Stuffed Grape Leaves-Vegetarian ورق عنب ملفوف ونباتية

Every family has its own stuffed grape leaves recipe. My mother always cooked it during Lent, but you can cook it and serve it at a room temperature as an appetizer or for picnics. It could last a few days in the refrigerator. 
If you are using fresh grape leaves from your garden, make sure to rinse them and put them in a bowl of hot water to wilt for 10 minutes. Drain them in the colander, and rinse them in cold water.

If you are using the grape leaves from a jar, remove leaves from the jar and rinse them and put in colander to drain.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Arabian spice (combination of allspice, cinnamon and black pepper)

1 medium tomato, chopped

½ cup chopped dill weed (optional)

½ cup frozen peas

¼ cup golden raisins

¼ cup pine nuts

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup white rice

Juice of 2 lemons

In a skillet, heat oil and sauté the onions and garlic. Add salt and spices. Add chopped tomatoes, dill, and peas and stir. Add rice, pine nuts, raisins and tomato sauce and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. (You can prepare filling the day before).

Remove the grape leaves from the jar, rinse them and put in a colander to drain. Arrange the leaves the top side down on the cutting board and spoon a tablespoon of the filling on the stem side of the leaf. Roll the leaf over the filling. Turn the sides of the leaf towards the center, and roll the leaf to the end.

Arrange in a deep pan. Pour 1 ½ cup of water and lemon juice over the grape leaves.  Place a heat proof plate on top of the leaves to keep them submerged while cooking. Bring to a boil covered, and reduce heat to a medium. Cook for 25-30 minutes until the rice grains are cooked.

Bread on the Grill

I tried to bake bread on the gas grill when we lost electric power for a few days due to a storm. The result was excellent and decided to bake this bread early in the morning every weekend. I place the rolled out dough on a piece of foil and place the foil sheet on the preheated grill. You could preheat a pan on the grill and place the dough on the pan if you prefer.

You can bake this bread in a 450 degrees F. oven. If you have a gas oven, bake it on the bottom of the oven. For 3 minutes. When it puffs up, turn it to the other side and bake for 1 more minute.

Makes 8

3 cups all purpose bread flour (plus more for rolling)

1½ teaspoon salt

1 1/4  cup warm water (divided)

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bowl

Put the yeast in 1/4 cup of water and add sugar and stir. When the yeast starts to bubble, add the flour, salt and olive oil and stir. Add the water and kneed it by hand to make soft dough. Place it in a greased bowl and cover. Leave it in a warm place to rise for one hour. You could make the dough in a food processor or a mixer. I prefer to use my hands.

Preheat the gas grill to medium high.

Punch down the dough and divide into small balls the size of a small apple. Place these balls on a floured board and cover with a towel to rise for 30 more minutes.

Roll out the ball of dough on a floured surface to make a flat (6-inches) in diameter circle. Place on a floured board and cover with a kitchen towel for 15 minutes.

Place the rolled out dough on foil and lay it on top of the grill. Close the cover of the grill and check the bread after 5 minutes. Flip the bread to the other side and bake for 1 more minute. Remove from the grill and place on a wire rack to cool.

To make the Zaatar bread (Thyme bread), which is a Lebanese bread, drizzle olive oil over the flattened dough, and sprinkle zaatar mixture on top. Bake it as in the recipe above, but you should not flip it to the other side on the grill.

You can purchase the zaatar mixture from the Middle Eastern grocery store.

Arabic Coffee-Qahwa Arabiya القهوة العربية

Arabic coffee is also called Turkish coffee. It is usually very finely ground and sometimes we add a few pods of cardamom while grinding it to give it a very pleasing flavor and aroma. Traditionally, we used to buy the coffee beans, roast them and use a hand grinder (Dagerman) to grind the coffee beans. You can find ground Arabic coffee at Middle Eastern grocery stores or you can purchase the beans and grind them in the store grinder. You can buy dark roast, medium or a combination of beans according to your preference.

You need a special coffee pot (Dalla) to brew the coffee or use a small pot to brew it. There are different varieties of pots made with copper, brass, aluminum or stainless steel. They all work well on the stove. Special pots used by the Bedouins on a charcoal grill are used for making bitter coffee served during funerals, tribal meetings and coffee houses (Chia Khane). Coffee is served with a glass of water and a piece of candy or manna halva.

1 cup water

1 tablespoon ground coffee

1 teaspoon or more sugar

Pinch of ground cardamom (optional)

Pour tap water in the coffee pot (Dalla), and Place the coffee pot on the stove on a medium heat. When water comes to a boil, remove the pot to the side and add the sugar and coffee, and stir. Place the coffee pot on the stove and bring to a boil, and remove from heat. Return the pot again to the stove and bring the coffee to a boil. Do not leave the stove as it will overflow. Remove from heat and set aside. You will notice light color foam developed on the surface. Skim off the foam and pour a teaspoon in every demitasse (finjan) on the tray. Pour the coffee to top and serve.

Do not stir the coffee or add milk to it. Coffee grounds will settle in the bottom of the demitasse. When finished drinking, sometimes guests flip their cups on the saucers to allow the thick coffee ground to drip down. Then they wait for somebody to read their fortune for entertainment.

Rice with Tomato Sauce-Red Rice

When we cook this type of rice, we top it with fried eggplant slices and pieces of chicken. We serve salad and pickles on the side. You could cook this rice with lamb broth and top it with stewing lamb and fried eggplants. In this recipe, I grilled the eggplants for a lighter version. We serve this dish as a whole meal.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups basmati rice

1 ½ cup chicken broth or water

½ cup tomato sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon (bahar-spice mixture of cinnamon, allspice, black pepper)

Heat oil in a pot and sauté the rice until rice grains are coated with oil. Add salt and spices and stir. Add the chicken stock and tomato sauce and bring to a boil half covered. When the liquid is almost absorbed, stir the rice and reduce heat to low and leave it to steam for 20 minutes covered.

Grilled eggplants

Slice the eggplants and sprinkle with salt. Put them in the colander to drain for 30 minutes. Pat them dry with paper towel. Put them in a bowl and drizzle vegetable oil over them. Place them on a sheet pan under the broiler for 7 minutes until toasted. Turn the slices to the other side, and broil them. Set them aside and sprinkle Bahar spice over the slices.

You can prepare the eggplants ahead and keep refrigerated. We traditionally cook the chicken and remove the skin and bones. You could use leftover chicken. Sauté the chicken in butter or oil, and set aside. Plate the rice and top it with the eggplant slices, and chicken pieces.

Ground Beef and Eggs Omelet-Makhlama. مخلمة

This is a very filling omelet that you can prepare for a brunch or a light dinner. You can always prepare the meat mixture ahead of time and refrigerate. Reheat the meat and crack the eggs. You could scramble the eggs if you prefer.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil

½ pound ground lean chuck or lamb

1 small onion, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon Arabian spice or black pepper

1 medium tomato, chopped

3-4 eggs

Heat oil in non-stick pan. Sauté the meat and add the onions. Season with salt and spices. Add the tomatoes and stir. When the meat mixture is cooked and tomatoes are soft, crack the eggs on the meat mixture and cover for 4 minutes until the eggs are set. Serve in a pita bread or bread on the side.

Iraqi Tea-Chai الشاي العراقي

The most popular brands of tea used in Iraq are Assam black tea, Ceylon Black tea, and other brands. They are dark and strong when brewed. Sometimes we add a stick of cinnamon to the teapot or a few pods of whole cardamom to falvor the tea.

There is other variety of teas that we serve in Iraq, and they are dried lime tea, and chamomile tea. Hibiscus tea is more popular in the South. These teas are used for medicinal purposes.

We usually consume tea throughout the day, and you can find tea stalls and vendors everywhere. We drink tea with milk in the morning for breakfast. Other times of the day, we drink it black.

You need a teapot, and a kettle with boiling water

Preparation:

2 teaspoons loose black tea or (Lipton loose tea)

2 cups boiling water

Granulated sugar, or sugar cubes

Put tea in the teapot and pour the hot water. Place the cover on top of the teapot. Cover the teapot with a towel to keep the teapot warm and steep for 10 minutes. We traditionally put the teapot on top of the kettle to steep.

To serve it, we put 1 teaspoon or more of sugar in the istikan, or tea cup. Pour tea to half full, and add boiling water to top of the cup. Stir the tea cup and drink. Be careful, the istikan can be very hot. We do not strain the tea as we pour it. Tea leaves settle to the bottom of the istikan.

Sometimes we serve sugar cubes on the side.

Note: we add boiling water to the tea when we pour tea in a cup to dilute it. Tea can be very strong, and gets bitter as it sits longer on top of the kettle.

Spinach with Black Eyed Peas

For this recipe, you could use frozen spinach. You can use lemon juice or dried lime which you can find at Persian and Middle Eastern grocery stores.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (6-ounce) bag fresh spinach

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 (15.5-ounce) can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

Juice of ½ lemon or 1 teaspoon crushed dried lime

In a deep pan, sauté the onions and garlic in oil. Add salt and pepper and stir. Add the spinach, lemon juice and back eyed peas and stir. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and serve it with plain white rice or a side dish.

You can cook this dish with stewing lamb or beef. When the meat is cooked on top of the stove, follow the above recipe and add 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons tomato paste. Serve it with rice.