Happy 2012

Life is like a piano, 

white keys are happy moments & black keys are sad moments... 

but, remember, 

both are played together to give sweet melodies.

Best wishes for a happy and blessed 2012

Mansaf Recipe

Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan. If you have ever been to Jordan and not eaten a Jordanian Mansaf, for me, this equates as not visiting Petra!

The traditional way to serve Mansaf

Mansaf is served as the main dish in most social occasions from weddings to graduations to special events. Among Jordanians, especially Bediouns, serving Mansaf is a gesture of hospitality and honor. Traditionally, Mansaf is served on a very large dish and eaten collectively, whereas guests stand around the platter, their left hand behind their back, and eat the Mansaf with their right hand. I find Mansaf just as good eaten with a fork or spoon.

For years, I was shy from cooking Mansaf thinking it is very complicated to cook and that you have to be an expert chef before you can contemplate cooking Mansaf! How wrong I was!!! Now, whenever I have a large crowd over, Mansaf is my safe haven. For starters, Mansaf is a main attraction, so when you are cooking it you don't need to complement with other dishes. To top that, all your work with Mansaf ends around 3 hours before serving, which gives you ample time to relax and get ready before your guests arrive!!! Exactly what I think we all need when we are expecting guests!!

The main ingredients of Mansaf are lamb meat chunks and Jameed.

Jameed is hardened and dried salted yoghurt that is made from goat milk. The dense yogurt is formed into balls and them completely dried. The dried Jameed balls, often referred to as stones, keep well for months. In Europe and the U.S. you can buy Jameed from Middle Eastern or Arab specialty stores.

The recipe portion here is for one about 350 grams Jameed stone, and is enough to feed about 8 people.

Iceberg Salad Recipe

One of the biggest challenges I face at home is getting my girls to eat salad. Telling kids that salad is nutritional and very important for their health doesn't get me anywhere! The only option is to make a salad that is eye appealing and very tasty.  Iceberg salad is both. It is easy to make and both kids and adults love it.

Iceberg Salad is a staple on my table whenever I have guests over. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Jam Butter Cookies Recipe

These jam butter cookies with their red center are just the perfect pairing for the festive season. Just beware, they are so delicious that your little ones will be asking for them year round!

At home, we bake these yummy cookies several times a year and they are gone in a snap. For Christmas, I make 3 portions of the jam butter cookies recipe to make sure that there is enough left for the guests! 

The good news is that these cookies are easy to make and kids like to participate in the fun of rolling and filling the centers with jam.  I love these Jam Butter Cookies!!!

Peppermint Bark Recipe

Are you running late for Christmas this year? I certainly am. Woke-up this morning to the fact that I still have a zillion things to do. One of them being that I still haven't finished most of my Christmas cookies!

With these holiday delights there should be no worries with getting something delicious and presentable on your table. These peppermint barks are ready in 10 minutes from start to finish. Yes, 10 minutes!!! To top that they are certain crowd pleasers!

Christmas Cake with a Middle Eastern Twist Recipe

It's going to be Christmas in 2 days! Hurray!

Christmas brings such happy memories of good times spent with family and friends. I can still feel my childhood excitement waking-up before dawn to see what was under the Christmas tree. One particular Christmas, when I was around 7, I got a musical toy. Our house was full and there was no place to play as it was annoying the elders. So after lunch, I hid in the cupboard of the bedroom before my dad went to bed. I kept playing the machine for over an hour while he was trying to figure out where the noise that was not allowing him to sleep, was coming from! LOL!  Christmas is fun.

One of the main staples of Christmas, other than the Christmas Tree and Santa, is the Christmas Cake and assortment of Christmas Cookies. Christmas cakes are usually made in advance, kept in an airtight container and fed a small amount of brandy, rum or whiskey every week until Christmas. There are many version of Christmas Cake with each country or region adapting Christmas Cake with the fruits common in that area. The Middle East Region is no exception.

Growing up, I don't remember ever being fond of Christmas Cake or any Fruit Cake for that matter. That was until I tried this version of Christmas Cake at a friend's house. It is a lighter version not overly soaked with alcohol and with an amazing flavor.

I like to think of this Christmas Cake as the Middle Eastern version of Christmas Cake, for it includes includes dates - a favorite of mine - and almonds, plus a variety of spices that are popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. And the best thing about this Christmas Cake is that you don't need to make it way in advance and feed it, you only soak the fruits in alcohol in advance. What is even better, is that if you are not an alcohol consumer and like to stay clear of it - as many people in the Middle East region don't consume alcohol - you can prepare a non-alcoholic version of this Christmas Cake and it tastes wonderful.

Tip: Removing Cake from Pan in one piece.

Remove cake from pan in one piece

 

Ever been disappointed at the end of your baking endeavor when you flip the cake just to find it broken? There are several things you can do to avoid that, and get a whole, unbroken cake.

Tips for removing cake from pan include:

Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Today's dish is not considered part of Arabic or Middle Eastern food! It is originally a Russian dish that has nowadays gained international status: Beef Stroganoff.

Beef Stroganoff is one of those very old and traditional recipes that date-back centuries. The first known recipe for Beef Stroganoff appeared in a Russian cookbook in 1861. That version didn't have onions, mushroom, peppers or tomatoes.

Beef Stroganoff had such an appeal, and became quite popular. It became so popular that many people developed the basic Beef Stroganoff recipe further and in modern days many, many versions exist.  Some Beef Stroganoff recipes include the traditional sour cream, while others use whipping cream. Some Beef Stroganoff recipes include tomatoes, while others don't.

There are so many versions of Beef Stroganoff that if you do a search of "Stroganoff Recipe", you will even come up with a vegetarian alternative!

At our home, we have our own version. I am not sure what Elena Molokhovet (the writer of that first published recipe) would think of it, but I do know that it is a very easy recipe to prepare and the resulting dish is very delicious. We enjoy this version of Beef Stroganoff a lot, hope you will too.

Tip: My Meal Portions

As a full-time working mom, time is limited! So, I normally cook meals that feed my family over 2 days. So all the potions for the meals I post are enough to feed 9-10 people, or 5 people over two days.  For a smaller portion, cut ingredients in half.

Mixed Spices Recipe

Arabic Cuisine and particularly Middle Eastern cuisine use a particular spice mix that we refer to as mixed spices or seven spices.

To prepare 250 grams of mixed spices used in Arabic and Middle Eastern food, at home you will need:

Pesto Pasta Recipe

Are you ready to learn a very, very easy recipe?

Pesto Pasta

Pesto Pasta is a long time favorite of mine. I used to eat Pesto Pasta in restaurants thinking that something that tastes so good must be very, very difficult to prepare. I know better now....

Preparing pesto is one of the easiest things ever, you will actually be amazed at how easy and simple it is!!

Chicken with Vegetable Rice Recipe

Have you ever been abroad for a long time? Did you notice how after a period you start yearning for the home-made food you grew up with? How the smell of anything remotely familiar gives way to a wave of nostalgia?

When I was 18, I lived abroad for some time. At that time other than my favorite Chocolate Cake and a few other sweets, I didn't know how to cook anything! And although at one point in my life I thought I could live on Chocolate Cake alone, it didn't work!!!! 

One day, I felt I couldn't function without having a homemade, Arabic meal. I missed Middle Eastern and Arabic food with it's spices and special flavor. I missed the aroma that fills the house when you cook Arabic food. I was in despair, and no restaurant meal was satisfying enough!!! So I decided to cook Chicken with Vegetable Rice.

This was before the advance of mobile phones and the Internet, when international calls were way off the roof - eliminating any chance for calling my mother for detailed guidance.  How difficult could it be I thought? You throw in the chicken, rice and vegetables and voila, your meal is ready!  And that is exactly what I did. The outcome you ask?  LOL... an inedible dish that even the alley cats didn't come close to!!!  In all my ignorance, I didn't add salt let alone the various other spices and seasonings that are used in Middle Eastern food. I didn't precook the chicken ... in short didn't do most of the work.

This was my first attempt at cooking a main meal dish. As disastrous as it was, it didn't stop me from trying again and again until I nailed it! I hope you enjoy the finished product as much as I do.

Basic Chocolate Cake Recipe

I have been thinking for a few days about which recipe to post first. I have so many easy recipes that I want to share with you, and the first one has to be REALLY special!

After much thought, I decided that the first recipe will be the chocolate cake recipe. Why? Because it is an easy recipe, and more importantly because chocolate cake is the first recipe I followed and prepared by myself. I learned to prepare chocolate cake when I was about 13 years old. It is such an easy recipe, that even at 13, it was a breeze!

For years, this chocolate cake recipe was the only recipe I knew and it was my specialty. I love chocolate, and chocolate cake for me was the ultimate. At that time, I thought I could live on chocolate cake!

Given my infatuation with chocolate cake, I have tried dozens of chocolate cake recipes, but this easy recipe still remains a staple in our home. These days, I use two chocolate cake recipes, and this is one of them. The texture of this chocolate cake is moist and very soft and fluffy.

Recap

It has taken me well over a year and a half to decide the form of my birth into cyberspace.  Guess that is because I am a technology migrant and not a native.  This is what I learned at an event recently, those born into the cyber-world are native, while those of us who were born before the 1990s are migrants – quite interesting!

Well, enough with the thinking! I finally decided how I will put this small space I have onto the cyber world into use. 

When I got married and had my first child - all with a very demanding full-time job - I had very little time for cooking and baking!  But food had to be on the table, and nourishing food for that matter.  At the time, I embarked on a task to come up with the tastier meals that did not require more than half an hour (the maximum) of my precious time!

A daunting task was coming-up with the measurements! I would call my mom or mother in-law and she will tell me a dash of this and a sprinkle of that….  For heaven’s sake, a dash for me, could mean something completely different for you.  And that was evident in the taste of the meals – countless meals went into the garbage bin!

So I started measuring my ingredients to the dot, fixing the measurement every time I cooked the meal until the taste was to my desire.  For those who have been to the Middle East, you would know the high measures we have for food!   I decided that my retirement project will be to put that into a cookbook for the fast and busy mom! 

Lately, I thought of posting all these recipes acquired over the past 18 years on this blog.  I believe that this will be a good use of my small space in the cyberworld.  What do you think?