What's a good, simple arabic dinner that I could cook for my housemate??

Question

I want to treat my housemate (who grew up in Qatar) to a good Arabic dinner - she's been away from the Middle East for a year now and is craving Arabic food. What's a good simple menu for me to try out? Also recipes and web sites?

(She can't cook! I normally cook Indian food for her, as he family is Indian. We're in The Philippines at the moment - so some ingredients maybe hard to find)

Answer 1

Why did you waste another 10 points by asking this question twice?

Answer 2

Falafel is a breakfast in arab nations.Molokhia
is the best Egyptian food.All Arabs love Molokhia




Basic Melokiyah soup is prepared with a good meat or vegetable stock, onion, lemon juice, cardamom and ta’liya, which is garlic fried with salt and coriander in cooking oil. A tasty but less mucilaginous substitute for melokiyah is spinach.

Basic Melokiyah
2 pounds frozen or dried Melokiyah

1 onion, cut in half

1 bay leaf

4-5 cardamom grains

5 pound chicken ( or 2 smaller chickens)

15-20 garlic cloves, crushed

1 Tb coriander powder

1 Tb lemon juice

cooking oil

salt

cooked rice

Boil water with onion, salt, bay leaf and cardamom tied in a muslin bag, then add the chicken and cook until tender. Remove chicken, cut into neat joints and fry.

Discard the muslin bag and mash the onion. Boil the soup stock, add the melokiyah, adjust the seasoning and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Do not overcook, as the melokiyah will lose its ability to be suspended in the broth and fall to the bottom of the pot.

Mix crushed garlic with salt and coriander (ta’liya) and fry until golden. Toss into the boiling melokiyah and simmer for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice.

Place the cooked rice at the bottom of the serving bowl, add a piece of chicken and cover with the soup

Last step:Give Mysterio 619 10 points.

Answer 3

I learned this one from some Saudis years ago when they would cook this at picnics.
get a big piece of foil
cut up a pound or two of beef and put on the foil
cut up a couple of tomatoes and put on the foil
cut up an onion, put on the foil
throw in a couple of peeled garlic, and put on the foil
add salt, pepper, cinnimon and a little ginger
mix all together in the foil and then add a little water
close the foil into a package and place on the grill and let cook for about an hour. serve next to a bed of rice or cous cous with pita bread.

Answer 4

Falafel is good. please pick me as best answer. thank you

Falfel is a tradional arabic meal

A spicy patty made from dried beans, a great vegetarian dish! Makes a great sandwich.


Servings: 35 patties



















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Ingredients:

1/2 pound broad fava beans (skinless),soaked overnight

1/2 pound dried chick peas, soaked overnight

3 cloves crushed garlic

1 large onion finely chopped

6 large scallions, finely chopped

1/2 hot pepper finely chopped or ground

1 tablespoon baking soda

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

vegetable oil for frying





























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Instructions:

Drain and rinse the beans, using cold water.Take the skins of the beans off. Pound or grind the beans, or put through the food processor, minced to very fine. Add the garlic , onions and peppers, mix well. Add the remaining ingredients. Pound or process into a paste. Cover and let stand 1 1/2 hour.

Take about 2 tablespoons of the mixture and form into patties about 1 1/2 inch diameter.Let the patties set another 15 minutes. Fry them in vegetable oil until golden brown. See Tahini sauce recipe.


Best way to eat: Serve with fresh pita bread, tomato, cucumber top with tahini sauce.






































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Answer 5

Baharat (mixed spices for the following)

1/2 c black pepper
1/4 c coriander
1/4 c cassia bark (cinnamon)
1/4 c cloves
1/3 c cumin
2 t cardamom
1/4 c nutmeg
1/2 c paprika


Machbous ala dajaj (spiced chicken & rice)

2 lg onions, chopped
2 T ghee (clarified butter)
1 T Baharat (see above)
t turmeric
1 three pound chicken (cut in pieces)
lg can chopped, peeled tomatoes
3 cloves
1/2 t powdered loomi (dried lime) or one strip lemon rind
2 pieces cinnamon bark
6 cardamom pods
1 T salt
2-1/2 c water
2 c basmati rice (other other good quality long grain rice)
2 T chopped coriander leaves
2 T chopped parsley

1. In a deep, heavy pan, gently fry onion in ghee until transparent & beginning to brown . Stir in baharat & turmeric & cook two minutes more.
2. Add chicken pieces and turn in onion mixture over medium heat to brown lightly. Add tomatoes, cloves. loomi, cinnamon, cardamom pods and salt, stirring well to combine.
3. Add water, cover & simmer over gentle heat for 45 minutes.
4. Pick over rice to remove discolored grains. Place in a bowl & wash gently w/cold water until water runs clear. Drain.
5. Stir rice gently into pot contents, add herbs & bring back to a slow simmer. Cover w/lid & simmer on low heat for 35-40 minutes until chicken is tender, stirring gently once or twice during cooking. Remove from heat & leave aside for 10 minutes.
6. Pile on a large platter w/chicken pieces in center & serve hot w/pickles, salad & flat bread.

To make it even more homey, serve it on a cloth covered coffee table while sitting on the floor. Fresh fruit makes a great dessert. A traditional drink is hot tea.

Answer 6

this is a really big question, as there are such a range of Arabic foods. Are you looking for the traditional mutton/goat grab of the desert tribes or are you looking for something more refined like Lebanese of Syrian cuisine.
Try Lebanese start with a messa consiting of tabouli, 1 cup choped mint, 1 cup chopped parsley (flat) 1 cup of chopped corriander, 1 medium tomato deseeded and finely chopped and 2 finely chopped spring onions(or small to medium red opnion). mix all together with a liberal syueeze of lemon juice take two or three tea spoons of cracked wheat add boiling water and allow to stand until fully hydrated then add and stir in.
To go with this try low fat humus, take one tin of chick peas put in food proccessor, add generous squeeze of lemon juice, two finely chopped cloves of garlic then add low fat yoghurt blending until smooth and creamy can be left a bit course if that is your taste. put into a suitable dish and drizzel on a little olive oil and garnish with one or two pitted black olives.
There should ideally be several dishes in the messa, but if you are only cooking for two I would keep it down to two or three.
To go with the previous two items make a fatoush, which is basically a normal salad made with letuce, tomato, cucumber onion and either fresh corriander leaves or fresh basil leaves (not truely traditional but really tasty) cut up about half a slice of hubs or pitta bread into small squares and quickly crisp in the oven, add lemon juice and olive oil vinegarette to the salad and toss in until lightly coated thenm stir in the crisp pitta squares.
Serve with worm hubs or pitta bread. There are a million other dishes like foul mesdam, stuffed vine leaves, finely choped raw liver that could be included, always have plenty of olives in a small dish and a simple chopped cucumber tomato and onion salad with lemon juice squeezed over.
For a main course I would suggest a mixed grill, with kuffta kababs (lamb mince mixed with chopped onion, garlic and plenty of mixed herbs if anything be heavy on the thyme (zattar) and grilled on a flat skewer, shish taouk ( chicken kababs), shish kabab ( cubes of marinated lamb grilled on a skewer) and mini lamb chops ( chops sliced very thinly and quickly grilled). Serve with mixed salads and vermachelli rice and hubs(pitta bread)

No knives and forks all eaten with the bread and fingers.

Sweet would ideally be baclava or similar but I suggest that by this time a fresh fruit salad or a simple fruit bowl would be perfectly addequate.

If you wish to have a drinkl with all this arak is traditional, but a nice rose or red wine dose pretty well. Finish off with turkish/lebanese/syrian/greek/cypriot coffee.


Enjoy it will take a while to prepare, but will be worth it.

Answer 7

See if there is a book from the library, or the internet has all sorts of recipes.

Answer 8

Fried goat balls I think is an Arabic favorite.

Answer 9

i would go with pork ribs
short ribs, baby back ribs, whole rib,
Also steer ribs
Texas style spare ribs, whole cow ribs
Make BBQ sauce
have pork & beans
Make something mashed and pour butter scotch pudding over whatever you smash.
a big bowl of warm sand

Answer 10

condaleezza rice, of course!!!