Molo what now?
Want to enjoy a true middle eastern meal? Try Molokhia. Famous in Egypt but cooked all over the Arab world. Sounds different, looks strange but unbelievably delicious. Served best with a side of white rice


What is Molokhia? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulukhiyah


Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: approximately 90 minutes

Ingredients:


1lb beef cubes
1 medium size onion
Minced Molokhia (can be found frozen at pretty much any Arab/halal store in town)
2 chicken Maggi cubes
Salt and Pepper to liking
Lemon juice
1 teaspoon of Minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Cut up onion in small cubes
Add olive oil to a pot and place on high
Add cut up onion and stir till onions are clear/see through
Add meat cubes and stir with onions until meat is brown
Add salt and pepper to liking and stir
Add water to cover the meat and then some (like 3/4 of a regular sized pan)

Let boil
After a while you’ll notice foam on top of the water (it’s really just denatured protein) and you’d want to scoop that out and toss it in the sink

After clearing off the foam, drop the two cubes of Maggie in the pan, lower heat to medium, cover and let boil for 45 minutes. You might want to check on the water to make sure the level doesn’t drop too much. You want to maintain about 2/3 of the pan with water

After 45 minutes, take the frozen Molokhia out of its packaging, place in the pan and stir occasionally so it thaws and loosens. Stir periodically.

Let simmer, and stir occasionally, on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes after thawing then add the minced garlic and 2 capfuls of lemon juice. Stir for five minutes then remove off the stove.

Pour yourself some Molokhia in a bowl and either enjoy it with pita bread or a side of white rice or both

Sahteen

Prep time: 5 minutes
cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
Spaghetti
2 tomatoes
black olives
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 capful of lemon juice
1 can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
grated Parmesan
oregano
Black pepper

Directions
Bring water to a boil in sauce pan and add pasta

while water is pasta is cooking,
Add olive oil to pan (I like to use a wok but a pan would work too) and put the pan on high heat
in a minute add the minced garlic and let it brown over no more than a minute
Add tomato sauce
mix
add oregano, black pepper and lemon juice
mix
Add spaghetti (after draining it duh) to the sauce in the pan
mix
Add tomatoes and olive oil
mix
add Parmesan cheese

done!

sahteen



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It’s getting cold outside so here’s a recipe for a quick, about 10 minutes, soup that costs under $2 per pot

Ingredients:

1 medium sized to large potato
Better than bouillon (or Maggi cubes)*
Vermicelli
Black pepper

Directions

Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan
Peel potato and cut into cubes while waiting for water to boil
Add potato to boiling water
Add 1 tablespoon of better than bouillon to water and potato
Let boil for 8 minutes then add about a quarter pack or less of vermicelli
Boil for 2 minutes

Add black pepper to taste

Sahteen

* I like chicken but it comes in veggie, beef and fish tastes as well
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Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: about 1 hr
1 lb of beef chunks/cubes
1/2 bag of green peas
1 onion
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
Salt and pepper
2 cans of Tomato paste

Directions:

Wash the meat
Chop up the onion into small pieces

In a medium sized sauce pan, heat up the olive oil on high
Add the meat chunks
Stir till meat is a little brown
Add chopped up onion
Add salt and pepper to liking
Stir until onions are translucent (like almost clear)
Add water till It’s about 3/4 of the pan full
Let boil

You’ll notice cruddy foam gathering up at the top (I know very cookery terminology)

Skim the crud off

Cover and let boil on medium high For 30 minutes

After 30 minutes of boiling, add the green peas

Add the tomato paste and stir until no paste chunks and the water is all saucy red

Add minced garlic

Cover and let simmer on medium low for 15 minutes

You can make the rice meanwhile (refer time old post)

Serve with rice And you can also dip pita bread in the sauce

Sahteen

Today’s dish(es): Lah. Zah. Nyaaah

Lasagna
(And my oodles of noodles on the fly bonus dish)

Skill level: medium to advanced
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 120 minutes

Ingredients

2lb ground beef
1 container of ricotta cheese
1 big onion
Salt and pepper
1tbsp minced garlic
Ground Cinnamon
1 can of diced tomato
1 can of tomato sauce
Oregano
2 tbsp Olive oil
Lemon juice
1 box of lasagna noodles (to all my Italian friends, scusa but I am not making my own noodles)
1 bag of shredded Colby and Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

Dice the onion
Heat olive oil in a saucepan on high
Add diced onion and stir for a minute
Add ground beef and stir
Add salt and pepper to liking
Stir until meat is browned
Add can of diced tomatoes
Add can of tomato sauce
Add A couple of dashes of cinnamon
Stir
Add 1 tbsp of minced garlic
Add a couple of dashes of oregano
Add a capful if lemon juice
Stir
Turn heat down to medium/medium low, cover and let cook for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally

While sauce is cooking, boil the noodles according to box directions

After sauce and noodles are ready, get an oven safe pan (I like glass ones, less sticky on the bottom)

Lay one layer of noodles at the bottom of the pan next to each other

Add a serving spoonful of ricotta cheese on top of the noodles
Add 1-2 scoops of sauce
Mix sauce and cheese and spread over noodles to cover them
(The measurements will vary based on the size of your pan)

Add second layer of noodles on top and repeat

Add third layer on top and repeat

After you mixed ricotta and sauce on top of third layer, sprinkle shredded cheese on top generously so it covers the sauce and ricotta cheese mix

Sprinkle some pepper and oregano on top if you like

Cover and bake in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes then uncover and let bake for another 10-15 minutes

Sahteen

HOLD ON!!!

I made oodles of noodles!
I don’t want to throw them away!

No worries.
Take the extra noodles and cut them sideways (on the short side-see pic)

In a wok or a pan, add a teaspoon of olive oil and then heat on high

Throw the cut noodles in
Add a can of diced tomatoes
Add salt and pepper to liking
Add a couple of dashes of oregano
Add a capful of lemon juice
Add a teaspoon of minced garlic
Add a couple of dashes of graded Parmesan cheese
Stir for 5 minutes

And viola! You’ll be eating pasta for days

Kabsa- an Arabian Gulf main dish

Skill level: medium to advanced
Prep time: 10 minutes or less (unless you have a 9 year old helping you in which case it takes about 572 hours)
Cooking time: 75 minutes

Ingredients
Chicken pieces (could be drumsticks, thighs, or breast. With bone tastes better)
4 cups Basmati rice
2 tomatoes
1 big onion
Salt and pepper
Makbos spice mix (which you can find at your nearest halal/middle eastern store- two of which are in Fort Wayne Halal Store on Hobson Rd and Almadinah on Colsieum)
Dried lime (also typically found at above mentioned stores)

Directions
Dice the tomatoes and onion
In a saucepan, add a little bit of olive oils and turn heat up to high
Add diced tomatoes and onion
Stir for a couple of minutes
Add your rinsed and cleaned chicken pieces to the pan
Add salt and pepper to liking
Stir until chicken turns slightly brown
Add enough water to fill about 3/4 of the saucepan
Add 4 tablespoons of makboos spice mix
Cover and let cook on medium high for at least 60 minutes (check on the water level occasionally and if needed add water to maintain level at at least half the saucepan)
Soak the rice in water and set aside until chicken is done cooking

After chicken is cooked, take the chicken pieces out and put them on a tray

If you’d like, you can put the tray in the oven and broil on low for a few minutes. This works well if you kept the skin on the chicken

Take out the dried lime and throw away

Rinse out the rice
Add rice to the saucepan
Turn heat to low-medium
Cover and cook the rice (15-20 minutes)

Once rice is done, put it on a tray and then put the chicken pieces on top

Aaaaand sahteen

p.s. the spice mix differs slightly based on country. The one I like and use is the Saudi mix but there Bahraini, Qatari....etc.

Burgers!

Skill level: beginner
Prep time: 5 minutes
Marinate: at least one hour

Ingredients:
Ground beef (at least 90% lean)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic poweder
Ginger powder
Onion
Balsamic vinegar

Prep:

Put 1lb of ground beef in a bowl
Add sat and pepper to liking
Grate one onion on top
Add 1 tablespoon ginger powder
Add 1 tablespoon garlic powder
Add 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Mix well and leave, cover bowl and put in fridge for at least an hour

Pull out when ready and make into patties

Grill to liking

Friiiiiiied chicken

Prep time 5 minutes
Marinate 1 hr
Cook time 20-25 minutes

Ingredients
Chicken drumsticks
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Half an onion
Oregano
Vinegar
Lemon juice
Small can tomato sauce
Frying oil
All purpose flour

Directions

Put drumsticks in a bowl
Add salt and pepper to liking
Add 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
Grate half an onion on top
Add oregano leaves
Add a capful if lemon juice
Add 1/4 cup vinegar
Add tomato juice
Mix and let sit for an hour in the fridge

Put about a couple of cups of all purpose flour in a bag
Add drumsticks one at a time
Shake drumstick until each has a good coat of flour on

Deep fry for about 20 minutes making sure to flip the chicken every few minutes

Sahteen!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cool time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:
​
4 potatoes
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Oregano leaves
Lemon juice
Olive oil

Peel potatoes
Cube potatoes
In a skillet (or a wok if you have one) heat up about 1/4 cup olive oil
Dump cubed potatoes in
Add salt and pepper to liking
Sprinkle some garlic powder (if forced to measure I’d say half a teaspoon)
Sprinkle oregano
Stir
Add a capful if lemon juice
Stir

Every few minutes stir and turn the cubes over until you get a nice brown crisp

Sahteen

p.s.

Some would crack an egg on top but I’m not a fan

p.p.s
If you want a little more flavor,
Add half a diced onion
Add a cup of frozen peas
Add couple of sprinkles of cumin

Tooooooday’s recipe is for Saneyt Kufta (Sanyet- tray, Kufta- ground beef) which is usually eaten with a side of rice. You can refer to previous post about how to cook rice if needed.

Skill level: beginner
Duration: 15-20 minutes prep, 1 hr cook time

Ingredients:

1lb Ground beef
2 Potatoes
2 onions
2 tomatoes (or canned diced tomato if in a pinch)
Tomato sauce
Parsley - a handful or two
Minced garlic
Lemon juice
Ginger powder
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop up parsley
Grate half to three quarters of an onion on the big hole side (<— sorry to go all technical on you)
Put ground beef in a mixing bowl
Add parsley and grated onion to the beef
Add salt and pepper to liking
Add 1 teaspoon of ginger powder
Add 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
Add 1 capful of lemon juice
Mix (I usually use my hand washed hands to do that)

Take the beef out and flatten it into a cooking tray (such as one pictured below or whatever shape you got)

Slice up tomatoes (or open can)
Peel and slice potatoes peel and slice onions
Add to the top of the beef mix
Add tomato sauce

Cover with aluminum foil
Put in oven at 400 degrees and cook for 1 hr
After 1hr, you can take the foil off and cook for another 10 minutes if it’s too saucy

Sahteen!

p.s. picture below is of prep before it went into the oven but will post finished picture afterwards