Oriental inspired Dinner
- Bobo
- Jun 17, 2016
- 4 min read
I love Ramadan because I feel invested in a mission of cooking every night the best possible Iftar/dinner. I take the time, even more than usual, to plan the menus in advance, do the grocery according to a shopping list (instead of throwing whatever looks good in the trolley and ending up throwing half by the end of the week) and elaborate yummy and well-balanced three courses meals.
It always started with a soup, followed by a salad and a main dish made of proteins, carbs, good fat and vegetables. The perfect Iftar or dinner in other words.
This meal is inspired by some oriental meal but twisted with my french cuisine habits and literally takes less than 1 hour to prepare.
Egyptian Barley Soup
-> to use also in case of emergency sick husband (or children... which is the same anyway), magic ! So many person will use a Maggi cube to make the broth but, there is nothing better than a proper 2 hours minimum simmer one made out of chicken and vegetables.
For 3/4 persons :
- 1 Organic whole chicken
- 2 branches of celery
- 1 carrot
- 1 yellow onion
- 3 bay leaves
- 10 cardamon seeds
- 3 litres of spring water
- 150g of barley
- Olive oil
- Salt&Pepper
Instructions :
- Cut the chicken in two pieces from neck to tail and rince with water in order to remove any remaining of guts.
- Place in a large cooking pot along with the onion, carrot and celery branches cut into pieces. Add the bay leaves, the cardamon seeds some salt and pepper and cover with 3 litres of spring water (add a bit if not all the element are immersed).
- Place on the stove and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the temperature to medium and let simmer for 2 hours.
- When the broth is ready, remove the chicken and filter.
- Rince the pot and put back on the stove with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Pour the barley and brown a couple of minutes until every single grain is coated with oil.
- Finally add the filtered broth and cook for approximately 10/11 minutes until the barley gets soft.
- Served with squeezed lime and some black pepper.
Carrot & Cashew salad
For 3/4 persons :
- 500g of carrots peeled and grated
- 1 red pepper deseed and sliced thinly
- 4 hands-full of Rocca salad washed and drained
- 75g of unsalted cashew
- 2 tbsp of black mustard seeds
- 3 tbsp chopped parsley or chervil
- 2 spring onions finely sliced
Dressing :
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp raspberry vinegar (I could not find some in Dubai so I used balsamic and crush some fresh raspberries in the dressing).
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- pinch of sugar
- salt&pepper
Instructions :
- Heat a nonstick frying pan over low heat and dry-fry the cashew for 5 minutes checking often to prevent from burning. Tip on a small plate and leave to cool. Add the mustard seeds in the pan and dry-fry for 2 minutes until they start popping.
- Mix together in a large bowl the mustard seeds, carrots, red pepper, parsley and spring onion.
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and pour on the salad.
- Chop the nuts and scatter over the salad. Serve immediately !
Lamb Keftas, Oven-Baked potatoes and Grilled Zucchini
For 2/3 persons :
For the keftas :
- 400g of Organic minced Lamb
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 50g of breadcrumbs
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 small bunch of parsley
- 1 small bunch of coriander
- 1/4 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground paprika
- 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 Tsp vegetable oil
- salt&pepper
For the sides :
- 2/3 zuchini
- 6 medium potatoes
- olive oil
- salted butter
- sea salt
Instructions :
- Pre-heat the oven at 180º
- Wash the potatoes and sliced them on the top, left the bottom part attached to hold it together (TIPS : place chop-sticks on each side of the potatoes to block your knife half way). Place in a baking tray, sprinkle with olive oil, cover with aluminium foil and place in the oven for 35 minutes.
- Finally slice the zucchini and cook for 5/7 minutes in boiling water.
- Drain and place along with the potatoes in the baking tray for the 15 remaining minutes of the potatoes.
- For the keftas, place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined. Using wet hand, shape the mixture into small meatballs.
- Heat the oil in a large nonsitck frying pan and fry for 10-12 minutes, turning frequently until browned all over. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Once the potatoes are cooked (check if they are soft inside using the tip of a knife) place a small cube of salted butter on top and sprinkle sea salt.
- Sprinkle black pepper on the zucchini. Place all the elements in a plate and sprinkle chopped parsley before serving.
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