Sambousak bi Joubneh

I had cheese sambousak served to me several times in Saudi Arabia. It was delicious, and I wanted to serve it to my family at home. I used the dough from my meat filled sambousak, and just split it in half, making half with meat and half with cheese for our Paschal feast. Here is the recipe, finally.

1/2 recipe sambousak dough

Filling:
1 pound Arabic cheese - a mixture of mshallaleh and nabulsi or all mshallaleh - shredded or finely chopped
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 tablespoons pastry or all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup nigella seeds

Flour slurry:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 water

Safflower or other neutral oil, to deep fry

Add the sunflower oil to a saucepan and warm it over medium high heat for a couple of seconds before adding the flour. Add the flour, mix it together with a whisk to form a paste, and let it cook for about 30 seconds to a minute.

Add milk and whisk constantly to remove any lumps. If you still have lumps, they will dissolve with the cheese. Keep on stirring until the mixture thickens.

Add the cheeses and nigella seeds and whisk constantly over medium heat to melt the cheese and integrate everything. You should end up with a smooth, pliable and stretchy mix with no lumps. Allow to cool down completely before filling the sambousek.

Using a rolling pin, roll one section of dough at a time out on a floured work surface to 1/4 inch thick. Add more flour, if necessary, to keep dough from sticking. Using a sharp knife, cut into 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch squares. The exact dimensions are not important, but the thickness is. Fill the squares with a heaping tablespoon of the filling, a little off center.

Make the flour slurry by combining flour and water in a small bowl to a moderately thick consistency; brush the edges of each square (this is an extra step to bind the edges together with no leaking during frying). Fold two corners over the filling to make a mini rectangle. Using a fork, crimp the edges of the sambousak together to seal. You want to make sure you have a tightly sealed turnover to help prevent filling from leaking out while frying. These are now ready either to be fried or frozen in a single layer and bagged up to fry later.

Heat oil to an adequate frying temperature in a deep sided pot or skillet, around 350°F. When you are ready, slip the sambousak into the pan. Ignore directions that tell you not to crowd the pan. Leave enough room to turn them, but fill that pan so they don't just burn without cooking the dough properly. Fry until golden on one side, 2 or 3 minutes, then flip. When both sides are golden brown, drain the sambousak on a rack over a rimmed baking pan. Repeat until all the sambousak are fried.

Crockpot Peanut Chicken

This is a quick prep, easy meal to make mid week, or when you know you will have a busy evening. It takes about five to ten minutes to prep it, can be done in the morning, and just left to sit until dinner time.

3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons sesame oil
juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (we used Korean chile flakes)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 pounds chicken parts (we like boneless, skinless thighs)
sesame seeds, chopped scallions, and lime wedges, to garnish

Put the peanut butter into your crockpot and turn it to high so it can begin to melt. Add all other ingredients, except chicken, sesame seeds, scallions, and lime wedges. Stir to mix well. Add chicken and toss to coat.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for 3 hours. This is done when the chicken is cooked through and has reached desired tenderness. Serve with rice and stir fried vegetables.

If your crockpot isn't at least 2/3 full, keep an eye on it so the peanut butter doesn't burn. You may need to stir a few times.

Tunisian Style Shakshouka with Fried Onions and Peppers

This is an interesting variation on shakshouka that we sometimes make. Although the recipe says to use potatoes or sweet potatoes, we almost always use sweet potatoes. Likewise, I hardly ever use the chopped tomatoes. If you bake the sweet potatoes the night before, this takes barely any time to make in the morning.

4 medium to large potatoes or sweet potatoes (sized to match the volume of your eggs), baked
8 large eggs
generous amount of good olive oil
2 pounds of a mixture of red, yellow, orange and green bell peppers, sliced in strips
1 large onion, sliced thinly
3 - 4 serranos, thinly sliced (optional, but not really)
3 tomatoes chopped and seeded (optional)
1 tablespoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of hot smoked paprika
6 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup each of chopped parsley and cilantro

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Cut baked potatoes of choice in half, lengthwise, and scoop out the middles, reserving flesh for later, leaving about 1/4 inch of flesh as a border. Season with salt and pepper. Place, cut side up on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each half with one egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 8 - 15 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your egg.

While the eggs are baking, heat a skillet over medium high heat until it is hot. Add the sweet peppers and sliced onions, and fry until softened and a little charred (not burnt). Add a generous amount of olive oil, and the tablespoon of paprika. Stir to combine and bloom the paprika, then add the serranos and garlic. Fry another minute or two. Add the tomatoes at this point, if you are using them. Season with salt, and stir in the juice of 1 lime. Remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley and cilantro.

Mash the reserved potato flesh with salt, the hot smoked paprika, a bit of olive oil, and the juice of 1 lime.

Serve the egg filled potato with the peppers and onions on top, and the mashed filling on the side. We like to eat it with a little bread, and it is pictured with fried halloum.

Quick Curtido

This is a quick to make replacement for the true, fermented, curtido that is made throughout Latin America. I will share a fermented recipe for longer keeping at some point, but this is great to make when you don't have the other, and can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a month. I like it as a coleslaw alternative, as well.

1/2 small green cabbage, cored and very finely shredded (about 4 cups)
1/2 medium red or white onion, peeled and very thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded (about 1/2 cup)
2 small jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed, minced
1 bunch cilantro, finely minced
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt

In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, onion, carrot, jalapeño, and cilantro. Sprinkle with vinegar and salt. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. You can skip this, but it improves with the time in the refrigerator.

Limoncello Crème Brulée

People are really intimidated by crème brulée, but it is actually simple to make. This particular recipe was interesting to me, because we had limoncello in our freezer which was so strong you could run a car on it, and I like it better as a flavoring than as a drink. This recipe is based on one I found online, but modified for our preferences. Anyway, you can make the custard part ahead of time and just brulée the day you serve it. You do not need the kitchen blowtorch for this. People made it with a broiler long before that tool was available to us. I also found out that you can make this recipe, doubled, in a 9 X 13 inch pan, and serve it for a larger group, broiling it for a little longer than the 10 minutes. We served this at an ordination recently. I also learned that crème brulée for 80 uses 80 eggs, nine cups of sugar, and three gallons of cream.

1 large egg, whole
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 teaspoons for each ramekin
3 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon Limoncello
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or paste

Preheat the oven to 300˚F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of the sugar together on low speed until just combined.

Meanwhile, scald the cream in a small saucepan or in the microwave until it's very hot to the touch but not boiled.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cream to the eggs. Add the limoncello and vanilla, mix to blend, and pour into 6 8-ounce ramekins until almost full.

Place the ramekins in a baking pan and carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custards are just set, with a tiny jiggle in the center. Remove the custards from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm, at least two hours and up to overnight (if overnight, cover with plastic, touching the custard, so a skin doesn't form).

To serve, sprinkle 2 teaspoons of sugar evenly on the top of each ramekin and either heat with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar carmelizes evenly or place on a jelly roll pan and broil on high for 5 - 10 minutes. Allow to sit at room temperature for a minute until the caramelized sugar hardens.

Kofta Kebabs

These are delicious broiled, grilled, or fried. If you are grilling them, remember to soak your skewers overnight to reduce burning. This is also really a quick meal to make. If you have a food processor, puréeing the aromatics is speedy, and they do not take long to broil or grill. In this quantity, frying takes a little while longer, but is still manageable on a weeknight.

4 pounds ground lamb or beef, or a mix
1 bunch parsley, trimmed lightly, with stems
1 bunch cilantro, trimmed lightly, with stems
2 large onions, peeled
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons Saudi Seven Spice Blend (your choice as to which)
1 1/2 tablespoons flake salt
2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper flakes (if using regular red pepper flakes, use less)
ground sumac, to serve

Place meat in a large bowl. Set aside.

Purée parsley, cilantro, onions, and garlic. Pour over the meat, along with the seven spice, salt, and Aleppo pepper flakes. Mix well until thoroughly and evenly combined. Form into the shape you see above, and either press well around/onto the prepared skewers, place on an oiled pan for broiling, or set aside to be ready to fry in a skillet, in batches.

Cook until done to your liking, but not overdone. No gray meat please. Serve with a generous sprinkle of sumac and dip into toum or drizzle with harissa or sah'awiq. This is also wonderful with taratoor. If you are my husband, you use all these sauces at once. Serve in Arabic bread, or over rice. Sah'tein!

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 12:18 PM