Batheeth pies

Wow - haven't posted a recipe in ages. It's silly season again, that's why. Only time for silliness, nothing else. In the midst, I have been preparing some Christmas recipes for Ahlan Gourmet. They are a twist on the original, and bring a little of the Middle East into the traditional English recipes.

The first is Batheeth pies - a replacement to mince pies, which incidently I hate. I love looking at them, but they're so rich and unbalanced that I rarely find one I like. These however I have been eating by the dozen. Batheeth is something I was introduced to by a fellow food blogger -  La Mere Culinaire - at her own home (I wrote about the experience here - fab day, cooking with her mum.) It's a date and spice mix, with flour and ghee to bind. Very commonly seen on Emirati tables - it's very easy to make, and tastes great with a coffee (or gahwa)

Ingredients:

For the batheeth:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 ½ cups chopped dried dates
• 1 tsp ginger
• ½ tsp cloves
• ¼ cup good quality ghee
• 3 cardamom pods
• pinch salt

Granny's Tuna Curry

Ok - so this is not very gourmet. I've discussed Gran's cooking here. Saying that however, this is one of the favourite dishes in this house, particularly with the kids. Even Mary has been known to say she likes this one, although she might just be showing respect to elders, because this resembles no curry that Mary has ever cooked. It also breaks the rule for all those old wives out there who believe that consuming fish and milk can cause vitiligo (but this is totally unproven). This recipe was designed to include entirely canned and frozen ingredients. Bonus. Yep, super gourmet...

Ingredients:

• 350g tinned tuna in brine (two medium tins) - drained
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup tinned baby carrots (drained)
• 2 tbsp oil (canola)
• 1 tbsp butter (I use ghee)
• 2 tsp mild curry powder (Gran recommends Clive of India brand)
• 2 tbsp flour (yes, you can use gluten free)
• 1 cup milk (I use CF diet milk, but rice milk also works)
• salt to taste

Paneer Pakeeza

This recipe, shared by Ms. Ruchi Khanna was the runner up in a recent Grandma's Recipe comp at Mumtaz Mahal (details here). It is a creamy, rich, korma style sauce with some clever little stuffed paneer parcels. 

Ingredients:

• For the Stuffing
• 400 grams Paneer
• 1 tbsp chopped green chili
• 1 tbsp coriander chatni
• 1⁄2 tsp coconut powder
• 2 tsp cheese cream
• 1 tsp of ginger paste
• 1⁄2 tsp of mustard seeds
• 1⁄4 tbsp of red chili powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Manudevi's Delhi Breakfast

This is the winning dish from Mumtaz Mahal's recent "Grandma's Recipes" competition. Ms. Ritu Chaturvedi has been kind enough to share it with me and allow it to be added to the blog. This is a traditional breakfast made of three main components - the bread (or Puri/poori), and the curries to dip it in - one a sweet pumpkin, and the other a tangy potato and tomato curry.

Bedmi Poori

A bread made of wheat flour and stuffed with ground white lentil. These are heavier than the regular puris (good recipe for the traditionals here).

Ingredients:

• Dough
• 3 cups flour
• 1cup Semolina
• 1tsp Chickpea flour
• 2tsp Butter
• Salt to taste

Shorisha Elish with touri & mango

This is a gorgeous curry made by Ms. Tapashe Podder, for the Grandma's Recipes competition recently at Mumtaz Mahal Restaurant. She has kindly allowed me to share the recipe on my blog. Notes below outline some of the tricky ingredients. This is a verbatim copy of Ms Tapashe's Grandmother's recipe, so any instructions that seem a little ambiguous have also been clarified below.

Ingredients:

Hilsa fish= 6 pieces ①
Mustard seed paste= 1 tbsp
Touri paste= made of 2 big touris ②
Mango boiled= 2 tsp ③
Green chilli= 5-6 pieces
Sliced onions= 6-7 medim onion
Turmeric powder= 1 tsp
Red chilli powder= 1 tsp
Cumin powder= 1 tsp
Coriander powder= 1 tsp
Salt to taste 
Oil= 1 cup

Method:

Sarah's Summer Pudding

Summer Pudding. It's one of those things I wish I could like, but I just loathe the delivery. Yucky sliced white bread soaked in sloppy juice. The concept is great - oodles of magenta sugary bombs wrapped in a secret parcel, but I just keep on coming back to the bread, which would probably taste much better with a slice of plastic cheese on it. The name "Summer Pudding" should conjure feelings of sweetness and light, and yet it's been hijacked by a lump of soggy purple bread. So - here's MY summer pudding. So much better.

Ingredients:

• stale cake - enough to cover the bottom of your bowl
• mixed berries - twice the volume of your cake - make sure at least 1/3 is tinned in juice.
• white chocolate (about 100 - 150g)
• whipping cream (same volume as cake)

Kiddies Corn Fritters

These have always a staple in our family. I think they started off as a breakfast item, but now they are one of the most frequently requested dinner veggies, and I always save some for the lunchbox the next day.

Considering we have switched to being gluten and dairy free, they've seen a little adjustment. I now use a gluten flour mix (Doves Farm self raising) and I replace cow's milk with camel milk (easy to buy here in Dubai, low in bad casein, and a creamier replica than soy or rice milk). The recipe tastes just as good either way.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 x 340g tin of sweet corn (12 Oz)
• 3/4 cup self raising flour
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• pinch salt
• pinch smoked paprika

Pomegranate and Quinoa salad

I've just discovered that you can cook quinoa in a rice cooker. This means no more sticky-together or crunchy bits, no more burned quinoa stuck to the bottom of the pan, and no more constant checking. Just plop in 2 cups of quinoa to 4 cups of water, turn it on and go away.

As a result, I'm finally cooking more quinoa.

Quinoa has a very woody flavour, and it needs something with it to temper the strength of this, particularly if you are trying to get kids to eat it. I've tried it warm and curried (here), which I thought was pretty good, but it got the definite thumbs down from the kids. This time, I served it cold, and to balance the raw and dusty flavour, added pomegranate seeds for sweetness and mint for freshness. And pine nuts, just because I like them.

Tiger Fish

Well, it's not actually tiger-fish. That's just for the benefit of Goldilocks, my picky 5 year old. He hates just about everything, except the things I can't feed him, namely gluten and dairy. Oh, and sugar of course. He LOVES sugar. With Goldilocks, it's all in the eye though. If it looks good, he'll probably taste it at least. Today, I worked on his new love of marine animals, and everything ocean, and promised him the rarest fish in the world, the kind that's striped, even after you cook it.

This dish has the benefit of having nori, which is stacked with iodine, a nutrient hard to find elsewhere in a child's diet (except for salt). And considering it is vital for healthy thyroid function and brain development, it's something we need to watch. "iodine deficiency during infancy may result in abdominal brain development and, consequently, impaired intellectual development" (www.mineralifeonline.com) Holy cow. Hope it's not too late...

Ingredients

• fillets of firm white fleshed fish (eg. Hamour/grouper, Snapper, Mahi Mahi)
• toasted nori (the green one), cut with scissors into thin strips
• tapioca starch
• egg - beaten
• cool water
• canola oil for frying 

Beef Daube Provencal

I love stews, particularly French ones. Unfortunately however, I can't get my kids to adore Boeuf Bourguignon the way I do. It's not just the mushrooms they can't stand, but the overall richness. In a recent trip to Provence however, I discovered the lighter, mushroom-free alternative. It's only been around for hundreds of years, but for some reason, I feel the need to put my own little recipe up. It's very simple - almost impossible to mess up, and yes, the kids love this one.

Ingredients:

• 750g beef - iceblock sized pieces
• 1/2 cup flour
• 100g lardons (streaky bacon, diced) 
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• dash of good sherry vinegar (substitute with balsamic if you can't find it)
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 cups water
• 3 large carrots
• 10-15 pearl onions (or eshallot) peeled but left in tact.
• 1 bouquet garnis (or 2-3 tsp mixed herbes de provence)
• 1/2 tsp celery seeds
• 3 cloves
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• salt and white pepper to taste