Lablaabi - Chick pea soup

 

 Ingredients, 4 servings:

2 cans of chick peas (or 1 1/2 cup dried chick peas, soaked overnight and boiled), 5 cups of water, 1 stock cube,

6 garlic cloves, peeled, 1 bay leaf, 4 tsp cumin (freshly toasted and ground), 1 tbs harissa, 4 eggs, 3 tbs olive oil, juice of 1/2 a lemon, chopped parsley

Cook the chick peas in the stock, together with garlic and bay leaf (if using dry chick peas, cook for 45 minutes, add salt and cook another 15 minutes). Add spices and harissa and cook for 25 minutes whilst preparing the garnish (see below for ideas).

Add olive oil and lemon juice. Bring to a fierce boil and crack the eggs into the soup, bring the heat down and poach the eggs, without stirring for approximately five minutes or until the egg whites have hardened.

Garnish with parsley and serve or garnish with some of the suggestions below.

I was really surprised at how lovely this dish actually turned out to be, mashaa Allah! I'm not particularly fond of chick peas, cumin or garlic, but this is an absolute winner!

Egg-free Lablaabi

Lablaabi with poached egg

Garnish:

Tear some old, stale bread into soup bowls to pour the soup over (I won't do this again, the kids gave me minus points for the soggy bread!)

You can serve Lablaabi with, for example, olive oil, harissa, cumin, capers, tuna, olives, garlic, vinegar, lemon or lime juice, cilantro or parsley, and/or spring onions.

Lablaabi served with olive oil, olives, cumin, lemon and tuna.

 PS. there are variants of this soup in other parts of the world too.

Burek

Bureks are spring rolls, also called samosa/sambosa/sambusek. Thin pastry sheets filled with a tasty filling, most commonly minced meat (when filled with cheese they're called fatayer - it's pretty much the same, though). You can make the paper thin sheets yourself (Tammy of Tammy's Somali Home shows how on her blog) or buy them at any supermarket (spring roll pastry suits perfectly).
Different variants of burek/samosa are eaten all over the world. They seem to have merged somewhat over the years with the spring rolls, summer rolls, egg rolls, börek, et al.

The most used filling in our house is;

Minced meat filling

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion
500 g mince meat
olives cut in rings
salt, pepper and harissa to taste
eggs and chopped parsley
soft cheese

Fry the onions soft in the oil, add the mince and fry until all the redness is gone. Add olives and seasoning and let it cook for awhile. In the end add eggs and parsley, but don't let it cook dry!

Take a spring roll sheet, put about a spoonful of the filling in one corner together with some soft cheese and roll it, tucking in the sides as you go.

Deep fry or cook under the grill with some oil brushed over them. If you put the opening down first, you don't need anything to stick the ends to the rolls with.


According to Wikipedia: Swedes eat 1,2 spring rolls per person per year, the Danish 7 spring rolls per year, and Norway 1,4. lol

Hareera

A very traditional Ramadan soup in the North-Western areas of Africa (mainly Morocco, but also some parts of Algeria). It's good and filling after a long day of fasting, and of course soups are ideal to restore fluids and hide those greens (if you have picky eaters).
It is eaten every day at iftar, until someone has had enough!

1 lb (450 g) lamb and/or 1/2 lb (225 g) chicken (optional - can be vegetarian as well)
1 big onion, chopped
4 oz (100 g) brown lentils
turmeric, ground cinnamon, paprika (the recipe calls for 1/2 - 1 tsp, I generally use more)
4 pints (2.3 litre) water
1 lb (450 g) ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped or mixed (I sometimes omit the fresh tomatoes, or use less)
2 tsp tomato paste
4 oz (100 g) chick peas ( if dried and softened in water over-night, put them in with the water)
a few handfuls of vermicelli
3 tbs fresh, chopped coriander
3 tbs fresh, chopped parsley
1 tbs chopped celery (use the leaves, or if you use the stalks, put them in with the onions)
1 egg
salt & black pepper
Serve with lemon wedges to taste

1. Soften the onion (and celery) in the oil on a low heat, add meat and brown.
2. Add water, spices and tomato (if the lentils take long to cook, add them as well - some don't take longer than 30 or 40 minutes though, so it's better to add them later).
3. Bring to the boil, lower the heat to a simmering and leave to cook for about one and a half hour (30 minutes if you make it vegetarian).
4. Add vermicelli, stir and cook for another 10 minutes until the vermicelli is cooked.
5. Whisk an egg and pop it into the soup and stir.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and turn off the heat. Add the herbs.

Serve with lemon on the side. Moroccans like to have their Hareera with shabbakiyah.

Gratin de poisson, Fish Bake

Approximately 730 g Coley or other white fish
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
500 ml milk
salt and pepper
parsley, chives or preferred herbs (I did it with parsley today - the recipe called for salad cream and gherkins, and on top of the béchamel, sliced tomatoes)
5 ml lemon juice
1 kg potatoes, peeled and cooked
fresh milk for the mashed potatoes
grated cheddar cheese

Cook the potatoes, and make the béchamel sauce in another small pan: melt the butter and add the flour, while stirring (it's a good idea to sift the flour into the melted butter). Add the milk little by little, while stirring. Don't let it burn, and keep it smooth. Season with salt and pepper and your chosen flavouring.
In a greased oven proof dish, put the fish, cover with the béchamel (here goes the tomatoes, if you want that) and top of with mashed potatoes (mixed with some milk, and maybe a pinch of salt) and grated cheese.
Bake in the oven at 190˚C, mark 5 for 30 minutes, or until the cheese has become golden.
Serve with a green sallad.

Chicken & Carrot Tagine

1 baby chicken
2 medium sized onions
2 cloves garlic
0,5 kg carrots
1 succhini

salt, pepper
Ras-el-Hanoot
paprika
turmeric
saffron
a couple of bay leaves
juice of one small lemon
fresh chopped parsley
fresh chopped coriander

Cut the chicken in small pieces and brown it in the tagine. Slice the onions and add to the chicken. Peel and slice the carrots. Add to the tagine together with the spices. Mix it all gently. Slice the succhini and blend it into the tagine. Leave to cook for an hour on low heat, or until the chicken is well cooked. Add the parsley and coriander. Serve with bread.

Olive Tagine, Tagine Zeitoun

Lamb or mutton meat
4 carrots
olive oil
2 tbs tomatoe puree
1/2 cup water
1 350 g can mushrooms
olives
parsley

Lemon and Tarragon Chicken

Chicken breasts
juice and peel of 1 lemon
salt to taste
tarragon

Cut the chicken breasts in the middle, to make a pocket, and put some fresh tarragon inside. Salt and marinate in the lemon juice and peel for a couple of hours or longer.
Grill in the oven and serve with spinach or sallad. We made french fries with it.