authentic Egyptian recipes
Potato Layer Bake Potato Layer Bake is a delicious side dish. The potatoes are gloriously soft and tender with a wonderful crispy topping. They are seriously full of flavour having additional vegetables layered in and then cooked in a rich stock. They are similar to …
Roasted Butternut Squash Salad Roasted Butternut Squash Salad : Butternut squash, roasted until tender and seasoned with Dukkah (a warm aromatic nut and spice blend), is the main star of the show with this dish. The sweet nutty flavour of the butternut squash is perfectly …
Lamb Fettah : Beautifully tender, succulent chunks of meat are laid over Egyptian rice which has been cooked in tasty stock. At its base are pieces of crispy bread. These have been soaked in a wonderfully rich gravy which the bread sucks up willingly holding onto its fantastic moisture. This is then covered in the rice. The finishing touch for this wonderful dish is a rich tomato sauce, laced with cumin and garlic which is then drizzled over the meat as its crowning glory.
It’s the dish traditionally served at Eid, the Islamic festival at the end of Ramadan, the month of Fasting. It’s also frequently served at weddings, Aqeeqahs (celebration of the birth of a child) and many other celebrations. It’s such a good dish; bursting with flavour and the perfect centre piece for any feast.
You may find recipes for Lamb Fettah from other Middle Eastern countries which use minced lamb and include chickpeas and aubergine amongst its ingredients. But in Egypt this is how Lamb Fettah is served.
Any of you who are film buffs may be interested to know that Lamb Fettah (made by his mother) was reportedly Omar Sheriff (the well loved Egyptian star of Dr Zhivago, Laurence of Arabia, The Tamarind Tree and so many more)’s favourite food. This comes as no surprise as so many Egyptians, if asked, would have to agree that he’d made the best choice.
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Possibly the most important element is the meat itself. Spiced Slow-Cooked Lamb is the perfect choice, Beautifully tender lamb, seasoned to perfection.
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The second ingredient needed for a great Lamb Fettah is Egyptian Rice with Shareya
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The finishing touch for Lamb Fettah is the gorgeous tomato sauce which is drizzled over the meat & this is its crowning glory.
This dish is frequently served as the centre piece for celebration meals. It’s generally served on a large serving trays.
You’ll need to start your preparations at least 4 hours before you aim to serve Lamb Fettah. Most of this time will be taken up with the cooking of the meat, so don’t worry this isn’t a great labour intensive recipe.
First, cook the Spiced Slow-Cooked Lamb. As I said start this at least 3-4 hours in advance. You can cook this the day before and just heat it up, which takes the pressure off on the day of hosting. You can even cook the meat the week before and freeze it if you prefer, just take it out the night before to defrost.
Start cooking the Tomato Sauce at least half an hour in advance. Again this can be made the day before in readiness. Or similarly it can be made long in advance and frozen.
Begin cooking the rice 30 minutes to an hour in advance. Once its cooked it will keep hot for up to an hour, if you keep the lid tightly on the pan.
Half an hour in advance, take enough pita bread to cover the surface of the tray and tear it into pieces.
Then turn the oven on to its minimum heat setting and heat the bread for about 10 – 15 minutes. This will encourage the bread to dry out and crisp up.
Now that these major components are prepared, you are ready to start constructing your Lamb Fettah.
Spread the dried bread evenly over the serving tray.
So, now it’s time to re-hydrate the dried bread with the help of the gorgeous gravy from the lamb stew / Spiced Slow-Cooked Lamb.
If your stew only has a little gravy, then you’ll need to make up some stock. Do this using stock cubes, and add it to your stew. At the same time add a couple of knobs of butter to ensure the gravy is beautifully rich.
Now, ladle spoonfuls of gravy over the dry bread. The dry bread will happily soak up the liquid like a sponge and hold onto it. This element of the dish is so special, so make sure you have plenty of gravy.
Give the bread a couple of minutes to absorb the meat juices.
Spoon the hot rice over the soaked bread.
Then ladle a little more gravy over the rice too.
Now it’s time to carefully place the pieces of meat onto the rice.
The final touch is the wonderful tomato sauce. I like to add either the juice of a lemon or a tablespoon of white vinegar to this, the acidity accentuates the flavours of the meaty beautifully.
This wonderfully rich tomato sauce is then drizzled over the meat as its crowning glory.
I really hope you’ll enjoy this recipe, it has so many elements and layers of flavour. Once you’ve tried it you’ll understand why it’s one of Egypt’s favourite dishes.
Let me know how you get on & as always I look forward to seeing your photos.
Tomato Sauce; rich and glorious This Tomato Sauce stands out from the crowd with the addition of cumin and lots of lovely garlic. These two important ingredients fill the air with fantastic heady aromas as well as providing full-bodied flavour. Tomato sauce is of major …
Spiced Slow-Cooked Lamb, spiced to give an extra depth of flavour making it an unforgettable delight for your taste buds.
Savoury Ghoulash is (as one of my Son-in-Laws described it) “The Best Meat Pie Ever”.
It’s crispy and buttery micro-thin layers of filo pastry, encasing the tastiest minced beef filling that’s been seasoned to perfection.
Anyone who’s got a fear of making pastry doesn’t have to worry. The pastry comes straight from the shop or supermarket – you don’t even need to roll it & it’s perfect every time. Fantastic!
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C
Heat up the oil in a large frying pan.
Put the mince into a bowl and break it up so it’s loose and not in clumps.
Add the mince, onions and peppers to the hot frying pan. Spread the mix evenly across the bottom of the pan.
Then don’t stir it or move it around. This will allow the meat to brown and take on a lovely colour and flavour. If you keep stirring it that won’t happen and instead it will start to cook in the steam you create, and the meat will go a greyish colour with much less flavour. Only, once the meat starts to brown should you stir it.
Keeping it still will also allow the onions to caramelise a little and brings another layer of flavour.
Fry you meat for about 10 – 15 minutes until it starts to brown and the onions soften.
Add the tomatoes and the remaining ingredients for the filling.
Bring it to the boil over a medium flame and then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for 20-25 minutes. Stirring regularly. By this time the sauce will have thickened and reduced to a much thicker consistency.
Remove the bay leaves.
Take the pan off the heat and put to one side.
Butter your baking dish
Lay one layer of pastry in the base and then brush over with the melted butter, then repeat this process 7 more times.
Pour the cooked meat sauce in the baking dish, over the pastry. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to level the surface .
Next, lay another 8 layers of pastry over the meat filling, buttering between each layer.
Drizzle any excess butter you may have left over the top layer of pastry.
Your ghoulash now needs to be cut with a sharp knife. This needs to be done before cooking because after the pastry has been cooked, it becomes lovely and crisp and the whole thing would just break up if you tried to cut it then.
Cut straight down the centre lengthways and then into 4 equal portions in the other direction, making 8 rectangles.
Pour the stock all over your Savoury Ghoulash
Put your Ghoulash into the pre-heated oven and cook for about 30 – 40 minutes until the pastry becomes a lovely golden brown.
Remove your tray of Savoury Ghoulash from the oven & wait for it to cool down a little before serving.
I’m confident that you will love this recipe. Give it a go and let me know what you think.
Make People Smile : If you want to make them smile discover the recipes that make their tastebuds dance & that excites their senses.
What is Egyptian cuisine? To a great extent Egyptian Cuisine is Plant Based Egyptian cuisine, is famous for its rich and diverse ingredients. It’s a fusion of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and African food. To a great extent Egyptian food is plant based. It relies …
Pickled aubergine have a rich tomatoey stuffing, laced with garlic that’s packed with flavour and has a good fiery kick from the chilli. They’re brilliant as part of a mezze or as a side dish with any meal. They’re also good enough to snack on, on their own or packed into some warm flat bread with a little feta cheese if you choose.
Although these little gems are called ‘pickled’ they are in fact frequently eaten the same day.
16 small aubergines – the size of sausages
I onion finely chopped
8 cloves of garlic peeled and finely sliced
2 tomatoes finely chopped
2 heaped tbspn tomato puree
½ a red chilli finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup white vinegar
olive oil
Wash the aubergines and trim the stalks off.
Put the aubergines into a pan and cover them with boiled water. Add a good pinch of salt and boil for about 15 minutes – until the aubergines soften slightly – they should still be firm.
Meanwhile put a frying pan over a medium flame to warm up for half a minute, then add the onions followed by the olive oil.
When the onions begin to brown slightly’ quickly add the garlic and stir for a few seconds before adding the chopped tomatoes.
When the tomatoes start to cook down a little and go soft add the remaining ingredients and cook for about 5 – 10 minutes more. If the mixture becomes a little too dry just add a splash of water.
Do a taste test – it should be richly tomatoey, nice and garlicky, have a kick from the chilli and it should also be obviously vinegary.
The flavours should be quite concentrated – Remember the flavour will be diluted when its put into the aubergine.
The consistency of the filling should be about the same as tomato puree.
When the aubergines are tender take them out of the water.
Make a slit in the aubergines (top to bottom) that’s about ¾ of the depth of the aubergine.
Put them into a colander to allow them to drain completely and cool slightly.
Put a plate over them with a weight on top to encourage any water trapped in them to drain away.
Take the spicy, garlicky, pickled tomato mixture and pack it into the slits you have made in the aubergines.
If you want to treat the aubergines as a preserve, pack the aubergines stuffing side up into sterilized jars and cover them with enough olive oil to completely cover them before sealing the jars.
If you can, leave the aubergines for 4 -5 days, this will allow the flavours of the filling to permeate into the aubergine.
Serve at room temperature as a side dish with any meal. Alternatively drizzled with a little olive oil and pack into warm flat breads, perhaps with a little feta cheese, for a tasty snack.
* The Palestinian recipe for pickled aubergines combines chopped walnuts in the stuffing which is another tasty option.