Egyptian Meal

Mediterranean restaurants have popularized food from this region. You probably know and have had most of the dishes from the menu today. But these versions have something in them that made us appreciate the meal a lot.

Falafel, pita bread and hummus are some of the most well known dishes from the Mediterranean. I knew pita bread was easy to make but I had never tried it before. So I decided to build the meal around the pita bread. Salatet Zabadee is a variation of the cucumber salad. This one has mint in it. The recipe called for garlic too, but I simply could not bring myself to add garlic to a cucumber dip, I left it out. I had never heard of Mahalabia, the dessert. It is a very popular Arabic dessert. It is thickened with corn starch and tastes better on day two after spending a day in the refrigerator.

The new ingredient I used for this meal is the fava bean. I have made falafel before using garbanzo beans or chickpeas but for this meal I made the Egyptian version ta'amiya using fava beans. I wanted to use my homemade wild yeast starter to leaven the pita bread but I did not feed it in time so it was not ready. I will try pita bread again with the starter.

As they in Egypt, bil hana wa shifa!

Here are the recipes for the dishes on the menu

• Pita Bread 
• Ta'amiya (Fava Bean Falafel) 
• Hummus 
• Salatet Zabadee 

And for dessert

• Mahalabia

Hummus

Homemade hummus has such a refreshingly fresh taste! All it takes is chickpeas that are soaked overnight and ground to a paste with spices. Hummus is high in protein and flavor. It makes a great snack with baked pita chips (chips made with pita bread). That is my daughter's favorite snack when she gets back from school. In fact I had to bake chips with my fresh made pita bread so she could have pita chips and hummus.



Hummus spread in a pita with vegetables and or falafel is a favorite in my house. If you have never tried it you really should as you are missing out.

You will need
1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. paprika
salt to taste

Soak the bean overnight in water. Pressure cook the next day for 10 minutes. When depressurized remove the beans and let them cool. Meanwhile roast the sesame seeds, cool and grind to a powder. Peel the garlic pods and roughly chop them. In a food processor combine the cooked beans, garlic, lime juice, sesame seeds and olive oil. Grind to a fine paste. Roast the cumin seeds and pound to a powder. Mix in the cumin powder, paprika and salt to taste.

Salatet Zabadee (Egyptian Cucumber Salad)

Salatet Zabadee or cucumber salad made Egyptian style is flavored with mint and goes very well with any meal on a hot day. Cucumber and yogurt both feel cool to the touch and together make a great summer salad. It is little wonder that some form of this salad is made in every country with blazing summers.

The flavor of mint can be very strong, use sparingly. I thought it made the salad very fresh tasting but my daughter did not like it at all.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need
1 cucumber
1 cup yogurt
4-5 mint leaves, minced
salt to taste
olive oil to garnish
paprika to garnish

Shred the cucumber and leave aside for 15 minutes. Meanwhile in a separate bowl whisk the yogurt until smooth. Squeeze the juice out of the cucumber and add it to the yogurt. Add the minced mint leaves. The recipe also called for minced garlic but I left it out. Add salt to taste. The dip is ready. Serve on a platter garnished with olive oil and paprika.

Ta'amiya / Fava Bean Falafel

An Egyptian variation of falafel made with fava beans. They are crunchy and taste great stuffed in a pita bread with hummus. I had never used fava beans before though I had made chickpea falafel several times. The fava bean adds a lovely flavor that is very different from the chickpeas. I am glad I tried it. Some of the falafel disappeared even before the rest of the meal was done.

The recipe called for fava bean dal but I could not find it so I used the whole dried bean instead. I soaked the beans overnight, pressure cooked them the next day and ground them in the food processor along with the other ingredients. As a healthier option I baked them instead of deep frying.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need
1 cup fava beans (dal or whole)
1/2 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups cilantro
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. baking soda
salt to taste

Soak the fava bean overnight and pressure cook the next day for 10 minutes. When depressurized remove the beans from the cooker and allow to cool. Chop the onion and cilantro. Peel the garlic pods and chop roughly. In a food processor combine all the ingredients and pulse until you have a coarse paste. Transfer to a bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Form lime sized balls, flatten and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until brown. Turn over once after about 10-15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Serve hot.

Pita Bread

Pita bread is one of the most popular Mediterranean bread and it is very easy to make. It is leavened bread that requires a very hot oven to help the bread puff up.

I had always wanted to make pita bread as my family loves it. My initial plan was to use my sourdough starter to leaven the bread but changed my mind as I forgot to feed it. I plan on making a version with my starter soon. Homemade fresh pita bread tasted so good with all the other accompaniments. I have so many recipes for which I use pita bread. I usually used store bought bread but now I don't have to.

You will need for 8 pita
3 cups strong white flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. instant yeast
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups water

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, yeast, salt and oil. Add the water and form a dough. If needed add up to a fourth of a cup of water. Knead well until the dough is elastic and soft. Cover and keep aside for an hour and a half or until it doubles in size. Transfer to a floured work surface and divide into eight equal portions. Smooth out each portion into round ball. Cover and let them rest for another 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 F. Place an inverted baking sheet in the oven while it heats. If you have a baking stone you can use that instead. Flour the working surface lightly and roll out one portion to a disc using a rolling pin.

Place the rolled out pita on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 3 minutes. It should puff up. If you like them brown turn over and bake another couple of minutes. Take the pita bread out of the oven and cool on a rack for a minute. Place in an airtight container to keep it soft.

Repeat for all the other portions of dough.

Mahalabia

Rich milk based dessert garnished with nuts. The original recipe called for flavoring with rose water but I used mint extract that I had on hand.

Mahalabia is an Arabic dessert and is popular in all countries that have Arabic influence on their cuisine. It is a very basic dessert. I adapted the recipe from here one of the few that had proportions for the ingredients.

You will need
2 cups of half and half
4 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp. corn starch
1-2 drops rose water (I used mint extract)
5-6 pistachios for garnish

Dissolve the corn starch in the milk. In a thick bottomed pan combine the half and half and sugar. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and add the corn starch mixture. Whisk to prevent lumps. Cook until thickened. Add rose water and take it off heat. Let it cool a little then pour into ramekins or serving glasses and refrigerate for a couple hours. Garnish with nuts. Serve chilled.