The Easiest dish I’ve ever made. Everyone loves it and it’s not heavy like other ramadan dishes.

Ingredients:

1. Yogurt
2. Toasted or fried pine nuts
3. Frozen spinach
4. Garlic
5. Onion
6. Salt
7. Toasted or Fried bread.

Directions:

1. In a skillet, heat a TBS of olive oil, then add the garlic and onions. Once onions soften, add the spinach and let it cook. Some like to add a maggie cube for extra flavor but I like to keep it simple.
2. Mix the yogurt with salt and garlic (you can ommitt the garlic but it adds flavor).
3. Now it’s time to assemble the dish. place the bread at the bottom of the dish, spread the spinach evenly on top, then pour the yogurt and sprinkle the pine nuts on top.

Can’t go any easier than that :)

Bon Appetit!

Basma.

I don’t know if it’s sold in Kuwait, all I know is that it multiplies really fast if taken care of properly, and it feeds on milk. sounds gross doesn’t it ;) .. but it’s pretty cool! if you’re a yogurt lover, you’d definitely LOVE these.

That’s how the grains look like.. Took this picture when I strained my second kefir batch. when rinsed, they look like cauliflower…

Let’s just hope I don’t mess up :) I’m following all the instructions I got from the person who gave it to me and from online kefir communities. wish me luck!

will post another update in 2 weeks.

Ingredients:

1. About 4 cups of watermelon. It filled 3/4 of my blender
2. 5 TBS Vimto
3. A splash of orange juice (optional)

Directions:

1. Deseed and puree the watermelons.
2. Pour them in a container and mix in the Vimto and orange juice
3. Place the container in the freezer and take it out every 30 minutes. Scrape it with a fork and return it back to the fridge. Repeat this step until it reaches the desired consistency

I’ve put mine in the freezer for about 2 hours. It was still a bit soft when we ate it, so next time I’ll add an extra half an hour or so :)

Bon appetit!

Basma

One of the MUST DO’s :)

Ingredient:

1. Asparagus spears (I used baby asparagus)
2. Chicken Breasts
3. Oyster mushrooms
4. Onion
5. Garlic
6. Salt and pepper
7. Onion soup mix (My secret ingredient -  I will write a post about how versatile it is)
8. Kraft’s Monterrey Jack and Cheddar Cheese mix.
9. Olive oil
10. A tiny tiny piece of butter

Directions:

1. In a hot skillet, saute the onions, garlic, oyster mushroom and salt and pepper with olive oil and butter. remove from heat when all ingredients whither.
2. Butterfly and flatten the breasts with a hammer. Once you’re done, cut each breast in half. 
3. Now its time to assemble: rub each side of the chicken breast with onion soup mix.
4. For each breast, place around 5 asparagus spears, the mushroom mixture then sprinkle it with cheese.
5. Roll the chicken breasts and sprinkle each breast with as much cheese as you want.
6. If you have extra mushroom stuffing, place in the the same pan.
7. Place the rolls in a 180 degree preheated oven for 25 minutes.

And you’re done! the chicken was very moist and delicious. The family loved this dish :).

Bon Appetit!

Basma

I have never eaten a stuffed mushroom that I liked… up until I tasted these!

I didn’t know what stuffing should I use and my sister suggested a simple cilantro, garlic and cheese stuffing and this is exactly what I did

Ingredients:

1. Portabella Mushrooms
2. Kraft’s Mexican Monterey Jack + Cheddar cheese mix
3. Salt
4. Pepper
5. Chili oil
6. Thinly sliced garlic
7. Cilantro
8. Mascarpone cheese
9. Onion

Directions:

1. Saute` the onions with chili oil and add salt and pepper.
2. Once the onions have softened, add the garlic. Keep mixing then add Cilantro.
3. If you feel any of the ingredients are about to burn, spray the pan with a tiny bit of water.
4. When it’s done, remove it from the heat and mix it with mascarpone cheese and set it aside.
5. Wipe of mushrooms with a damp towel if you see any visible dirt and remove the stems.
6. Stuff the mushrooms with the mixture you just cooked and sprinkle as much cheese as you want on top of it.
7. place the mushrooms on the pan with 1 tsp of chili oil and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
8. remove the mushrooms from the heat and cover them with foil. The heat will melt the cheese.

I didn’t have time to fully cook the mushrooms and cover them before iftar, so after cooking them for couple of minutes, I placed them in the microwave for 2 minutes. The mushrooms turned out great, fully cooked and retained its natural flavor and most importantly, the cheese was all melted and sticky..  everyone loved this recipe :).

Bon Appetit!

Basma.

]]> http://13cups.com/?feed=rss2&p=518 7 http://13cups.com/?p=509 http://13cups.com/?p=509#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:19:28 +0000 Basma http://13cups.com/?p=509  

This is my first pasta disaster ever. I spent 2 hours yesterday trying to work on a whole grain, healthy seafood pasta dish. the end result was … A disaster. it didn’t taste the way I wanted. 

  The good stuff:

1. I boiled the clams with 1 whole Garlic and salt, it gave it a nice flavor. then I added the garlic to the sauce.
2. The pasta was cooked well. 10 minutes for whole grain pasta and I stoppped the cooking process with cold water.

Here’s what I did wrong. I hope it helps, if you ever decide to cook clams or pasta :)

1. Mistake #1 : I put fresh clams in the freezer. They died, therefore I could not remove the sand inside the clams with a salted water soak. Instead, I had to manually open each clam and clean it up
2. Mistake #2: I used a medium sized pot to make the sauce, so I had a hard time mixing the pasta with the sauce. When I transfered the pasta to it’s dish, I realized that all the sauce contents stayed in the pot, so I mixed it again.
3. Mistake # 3: I forgot to add the mascarpone cheese to the sauce, so mixed it in afterwards.

The flavors weren’t incorporated correctly and the end result was a bland tasting pasta. I’d give it a 5/10. It would have been an amazing dish if I wasn’t sleep deprived.

Here’s what I did to fix it:

I added lemon juice and lemon zest, mixed it very well since the sauce was at the bottom of the plate and let it sit for 20 minutes before serving. It was saved :)

I’m making stuffed portabella mushrooms today. Wish me luck.

One word: HEAVENN 

Ingredients: 

1. A pack of couscous (a bit less than 500 grams)
2. 2 Cloves of garlic
3. 1 TBS of olive oil
4. 3.5 Cups of chicken, beef or veggie broth.
5. 1 Medium onion – finely chopped
6. 2 Medium tomatoes – finely chopped
7. Parsley – finely chopped
8. Dried mint
9. Salt and pepper
10. 1/2 Cup of olive oil
11. 1/4 Cup of lemon

Direction: 

1. In a pot, saute`  1 tbs of garlic with 1 tbs of olive oil
2. Pour in the broth (you can add couple of splashes of Worcestershire sauce if you find the broth you used a bit to bland tasting)
3. Once the broth starts boiling, take it off the heat and stir in the couscous.
4. Cover the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes, then flake it with a fork. put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to reduce the heat.
5. Meanwhile, mix the onions with the dried mint and set them aside for couple of minutes
6. Take the couscous out of the fridge and mix the tomatoes and onions with the couscous, then add the dressing.
7. For the dressing, mix olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper and what’s left of the garlic together.
8. Last step: add as much parsley as you like and serve it to your loved ones :)

My family loved it so much. Even my picky nieces finished up their plates. 

Bon Appetit! 

Basma.

If you know me, you’d know that Chicken and I, don’t really get along. unless it’s cooked to perfection. I had a “Ferakh” phase once, where I ate roasted chicken everyday, for weeks. I sure hope this is not the case :)

The chicken in this dish was so delicious and aromatic, the whole family ate it and it’s pretty easy to make.

You need to do the following:

Ingredients:

1. 1 Chicken cut into 7-8 pieces.
2. Dijon mustard
3. Honey mustard
4. Salt and Pepper
5. Balsamic Vinegar
6. 2 Cloves of garlic (Sliced)
7. Lime juice
8. Olive oil
9. Paprika
10. Rosemary
11. Potatoes
12. Carrots

Directions:

1. Mix everything up together. (# 2-10)
2. Place the chicken pieces in a bag, then pour the mixture on the chicken pieces and shake the bag until all pieces are covered with the sauce.
3. Cut potatoes and carrots and mix them with the chicken and let it sit for 2 hours to 1 day.
4. When it’s time to cook the chicken. pour the content of the bag in a baking dish and place it in the oven for up to 1 hour.
5. Cover the dish with foil for the first 30 minutes, then take out the foil and let the chicken brown a bit.
6. when the chicken is done, take the chicken and veggies out of the dish and place the empty baking dish on your oven and start de-glazing. you only need to add water and keep mixing until all the bits loosens up and gets combined in the sauce. Then add about 1 tsp of flour and keep mixing. End result will be a delicious gravy to be poured on top of the chicken.

That’s it!. if you want the carrots and potatoes to be extra soft, boil them first then bake them in the oven.

Bon Appetit!

Basma.

Ingredients:

1. Eggplants, skinned and cut in slices
2. Shredded zucchinis
3. Shredded carrots
4. Bell Peppers
5. onions
6. Garlic
7. Salt and Pepper
8. Worcestershire sauce
9. Soy Sauce
10. Light condensed milk (Carnation,Rainbow)
11. Olive oil
12. Parmesan cheese
13. Light mozzarella Cheese
14. A good brand of Pesto (Or tomato sauce, or this sauce)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle salt on each eggplant slice. making sure you rinse it afterwards and pat it dry.
2. Brush the eggplants with olive oil, and grill it on both sides until both sides are nicely browned.
3. In a pot, saute` the onions with a TBS of olive oil, once they’re softer, add the salt, pepper and Garlic.
4. Keep mixing, then add the carrots and bell peppers. wait for 3 more minutes then add the zucchini.
5. Add couple of splashes of both sauces then mix in the cheeses.
6. Add a splash of the light condensed milk.
7. Take some of the stuffing and put it on an eggplant slice. Wrap it and place it in the dish. Repeat until the dish is full
8. Pour Pesto sauce on top of the rolls then bake the dish for 15 minutes in a preheated oven.

That’s it. I noticed the eggplants were a little bitter, so there are 2 ways to fix it(already added to the recipe). You either skin it, or treat it with salt. I’ll partially skin it next time and sprinkle it with salt, wash it and let it dry before grilling it.This is very important :)

Bon Appetit!

Basma

If you love fish as much as I do, you’d appreciate the simplicity of this dish. My god I can’t believe how tasty it was. Got my fillets from our fish stand at the co-op. Aldanah frozen fillets, the pack has 3 fillets. let them thaw in the fridge for a whole day, draining excess water every now and then.

today at 6:20 I decided to start baking, so I preheated the oven (175 degrees) and started assembling the dish.

Ingredients:

1. 1 Lemon
2. Spring onion
3. 3 Sun dried tomatoes for each fish (oil packed)
4. Salt and Pepper
5. Rosemary
6. 1 Clove of garlic per fish
7. Foil

Direction:

1. Place each fillet on a separate foil piece. the piece should be big enough to make a tent. (almost 4 times the width of the fish)
2. For the next step you’ll only need a knife and a scissor.  sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper, then drop everything on top of the fillet. Start with the chopped sun dried tomatoes, spring onions, and the garlic clove (cut into 3 pieces).  place the rosemary twig on top then add lemon zest, 2 lemon slices and a squeeze of lemon.
3. Fold the foil from the top, making sure you’ve closed it tightly, then fold the sides as well and place it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Serve it with the foil. The foil locks in all the moisture, leaving the fish soft and delicious. The aroma of all the ingredients gets trapped inside.

See how much juice we got? if you’re looking for a heavier meal, I suggest you add potato cubes.

Bon appetit!

Basma.