Spiced Slow-Cooked Lamb
Spiced Slow-Cooked Lamb, spiced to give an extra depth of flavour making it an unforgettable delight for your taste buds.
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Savoury Ghoulash
Savoury Ghoulash: micro-thin layers of buttery filo pastry envelop an incredibly delicious beef filling. “The best meat pie ever”
make people smile
Do you want to make meals that make people smile?
If you want to make people smile we have the perfect recipes!
So, you want to make people smile. Here at “Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen” you’re going to find some fantastic recipes that are certain to bring smiles to the faces of your friends and family.
Let’s face it, we all want to make people smile, it’s one of the main reasons we love cooking.
Most cooks are real “people pleasers” and nothing makes us happier than a great reaction when people eat our food. We don’t want to just feed people, we want to make them smile!
I’m not talking about doing your research and just feeding them the food that promotes serotonin and dopamine – your body’s feel-good chemicals.
Make food that excites them
I’m talking about giving them food that makes their tastebuds dance, food that excites their senses, food that wakes them up and makes them take notice.
Food that looks different, smells different and plays new tunes on your taste buds.
I’m talking about food that makes them say “Wow, what’s in this?”
The recipes here at Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen have exciting ingredients and are packed with flavour.
And yes, THEY WILL SMILE!
Here are a few of our recommendations of dishes to try
Halibissah :
A deliciously spicy soup with chickpeas, served in a long, tall glass with a straw. Lemon gives a citrus highlight, whilst a hint of chilli awakens your taste buds. Extra wedges of lemon are served with it along with shots of hot chilli sauce for those wanting a little more excitement.
Even before anyone tastes how good halibissah is, people always smile. Either because they’ve just never seen anything like it before or because they can see it’s halibissah and they know they’re in for a treat.
Muhammara :
Red Pepper & Walnut Dip is sensational. The thing is we’re all used to having the regular Houmous and Baba Ghanoush dips. But this wonderful Red Pepper and Walnut Dip is something much more out of the ordinary.
With one of the ingredients being pomegranate molasses it is has a flavour that many may not have come across. Also with the subtle kick of chilli, Muhammara – Red Pepper and Walnut dip is a dish that has people sitting up and taking notice.
Shakshuka :
Eggs poached in a rich spicy tomato and red pepper sauce.
The smile comes without fail with shakshuka. Firstly,because the sauce is just so rich and gorgeous. And secondly, because after the initial gorgeous flavour you get a slight tingle of heat from the chilli which makes your eyes sparkle often followed by a slight giggle as they realise the heats there, but it’s not too hot to handle.
Tahini :
A sauce used very much as you would use mayonnaise. Great for Falafel and Grilled Meats
It’s creamy and smooth, tangy from lemon juice and laced with cumin and garlic. It brings to life everything it’s drizzled over and highlights all the glorious flavours.
Baklava Rolls :
Micro-thin layers of crisp buttery filo pastry layers wrapped around chopped nuts, bathed in a sumptuously sweet, cinnamon syrup.
This is such a wonderful sweet pastry, it’s one of those “naughty but nice” real treats that you can’t help but love and one that definitely brings that feel good feeling and big smiles on the faces of everyone.
What is Egyptian Cuisine?
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
Pickled aubergine have a rich tomatoey stuffing 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.
Egyptian Rice with Shariya
Egyptian rice with Shariya
Egyptian rice with shariya is possibly the most popular way of eating rice in Egypt. The shariya is very short lengths (about 1cm) of a pasta very similar to vermicelli.
Egyptian Rice with Shariya is cooked in delicious stock making it incredibly tasty
Egyptian rice is always fried first before it’s boiled in a tasty stock. So it isn’t light and fluffy but neither is it bland or tasteless. It’s rich and tasty and in fact it’s so good you could sit and enjoy a plate of it eaten on its own.
Egyptian rice is a form of short grain rice, this can be difficult to find in the UK so Chinese rice is a good substitute. Failing that, long grain rice is absolutely fine to use.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 2 mugs Egyptian rice
- ½ mug shariya (broken fine vermicelli pasta)
- 3 ½ mugs hot stock *This can be made by dissolving 4 stock cubes in 4 mugs of boiling water if you don’t have fresh stock.
Method
Put 3 tbsp of oil into a large pan and put it over a high flame to heat up.
When the oil is sizzling add the shariya and stir. Fry this for a couple of minutes before adding the rice. Fry them until they begin to brown – stirring continuously.
Time to add the stock
So now you need to add the stock to the rice. Be very careful.
Now please be careful
For this next stage PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL – I would advise you to wear an oven glove on the hand you are pouring from and keep your face well back – the first lot of liquid you add to the hot rice and oil, will shoot hot steam up, like a full blown volcano, so be warned. The first time I did it I had the scare of my life.
Stir and simmer for 12 minutes over a very low heat
Stir the rice and shariya quickly. Put the lid firmly on the pan and reduce the heat down to the lowest heat possible and cook for 12 minutes.
Allow it to Steam for another 5 minutes
Turn off the heat but keep the lid on the pan and allow the rice to finish cooking in its own steam for a further 5 minutes.
Egyptian Rice with Shariya is delicious and it’s ready!
Now fluff up your rice and it’s ready to serve.
Egyptian rice with shariya is good to have with chicken or stew. It’s great with kebab or a multitude of other dishes.
I hope you enjoy this recipe
Let me know what you had it with. And send in your photos.
Koshery
Koshery Learn the best recipe for one of Egypts signature dishes & one of its favourite Street Foods
Baklava Rolls
Baklava Rolls
Baklava rolls, are better known in Egypt as Goulash. They’re a beautiful crispy layered filo pastry dessert. Filled with chopped nuts & bathed in a scented syrup, they’re sensational. They’re one of the most popular sweets in Egypt.
Although they look incredibly complex, Baklava Rolls are possibly the easiest sweet pastries to make. You simply buy the pastry ready made. All you have to do is butter, sprinkle and roll. Couldn’t be easier!
Ingredients
- 1 pack of filo pastry
- 250g butter – melted
- 200g chopped nuts – choose whichever nuts are your favourite
For the Syrup
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Decoration for your Baklava Rolls
A handful of chopped nuts (optional)
Here’s how to make Baklava Rolls
Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees C
First, let’s make the syrup for your Baklava Rolls
Make the syrup by heating the sugar, water and cinnamon in a saucepan.
Once the liquid comes to the boil, turn the heat right down and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, until the syrup has the consistency of honey.
*You don’t want the syrup to be too watery because it will make the Baklava go soggy.
Take the syrup off the heat and allow it to cool down to be used later.
Butter your roasting tray
Prepare a large roasting tray for your baklava rolls by buttering the bottom and sides well.
Now for the amazingly micro-thin Filo pastry
Un-wrap your filo pastry and lay it out on your work surface.
Cut the whole pile of pastry down the centre – creating 2 equal piles of pastry 20cm x 30cm .
Put one pile on top of the other one.
*You’ll need to work fast to avoid the pastry drying out and becoming brittle.
Begin buttering up your sheets of Filo Pastry, one by one
Take the top sheet of filo pastry and lay it on the work surface with the narrow edge towards you.
Dab the melted butter on to it – but don’t butter it thoroughly, just dab it.
Take your 2nd sheet of filo pastry and lay it directly on the 1st buttered sheet.
Also dab the melted butter onto this sheet.
Sprinkle a very small handful of nuts over the buttered filo.
Lift the edge of the pastry nearest you & loosely roll it up like a swiss roll.
Lay your baklava rolls tidily in rows in the roasting tray.
Repeat the process
Repeat this process with the remaining pastry.
Carry on buttering, layering, sprinkling and rolling until all your pastry is used up.
Pack the baklava rolls tightly into your roasting tray.
Sprinkle the remaining melted butter over the rolled pastries.
It’s important to cut your Baklava Rolls BEFORE you cook them
Using a sharp knife cut your Baklava Rolls into equal portions.
*It’s really important to cut the Baklava BEFORE it goes into the oven, because once the pastry’s cooked it will become beautifully crispy, so unfortunately it would simply shatter if you tried to cut it then.
Bake your Baklava Rolls until golden brown
Bake your Baklava Rolls in the pre-heated for about 45 minutes until they become a beautiful golden brown.
Bathe your golden brown Baklava Rolls in the fragrant syrup
As soon you take the Baklava Rolls out of the oven, slowly drizzle the cooled syrup over the hot pastries.
Do this a little at a time. Spooning the syrup over gradually gives the pastry a chance to absorb the syrup and stay crisp – if you just throw it on, all at once, the pastry will just go soggy.
Don’t wash up your pan
Don’t start the washing-up just yet.
The little bit of syrup left on the sides of your pan still has an important role.
Toast your nuts
Toast the nuts you are using for decoration in a dry pan (i.e. no oil) just for a minute or so, over a medium flame. Keep stirring them as you do.
Once they’re roasted, toss the nuts into the syrup pan and stir them round so that they get a light coating of syrup.
Decorate
Decorate your beautiful crispy golden baklava by sprinkling the syrup coated nuts over them.
Now for the most difficult part
Yes this is the most difficult part of this whole recipe!
Now, you need to allow your baklava rolls to cool for about an hour before you start eating them.
Enjoy!
- Don’t store your baklava in the fridge because that will make the buttered layers go hard.
Baklava rolls are best served on the same day or the next day (if it lasts that long).
I do hope you try this recipe – you’ll be amazed at just how good they are.
Let me know how you got on & share your photos. We love hearing from you.
Are your Taste Buds Ready To Dance?
Are you taste buds ready to dance? They will with these delicious new recipes from Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen.