Omani Lobster with za’atar and garlic

Omani Lobster is presently a little overfished, but just once in a while, it’s a super way to turn things up for a celebration. This is a claw-less variety, and so is easy to prepare and eat. Simply use the tails, and if you want to keep waste to a minimum, use the legs to make a stock and freeze it for later.

Lobster tails are easy to cook – simply grill until the flesh is translucent – then take them off the heat and eat immediately - it will continue to cook a little in that shell until it's cracked open like a Christmas present. Za’atar is a local narrow and long-leaved thyme relative known elsewhere in the world as winter savoury.

Ingredients

• 2 Lobster tails, cleaned
• fresh za’atar – about 12 stems
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt, pepper and lemon to taste

Roasted Vegetable Salad

This is such a vibrant salad. Considering it is so hot here, even over Christmas, not everyone wants a bowl of hot roasted vegetables. It’s easy to prepare before-hand and features plenty of local and seasonal ingredients. It’s wonderful with turkey, but also makes a great accompaniment to grilled seafood.

Ingredients:

• 500g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
• 1 bunch of radishes
• 5 small beetroots, quartered
• 250g roca (arugula)
• 1 tbsp warm water
• 1 big pinch of saffron
• 1 tsp honey
• coarse salt to taste
• ¼ cup flaked almonds
• 2 tbsp labneh
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• squeeze of lemon
• 1 tsp sumac
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• herbs for garnish (za’atar or coriander)

Gingerbread lamp with stained glass

I've been inspired by the region - hard not to be really. Last year, we made a gingerbread house, and it turned out quite nicely. But the snow on the roof and the Hansel and Gretel theme doesn't really gel in this part of the world. So, here is a Middle-Eastern-Appropriate gingerbread, both in flavour and construction. And you know what? Easier than it looks...


Ingredients

• 250g butter, softened 
• 2/3 cup soft brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup date honey (dhibs)
  2 eggs, beaten 
• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup self raising flour
• 2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 15-20 clear boiled sweets (lollies), crushed with a mortar and pestle into coarse powder.

Roast Turkey with Freekeh

 Ok - this is not the easiest part of a Christmas Dinner, and so breaks my usual slap-dash rules of only 3-4 steps. Sorry about that - nothing to do. It is however not a hard recipe as far as roast turkeys go - just a simple roast, no brining or anything like that. Let's start you with the stuffing, which is really just chopping, browning and stirring, then I'll move through the trickier bits...

Freekeh Stuffing Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra, to drizzle
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 150g minced veal
• 205g (1¼ cups) freekeh (washed well and soaked for 1 hour)
• 2 tsp shawarma spice
• 1½ tsp salt
• 750ml (3 cups) chicken stock or water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp ghee
• ½ cup pistachios
• ¼ cup dried barberries
• Salt and pepper to taste

Gluten Free, Dairy Free cupcakes – as easy as 1, 2, 3

It’s amazing where your best recipes come from. This was my son’s maths homework. His male, non-cooking teacher sent home a recipe that was to be used to practice multiplication. He sent home the ingredients for 6 cupcakes, and asked students to make him 12 or 18 at a time. With my kids being on a gluten free diet, I substituted the self raising flour mix by Doves Farm. I also substituted the caster sugar for some coconut sugar I had just picked up from the organic shop (less processed = better for the soul). The recipe was already dairy free.

It’s one of the only cake batters I’ve made that does not contain milk or at least a liquid substitute, and I was convinced it was going to be rock hard – not so. Eggs are mighty little ingredients. Recipe below makes 6 cupcakes – but can easily be multiplied, as my son can vouch for.

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: