions over that.

Vegetarian Rouz Bukhari

So, mostly this was something made with meat and meat broth and served with meat when I was growing up. However, this version of it is so good, and can be served on both meat and meatless days for us. That makes it more versatile for our family.

4 cups basmati rice
1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tablespoons (or 2 tablespoons ghee/butter) for garnish
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled and grated
2 whole cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
5 whole cardamom pods
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (or more, to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas
6 1/2 cups hot vegetable broth or water
salt, to taste (I tend to use about a teaspoon of kosher salt)
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup sultanas (golden raisins)

Rinse and drain your rice at least three times, until the water runs clear. Then cover with warm water and let it soak for at least 10 minutes, while you prepare and gather the other ingredients.

In a large pot, over medium high heat, add 1/4 cup of oil and fry the onions, with a pinch of salt, until they soften and start to get brown at the edges. Add in the carrots and sauté for a minute or two. While the onions are cooking, drain the rice and have it ready to add to the pot.

To the onion and carrot mixture, add all your spices and sauté for about 30 seconds to a minute, stirring. Quickly add the drained rice and the chickpeas and stir gently to incorporate with the vegetables and spices and to coat with the oil. Pour in the hot vegetable broth, stir and let come to a boil with the lid partially covering the rice. Allow to come to a full, rolling boil, then cover, and reduce heat to the lowest possible setting, and cook for 20 minutes, undisturbed. Don't peek at your rice.

As the rice cooks, heat a frying pan over medium heat. When it is hot, add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil (or ghee/butter), then the nuts and cook gently, stirring constantly and never looking away for a few minutes, just until the nuts get fragrant and start to softly brown at the edges. Do not look away. Do not walk away. They will immediately burn, and you will have to start over again. When they are fragrant and just brown, turn off the heat and add the sultanas. Stir together, then remove from the heat.

When the rice is cooked, remove the lid and gently fold and fluff the rice, then cover again and let it sit for about 5 minutes off the heat. Garnish the top with the toasted nuts and sultanas to serve.

Koubbat Battatas

This is a different way to make potato koubbeh. Rather than the vegetarian way that I make, which is also wheat based, this is similar to the way the Iraqis make it, and has no wheat, but does have a meat filling. I could not get mine to fry in a pretty way at all, so instead used the oven, and coated it liberally with oil and just roasted the patties and flipped them half way, which produced lovely, browned and delicious koubbeh for us. It was also faster than frying them in batches, so I am just going to do that from here on out. This made about 20 patties for us, and left us a bit of the filling, which we simply ate over rice.

4 pounds potatoes, peeled, boiled, mashed and cooled
2 tablespoons rice flour or corn starch
1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 1/2 pounds ground lamb or beef
1 tablespoon oil + more to coat the baking pans
2 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

Preheat your oven to 425˚F and set out two shallow baking sheets with rims. Coat generously with oil and set aside.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the tablespoon of oil and the ground meat. Cook until starting to brown, breaking up as you cook the meat, then add the onions, and cook until the onions are soft and the meat is brown. Add the garlic, salt, and allspice, and cook for about a minute or two more. Stir in the parsley and remove from heat to cool a little.

Mix the potatoes well with the rice flour or corn starch and the salt. Break off a piece about the size of a large walnut (still in its skin - maybe an inch or so in diameter), and hold it in one hand, hollowing it out with the thumb of your other hand. Fill with about a tablespoon and a half of the filling. Pinch the edges together to seal, then gently flatten into a disc shape and set on the oiled pan. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture and filling. Bake for about 12 minutes, then carefully turn over and return to the oven, baking for another 12 minutes. You may need to add a little oil if you weren't quite so generous with the pan initially. Serve warm.

this is what they looked like when I was trying to fry them

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:16 AM