Egyptian Onion Pita Bread Food

EGYPTIAN ONION PITA BREAD

Steps:

• Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup warm water.
• Sift together the flour and salt and mix the yeast and water.
• Work the mixture into a dough and knead for several minutes.
• Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and roll into balls.
• With either your hand or a rolling pin, pat and press each ball of dough into a 5-inch circle about 1/2-inch thick.
• Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the pita are light golden brown.

EGYPTIAN FAATAH (RICE & MEAT WITH CRISPY BREAD ON BOTTOM)

Steps:

• To prepare bread for bottom of dish: Take pita bread and rip into bite size pieces. In a frying pan, add about a 1/4 stick of butter, add bread pieces and fry until golden brown and crisp. Put these pieces in a glass baking dish, preferably a square sized dish. Set aside.
• Then add to same pan, a little more butter, salt, approximately 2 cloves of crushed fresh garlic, and a teaspoon or so of cumin stir around a bit until you can smell aroma, then add fried bread pieces to this mixture, stir to coat bread and put back into glass baking dish. Set aside.
• To prepare meat: put some butter in a pot, stir fry meat until brown, add 1 onion quartered, salt & pepper, 1 cube of chicken bouillon and water to cover meat. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, cover and cook until tender, approximately 2 hours. After meat has cooled, take out chunks of meat and put in a bowl, set aside. Reserve soup from the meat separately.
• To prepare the rice: Put some butter into a pot, add shareya (fideo noodles) like a handful or so, keep stirring until golden brown, not too dark, but very golden. Then add two cups of rice, stir a little bit until some of the rice turns an opaque white. Add 2-1/4 cups of water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to simmer, cook until tender. Test the rice tenderness after about 35 minutes.
• Now take some of the soup from meat and add to the top of the bread pieces in baking dish to saturate.Add cooked rice on top of bread pieces. Slowly spoon remainder of soup onto rice, looking at glass dish sides to see level of soup, should reach just to top of rice, don't worry, this doesn't have to be exact. Now you're ready to make the sauce and fry the meat to put on top.
• To prepare red sauce: In a pan, add a little oil or butter, crushed tomato, a half teaspoon of tomato paste, salt & pepper, 2 cloves of fresh crushed garlic and cumin. Add also approximately 3 tablespoons of vinegar, stir this until you smell aroma and it is a bit smooth. It should be a bit thick, not watery, but if too thick you can add a bit of water. Spread with a wooden spoon atop the rice to cover.
• To fry meat: In a pan add a bit of butter or oil, the meat, just a touch of tomato paste, about a tablespoon of fresh crushed garlic, salt & pepper, a teaspoon of cumin. Cook until meat is golden fried.
• Spoon this atop the rice and serve. Enjoy!

EGYPTIAN FOOL (FAVA BEANS) TRADITIONAL BREAKFAST

Steps:

• Chop up a small onion with a bit of oil and sauté in small pot until tender, remove from heat.
• Open can of fava beans and dump into pot, along with juices, do not drain.
• Take a potato smasher and smash up the fava beans. I leave a few whole, but basically smash up most of them.
• Add salt, ground cumin and cayenne pepper to your liking.
• Squeeze juice of lemon into pot.
• Add a splash of olive oil.
• Heat just to boil and then that's it.
• Spoon some beans into a flat bowl, splash some oil on top of them. I like to add the following garnish, but you can leave garnish out and just eat that way they are just as yummy too.
• This is something I do sometimes to this dish as well-MY SPECIAL GARNISH. 1. Chop a few slices of red onion fine. 2. Chop a small (or half) green bell pepper finely. 3. Chop a handful of black olive slices finely. 4. Chop a small tomato finely. 5. A little bit of chopped parsley 6. Drizzle of tahina.
• Okay now you add all these finely chopped veggies around the bowl edge and finish off with a drizzle of tahina in middle of bowl. Looks beautiful! Then i mix all together and eat it mixed up!

EGYPTIAN BARLEY BREAD

Steps:

• Combine yeast, water, and honey, and let proof 5 minutes.
• Add salt, eggs and shortening.
• Stir in flour and blend until dough is workable.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes.
• Place in a large greased bowl, turning to coat.
• Cover with a towel and let stand in a warm place for 90 minutes.
• The dough will rise slightly, but will NOT double.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead again.
• Shape into a round cake about 1/2" thick.
• Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
• Cover with a towel and let rest for one hour.
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Bake 15-20 minutes, or until bread is pale brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
• Cool on a rack.

EGYPTIAN FALAFEL - PITA POCKET FILLER

Steps:

• In a large-size saucepan, add fava beans and cover with water; bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 3 minutes.
• Remove from heat and let beans soak overnight.
• When ready to use, drain.
• In a small saucepan, add quartered potatoes, cover with water and cook until done; drain.
• In a food processor or blender, process fava beans, onion, cooked potato and garlic cloves until smooth.
• Add coriander, cumin, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper and process for a few seconds to blend well.
• Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.
• Add chopped green onions, bread crumbs, deep fried dried onions, and baking soda; mix well to incorporate.
• With dampened hands, form mixture into balls the size of walnuts.
• Place on a lightly floured surface and flatten the formed balls slightly into patties.
• Measure roasted sesame seeds into a soup bowl.
• Dip flattened fava patties into sesame seeds, turn over to coat lightly with sesame seeds.
• In a large frying pan, heat vegetable oil to medium-high heat.
• Carefully drop fava patties into hot oil and deep-fry for 2 minutes, turn over and deep-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes or until patties are cooked through and golden brown.
• Remove from oil with a slotted spoon onto paper toweling to drain.
• In a medium-size mixing bowl, add sliced radishes, chopped fresh parsley, diced tomato, diced dill pickle and diced jalapeño pepper and mix well.
• Wrap paper toweling around each individual flat bread or pita bread, place individually in microwave oven and microwave on HIGH (full power) for 30 seconds.
• Microwave remaining pitas in the same manner.
• Remove and cut pita at one end to form a pocket.
• Stuff 3 or 4 fava patties in pocket.
• Then spoon about 3 tablespoons of prepared vegetable mix into the pocket.
• Top with finely shredded lettuce and sprinkle with Beau Monde seasoning or you may use Seasoning salt.
• Serve immediately.
• You can also use canned fava beans but I prefer the dried fava beans the best.
• Note: Deep fried dried onions are available in most East Indian Grocery Stores. These are the best onions to use as they are crispier and crunchier than the ones that you can buy in cans.

TA'AMEYA (EGYPTIAN FALAFEL)

Steps:

• Place fava beans in large bowl and cover with several inches of water. Let soak, 8 hours to overnight. Drain.
• Combine soaked fava beans, red onion, parsley, cilantro, dill, garlic, coriander, salt, and cumin in a food processor; process to a dough-like consistency.
• Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add sesame seeds; cook, stirring occasionally, until toasted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large plate.
• Shape fava bean mixture into balls. Roll in sesame seeds to coat.
• Fill a large saucepan 1/4 full with oil; heat over medium heat. Fry fava bean balls in batches until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.