Out and About in Dubai

There is nothing like a big bowl of hearty stew in the cold of winter. And just because I’m in Dubai doesn’t mean it doesn’t get cold!

Even though it is 40°C (104°F) outside every day, it is 22°C (71.5°F) in my apartment and we don’t even have the A/C on!

So I was looking forward to this La-Ham Murraq / Saloona or meat stew recipe:

Like chicken and fish saloona, this is very common throughout the UAE, indeed in some homes it is cooked twice a day. Because it can be accompanied by so many other things - rice, biryani or bread for example, it is a flexible dish.

A daily cooked Ramadan dish, it is popular for sending into the Mosques during the holy month as it is filling and nutritious. It is also one of the most famous Bedouin dishes.

Serve with dishes of sliced limes, dates, radishes, garlic chives, sliced white onion and buttermilk.

I had to half this recipe since I was only cooking for 2 people so I used 1 pound of lamb shoulder and cut it into small chunks:
 

 

The lamb was then simmered in a large pot of water for 30 minutes to tenderize the meat and to remove the foamy meat scum that boils out. This way, the final stew doesn’t get all gross with floaty gray bubble bits.

While the meat simmered, I chopped up the potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and smashed up a few garlic cloves:
 

 

When the lamb was done simmering, I drained it and discarded the water. Next I browned the onions in canola oil for a few minutes and then threw in the garlic, lamb, the spices (bezar, turmeric, cinnamon bark, salt, pepper, and whole loomi), and the chopped veggies. I simmered for stew for one hour:
 

 

The brown balls floating in the stew are whole loomi which is dried limes (see photo below). It is often sold and packaged as dried lemons for some reason. It has a smell and taste similar to preserved Chinese kumquats.
 

 

After one hour, we had this bowl of goodness to enjoy:
 

 

It came out more of a soup than a stew but I think that may be because I didn’t use a starchy enough potato. The lamb was very tender, the loomi gave the soup a slight tang, and the bezar gave it a bit of a spicy kick.

I liked it very much and it was even better for breakfast the next day!
 

Note: This post is part of my Cooking Local project.

Last Sunday: Chicken with rice in the bottom.

Up next Sunday: Lamb fried with spices (La-ham nashif)

Tags: recipes UAE | 1 comment »

As per this post, the first dish in my latest cooking project is: Rice with Chicken in the Bottom (De-jaj ta-ha-tah).

This was my first attempt at an Arabic recipe. It is from Celia Ann Brock-Al Ansari’s “The Complete United Arab Emirates Cookbook.” I will not be re-printing the recipe here but you can access it via the above link.

About this dish, Celia writes:

“This must be prepared in a non-stick pot, for once it is cooked, the process of transferring it to a round rice platter can be tricky. Care must be taken to avoid breaking the crust which forms around the bottom of the rice pot.

A very attractive dish to present, it is usually served with plain yoghurt, sliced limes and raw sliced onion.

Considered to be a modern local dish, it can be also feature fish or meat instead of chicken.”

I’m going to say right off the bat that I’m not sure if this dish came out the way it was supposed to. I made so many changes to the recipe (some intentional, some not) that it could be considered a failed first attempt. But it did turn out very tasty!

The recipe calls for an Arabic spice mix called bezar or bizar. It is widely available in grocery stores, contains these ingredients and it cost me 11 dhs (US$3). Like Indian curry powder, you could make it yourself from grinding up whole spices but I bought mine pre-mixed:
 

 

To start, I cleaned and cut up a whole chicken (1 kg / 2.2 lbs), rubbed it with the bezar, salt, cardamon and turmeric and I let it sit for 15 minutes. I really wanted to pepper the chicken b/c I tend to salt and pepper everything. But the recipe didn’t call for pepper so I resisted the urge.

While the chicken was hanging out, I boiled 1 cup of basmati rice in salted water. The recipe called for 4 cups but I think that’s a lot of rice for 2 people. Even 1 cup of rice lasts us a few days - I can’t imagine 4 cups! That’s like dinner for 12!

After the chicken parts had been sitting in the dry rub for 15 minutes, I browned them in vegetable oil:
 

 

The browning of the chicken smelled so good - all the aromas of the spices (expecially the cardamom) wafted through the kitchen. After the chicken was browned, I took it out of the pan and set it aside.

Next, I browned up some onions and garlic in more vegetable oil. Added some ground loomi (dried limes), chickpeas (just a little as I hate chickpeas), and tomato paste with a little water. The recipe called for tomato puree but what I thought was puree in my pantry was actually diced tomatoes so I had to improvise with the paste and water:
 

 

Now it was time to assemble everything!

I put some oil in the bottom of a pot, added the rice, chicken, and the onion/chickpea mixture. I pressed everything down with a spoon and then poured in the saffron that had been soaking in hot water:
 

 

I was supposed to cover the pot with a wet cloth but I didn’t have one so I used a wet paper towel instead. I let the mixture simmer for 20 min and then took it off the heat and let is sit for 10 min:
 

 

At this point, I re-read the instructions and realized too late that I was supposed to use a nonstick pot. Oh well, I don’t have a nonstick pot anyway and I don’t think it would have made much of a difference to the final product considering the mess that I had already made of things.

This is what the dish looked like when I flipped the pot upside down onto a plate:
 

 

Well, it certainly is “rice with chicken in the bottom” but there was no “crust” formed at the bottom of my pot. Maybe I didn’t use enough oil or my rice was too wet. I was so upset with this dish that I didn’t even have the motivation to make it look nice or garnish.

Anyway, here’s what the dish looked like when plated:
 

 

The night I made this dish, I just wanted to cry at the way it turned out. But now, I just want to laugh - I mean - how ridiculous does that plate look? I should send myself to culinary school. You definitely won’t be seeing me on the next Top Chef or The Next Food Network Star anytime soon.

As per the instructions, I served it with yogurt, sliced onions (I’m assuming raw?) and sliced limes. It doesn’t look like much does it? Besides the fact that I need to work on my plating skills!

I was also worried that it wouldn’t taste like much but it was surprisingly quite good for a botched up attempt! DB, who had not been looking forward to this cooking project of mine, was also pleasantly surprised that he liked the dish and ate it with much gusto!

So there you have it: Arabic Cooking Part I. Hopefully, next week’s attempt will turn out better!

Up next Sunday is: Lamb Stew or La-ham murraq.

Tags: recipes UAE | no comments »

 

Previously, I had talked about wanting to learn how to cook up some Middle Eastern dishes due to the ease of obtaining the necessary ingredients here and also to learn more about the local culture.

After some Googling, I have found a collection of online recipes from Celia Ann Brock-Al Ansari. Her book, “The Complete United Arab Emirates Cookbook,” is unfortunately, no longer in print. I understand that she is an Amercan lady who married an Emirati and she produced the cookbook with the help of her husbands family and friends.

I don’t know if I will be able to make it through every single recipe, but I will certainly try and will post each attempt here on Sundays.
 

Besides Arabic cooking, I’d also like to make more of an effort to cook Indian dishes. Not just the stuff that’s in the restaurants (ie. Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Vindaloo) but lesser known recipes.

On that note, a colleague of my husband’s lent me her copy of “Khazana of Indian Recipes” by Sanjeev Kapoor’s. I have skimmed through the list of recipes and almost all of them sound foreign to me (well, they are foreign) but I will give them a try - that is the whole point of this experiment - To try different things and learn about other cultures through cooking.

I will not be printing the recipes on here because they are copyrighted but will link to the relevant sites if possible and you can purchase Sanjeev Kapoor’s book via Amazon.

First up for next Sunday is an Arabic dish called Chicken with Rice in the Bottom or De-jaj ta-ha-tah.
 

And I’m recruiting volunteer eaters so if I know you, come over on Saturdays to be food guinea pigs .

And finally, if you have any great Arabic or Indian recipes to share, please send me an email - I’d love to hear from you!

Tags: recipes India, recipes UAE | 4 comments »