Patlicanli Pilav

Ingredients

2 oval eggplants, about 500 g or 1 lb in all
salt
1 large onion
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cups chopped, peeled tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tsp chopped fresh mint
2 cups long grain rice (of course I use basmati)
2 1/2 cups light stock or water
yoghurt for serving

1. Cut eggplants into large cubes with skin on. Place in a colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. Leave for 30 minutes. Rinse and dry with paper towels.
2. Halve the onion lengthwise and slice
3. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a heavy based pan and fry eggplant cubes until lightly browned. Remove and keep aside.
4. Add remaining oil to pan and gently fry onion until transparent. Add tomatoes, seasoning, herbs and fried eggplant. Bring to a boil.
5. Wash rice until water runs clear. Drain and place on top on eggplant mixture. Add stock or water.
6. Bring to the boil without stirring. Reduce heat, cover pan and leave to simmer gently for 30 minutes. Turn off heat, place a cloth or 2 paper towels over the rim of the pan and replace lid. Let pilav stand for 10 minutes. (Id watch the cooking time-- it owuld depend on how much water and what kind of rice you are using-- use your oqwn knowledge on that-- you dont want it too dry or soggy or BURNT!)
7. Stir gently and turn into a heated dish. Serve with yoghurt.

Basmati Rice recipes

Basmati recipes
~~~~~~
Iranian Style

** You can either soak the rice in water beforehand to remove startch for a
few hours or overnight, OR you can cheat like I usually do and not soak it!
LOL it just makes it a bit longer to cook.

1. Ok boil a whole lot of water (way more than the rice needs to absorb) in
a big pot with some *salt* (or not in your case!) when it is at a rolling
boil, add the drained or *dry* basmati rice.

2. Boil the rice until it is a little bit soft but not 100% cooked (al dente!)
. over here, on an electric stove, in the southern us, with non soaked rice,
it usually takes about 8-9 minutes, depending on how much rice I am making. Soaked rice cooks faster, and altitude plays a part, so check it.

3. Drain the rice in a collander (add *salt* lol). Heat some oil, or in my
case GHEE or melt BUTTER in the bottom of the pot. (add *salt*) Now there
are a few different things you can do now:

A) peel and slice some potatoes about 1/8th inch thick, and put one layer of
them on the bottom of the pan. Add the rice on top, and use your spatula to
push in the rice from the sides of the pan (will look like a little foothill,
mountain, or devil's tower) Use the handle of your spatula to poke a few
holes down in the middle of the rice to help it steam well. Add more butter
or oil on top, and (*salt*).
B) do the same thing, except use pita bread instead of potatoes (*salt*)
C) Just add the rice to the pan without anything on the bottom, especially if
you like that nice crusty, golden "tadigh" on the bottom of your rice.
(dont forget the *salt*) dont forget the mountain effect and poking the
holes, etc...

4. Take a paper towel and lay it over the top of the pot. Place the lid on
top of it snugly, and let the rice steam on LOWWWWWWW for about 15-20 minutes.
Take the lid off, and off with the towel, and mix around the top and middle
of the rice (not the bottom or you will get soggy potatoes/bread or no rice
tadigh). Add (salt) and more oil or butter if needed, and what I sometimes
do is dissolve some ground saffron (very small amount) in a small bit of warm
water, and then pour it over the top. (YUM)

5. Steam for a while more, depending on how crusty u like the tadigh, or
whether or not the potatoes have turned into this LOVELY crunchy golden stuff
that everyone fights over.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Easy Peasy "Iraqi" Curry Rice
this is too easy

1. Soak basmati rice in a whole lot of water for an hour or so. Drain.

2. In a pot, (I ALWAYS use non stick when I cook rice anyways) fry onions,
garlic (if u like it) in oil until soft. Add your favorite curry mixture,
the amount depends on how much rice youre making-- dont ask me, I just
eyeball it and make it different every time, add some salt or salt substitute,
and some of that broken fideo pasta u find in the mid east stores (like how
Rice a Roni has). Fry a little bit more, until the pasta is sort of golden.
3. Add the drained rice and let it fry for like a minute, stirring to make
sure each grain is coated and glistening.

4. Here's my sneaky trick-- I add the water-- I always know it is enough if
I can stick my finger in the water, and it goes to my first knuckle by the
time I touch the rice (first knuckle meaning the one closest to my fingernail!)
Some other people will sort of "tip" the pot and see how far they have to
tip it before they see the rice layer (Ive messed up that way before).
Anyhow better not enough water than too much, you can always add more if
its all dried up and still uncooked.

5. anyhow, cook the rice on a simmer covered by the lid of course. you'll
know when it's done.

*This is REAL good with roast chicken or Iraqi style bakeso r fried or
grilled FISH-- did I post that recipe before? I cant remember


~~~~~~~~~~~~
Basmati Pilafs:
Just an afternote-- Cook the rice the way in the iranian style recipe up to
the point of DRAINING it.

Then you cook what ingredients you want to put in with the rice (usually
FRYING haha). Put some oil or butter on the bottom of the pan and spread
HALF of the partly cooked basmati rice on the bottom of the pan (or u can do
the potato thing and put half of the rice on top of THAT). Spread your
mixture of whatever on top of that, and then put the remaining rice on top.
Make a mountain, poke holes, towel, and steam. VERY good
Stuff you can put in pilafs: (what Ive tried so far, theres endless combos of
course)

*fried ground beef spiced with turmeric, pepper, salt, and green beans

*same as above, except replace green beans with grated or diced carrots which
have all been fried together.

*Fried onions (till theyre nice and browned but not burned), diced potatoes,
pine nuts, curry powder, and shredded cooked chicken or beef or lamb (or not
meat).

* fried ground beef with turmeric and shredded cabbage (that recipe is on my
homepage, ask for it if u want)

* oh DROOL- u can make any kind of really thick yoghurt-based meat stew (with
curry or something) and use that-- Id also do a nice garnish of fried onions,
potatoes, pine nuts, and raisinssssss
if u want more ideas for this ask, I can think of a few dozen more...

Koshari

Koshari

3/4 cups brown or green lentils, washed
5 cups water or chicken broth
salt
1/2 cup fideo vermicelli (lots of ppl actually use macaroni)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup rice
1 3/4 cups water or chicken broth
salt

Garnish:

2 onions, slivered
2-4 tablespoons olive oil
Tomato sauce:
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced (ok I cheated, I usually put about 3)
1 can whole tomatoes (14-16 oz)
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp cumin
salt
pepper

Green Chili Vinaigrette (I only do this sometimes)

3 cloves garlic, crushed
salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/3 cup vinegar (recipe says wine vinegar but I only have white over here)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 serrano chilis, seeded and minced

1. Boil the lentils, covered in the salted water or broth until tender but
not sticky, about 1 1/4 hours. Drain any excess water
2. Brown the vermicelli in 2 tbsp olive oil and add the rice, stirring to
coat every grain. Pour on the 1 3/4 cups water with added salt (or broth),
cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes or so (keep ur eye on it
though so it doesnt burn or form a big old crust) If using macaroni Id cook
it separate from the rice.
3. Meanwhile, slowly cook the slivered onions for the garnish in the 2-4 tbsp
olive oil until dark brown and crisp. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. For the Tomato sauce, lightly sauté the chopped onion in 2 tbsp olive oil.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Whirl the tomatoes and vinegar
in a food processor or blender and add to the garlic and onions. Stir to
mix well, add cumin, season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer,
covered for around 10-15 minutes.
5. Combine the vinaigrette ingredients separately
6. Turn the cooked rice and pasta into the lentils. If you feel that it
needs more cooking, sprinkle with a little water, cover ad simmer until its
all tender.
7. To serve, u can do a few different things. you can:
* mound the pilaf onto a platter and put the tomato sauce and vinaigrette
into separate small bowls to be spooned over each dish as desired.
*what I really do- I usually dont make the vinaigrette (most Egyptians dont
either) and I just pour the tomato sauce over the pilaf and mix it really
well. I usually have a nice plate of torshi (pickled veggies) on the side
too.
8. Top with the crispy onions! YUM YUM

Chicken Kabsa

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 chicken, cut up
1 large onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup tomato puree (I use a few tbs paste actually)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 carrots, grated
3 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 small cinnamon stick
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups chicken broth or water (I use water)
1 cup long grain rice (or more, but remember to increase the water or broth for how much more rice you add)
toasted almonds or pine nuts

Instructions

1. melt butter in large skillet or dutch oven. add chikcen pieces and brown on all sides
2. Remove from skillet and set aside
3. add onion and garlic to skillet and fry until tender. Stir in tomato paste
4. simmmer a few minutes
5. add tomatoes carrots cloves cardamom cinnamon stick salt and pepper. cook for 1 minute or so
6. Add broth or water and return chicken pieces to it bring to the boil and reduce heat and cover simmer for about 30 minutes on low heat
7. Stir rice into liquid or remove chicken and put rice in and put chicken BACK-- ORRRR take out the chicken, set aside and bake it by itself to be crispy and add just the rice to the liquid (thats what I do)
8. Cover. Simmer 30 minutes more or until rice is tender-- add more water if its dry--if its too wet too bad its messed up now lolol(what I do to tell if theres enough water-- I add the rice and then put my finger in the water-- if the water is up to my first knuckle by the time I touch the rice, then its ok)

Serving suggestion: for garnish I like to fry some onions and pine nuts and potatoes diced

Shrimp Machboos

Ingredients

1 pound shrimp shelled
salt
black pepper
2 tsp of kabsa spices (or add pinches of red pepper, cumin, cinnamon, clove, black pepper, cardamom, nutmeg coriander, and ground dried lemon)
3 tbs olive oil (or more)
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 ripe tomatoes chopped
1/4 tsp ground dried lemon (loomi, noomi basra, omani lemon)
salt
juice of one lemon
2 tbs butter or olive oil
1 3/4 cup rice
3 1/4 cup water
1 rounded tsp tomato paste

Instructions

Sprinkle the shrimp with salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of the kabsa spices and rub the seasonings into the shrimp.Sautee in 2 tbsp hot oilve oil for around 2-3 minutes (dont cook them completely) remove from panTake same pan and sautee the onion with the rest of the olive oil until soft. Add garlic, rest of kabsa spices, tomato, loomi, salt, lemon juice, and butter. cook for a few minutes more.Add the rice, making sure each grain is coated with the spiced tomato mixture.Pour on the water, stir in the tomato paste and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 25 minutes (add more water if the rice seems too dry, if it seems too wet, remove the cover and gently raise the hheat for a few minutes)Turn off flame, and gently stir in the shrimp. Put cover back on, and steam without additional heat for about 5 minutes

Cabbage Rice

Ingredients

*1/2 Head Medium White Cabbage
*1 Large Onion, chopped
*garlic cloves, chopped
*1 lb ground beef
*Tumeric
*salt
*pepper
*red pepper (optional)
*Basmati or Long Grain Rice
*Butter or Oil

Instructions

Put a large saucepan full of water on the burner with salt. When it boils, add the rinsed rice and cook for roughly ten minutes, or until the rice is a little bit cooked, but not yet done. Drain in a colander and run some cold water over it to remove any starch. Set aside.In a frying pan, heat up some oil or butter and gently fry onions until transparent. Add several cloves of chopped garlic and fry for a few minutes more, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn. Add ground beef, salt, pepper, red pepper, and tumeric, stirring constantly to make sure the peices of beef break up well. When browned well, chop up the 1/2 head of cabbage into ribbons and add to the mixture. Fry over a slow heat until the cabbage is wilted. In saucepan, melt some butter or oil and add 1/2 of the cooked rice. Add the cabbage-meat mixture, and then place rest of rice on top. Take your spoon or spatula handle and poke several holes in the rice down to the bottom to insure it steams well. Place a paper towel or a thin dish towel over the top of the saucepan, and then fix the lid on tightly (this traps the steam and makes sure the rice doesn't get soggy). Steam over LOW heat for 20 minutes, or until the rice is done to your liking.