Arabic Breakfast/Ftoor

Arabic breakfast may seem like a cop out for a recipe but it is really important. Arabs eat this type of breakfast every single morning, and it is seriously my favorite because I get a little of everything. At the end of this post i will have a recipe for Arabic hard boiled eggs (it is how my husband always eats his hard boiled eggs but I think he is the only Arab that does it this way, if I am wrong please correct me) Anyways here is a typical arabic breakfast.

So normally there is some sort of vegetable, here i had some tomatoes, mint leaves (to be eaten with food like the laban msaffa (strained yogurt) or to be dipped in the tea) and cucumbers. Sometimes people also add some green onions or radishes, whatever you have available.

Honey or halaweh (sugar and sesame paste) is also always at the table, something to "ithala" with at the end of the breakfast (or if you are like me then you eat the sweet stuff all throughout the breakfast) Usually honey is eaten with cheese.

This is orange peel jelly but traditionally there is usually apricot jam.

Cheese, don't even bother telling an Arab breakfast is ready if there is no cheese. Here I have Syrian cheese or sometimes it is called chicago cheese. In Syria there is a cheese called jibneh bayda (white cheese) that is boiled before it is served to remove some of the salt, it squeaks when you chew it, you gotta love Syrian squeaky cheese. Sometimes (Laith's favorite) there is string cheese, pretty much any type of cheese you want.

Zaa'tar is a mix of dried herbs like oregano and thyme mixed with sesame seeds. Sometimes this mix is sour and sometimes it is not, i personally like it sour. This is eaten by taking pita bread and dipping it in olive oil and then in the zaa'tar mix.

Makdoos, I have a previous post showing how to make this pickled eggplant stuffed with walnuts and red pepper. This is very good and Syrians usually make it once a year and make enough for the whole year.

Laban msaffa or labneh which is strained yogurt topped with dried mint leaves and some olive oil. This is eaten either plain with pita bread or with black olives or with cucumbers.

Olives, again always available at any Arabs house you go to. Here I have black olives and green olives. Green olives are usually eaten with eggs and the black olives are eaten all the times. Arabs eat the olive by putting the whole thing in their mouth with bread and eating the olive then they (politely) spit the pit out in their hand. I, on the other hand, just peel the olive meat off and eat it.

This is how Oussama likes to eat his hard boiled eggs, I cut them in quarters and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then I drizzle the eggs with tahini and olive oil and serve. Hard boiled eggs can also be served as is and sprinkles with salt and pepper.

And that is a traditional (everyday) Syrian breakfast. Of course do not forget the tea. I also have halaweh (which wouldn't photograph properly)

Written Recipe:

Hard boiled eggs

Take eggs and place them in a pot with cold water and then directly on the stove. When the water starts to boil then time it for 8 minutes. Once the eggs have boiled for 8 minutes then drain them and pour cold water of them so they are easy to peel. Peel and cut the eggs into quarters and sprinkle salt and pepper and drizzle tahini and olive oil on top.

Makdoos

Well Makdoos is pretty much a stuffed pickled eggplant and it is DELISHHHHHH!!! I have always loved makdoos and i remember going to Syria and my Tehteh would be like "Oh i just put fresh makdoos in the oil for you." and Hadeel and i would be like uhh we want the old ones in Zabadani (the weekend house up in the mountains) because we (my tehteh and family) didn't go up very often the makdoos would become sour and yummy but when they are fresh in oil they still have an eggplant taste. I learned how to make makdoos when a girl named Hana came and lived with us for a year and we made a butt load of makdoos. The problem with making makdoos here in the states is that its your luck when it comes to eggplants, some are good, some have loads of seeds and some become rubbery on the outside. From my experience i will try to explain which ones are most likely to come out.

First you need to buy a load of eggplants. Look for dark black long ones; the ones that are pretty chubby and round will have a lot of seeds and will have a bad skin texture when they are cooked.

Place them in boiling water and place a plate or some weight on top so all of them are submerged in water

Cook until the tops come off easily, about 15 to 25 minutes, it really depends on the eggplant. When the top comes off without ripping it means it is cooked perfectly.

Cut open the eggplant but don't cut all the way threw. Sprinkle the inside with kosher salt.

i usually place some in a bowl and sprinkle otherwise you might add too much if you use it straight from the box

Place the eggplants in a strainer and then......

My Yebra2 weight (i got a new one cause obviously this one is breaking apart)

Then i begin to stack with as much weight as i can and let it strain for 2 days (not longer because it will mold, that is why you need as much weight as possible.

See, when i first stacked the eggplant it was coming over the strainer, now it is like half way

I got about this much liquid out 5 times

Use red Anaheim peppers and cut them really thin in small cubes. First i cut them in half and remove the seeds, then i cut them in strips and finally i cut them so they are little cubes

I like my makdoos a little spicy so i also add red jalapeno peppers and do the same as the Anaheim peppers. If you can't find Anaheim's then use bell peppers.

Add some salt to the peppers and squish them to get as much water out as possible.

Strain the peppers as well, try to get them as dry as possible.

Mix the peppers with walnuts (a few more walnuts then peppers) and garlic and salt to taste. I cut the walnuts by hand, some people put them in a blender but walnuts contain a lot of oil and you do not want to end up with a paste.

Stuff the strained eggplants with as much stuffing as possible (with them still being able to shut) and stack them in a clean jar. Turn them over and let them drain for 1 more day
Once the makdoos have drained pour over some olive oil. Make sure to try and get all the air bubbles out by tapping the container or by using a knife to squeeze the bubbles out.
The eggplants are ready after about 2-3 days. I usually wait until the oil has a red tint to it from the peppers. If you want to keep you makdoos from getting sour then cover them with oil, let them sit out for 2 to 3 days and then place them in the fridge.

yummmmmmy....and yes i eat them sour. Also sometimes people cut up tomatoes and makdoos and eat it with pita bread

Written Recipe:

4 Anaheim peppers

4 jalapeno peppers

3 cloves of garlic

kosher salt

3 pounds of small eggplants (or as many as you want)

1 cup of walnuts

olive oil

Fatayer

Fatayer are the PERFECT thing for parties and even to keep in the refrigerator or freezer and heat up whenever you need a snack. I love these because there are so many different kinds of fatayer, zaatar, cheese, meat, spinach, sausage and pizza. In this post i am showing you how i make my fatayer dough and the fillings or toppings. Feel free to change anything you want to your taste. One day i am going to buy a pizza stone and then hopefully they will be more like the yummy fatayer in salhiyeh. Oh and if anyone is reading this and knows how to make those fatayer they make in Syria (mhammara) the spicy ones with cheese on top please let me know.

Well of course we start off with yeast and sugar

Add in the warm water and wait until it starts to activate (about 3 to 5 minutes)

Once the yeast is activated add in olive oil and flour and salt (mix the salt with the flour so you don't kill you yeast)

slowly mix in the flour until you get a soft dough that it wet but isn't sticking to your fingers.

Place it in a greased bowl and let it double in size. Usually i turn my microwave on for 30 seconds and THEN i place the dough in there.

oooo look at that big bubble! Ok so i don't punch down my dough but feel free to if that's what you like.

I roll out my dough and using a biscuit cutter i cut all my fatayer to the same size

This is an option on how to shape a cheese fatireh. I made all of mine flat because i wanted to freeze them and it takes up less room.

So for the spinach filling you need either baby spinach or regular spinach that is cut. Make sure to wash your spinach well and let it dry. Sprinkle salt and begin to squeeze the spinach. I actually got exact measurements from, none other than Najats Kitchen on youtube, however most people add the same stuff except different amount.

It is going to start to look like cooked spinach and will release A LOT of water.

SQUEEZE!!!!!!!!!

I did this 3 times and i got about a cup of water each time. Just keep squeezing until you cant get any more water out.

Then mix in the onion, lemon juice, olive oil, sumac, cumin, arabic spice and pepper.

I found pomegranates at the market and couldn't resist so i halved my spinach mixture and in one i added pomegranate seeds and the other i added red pepper flakes. These two additions are totally optional but i like them.

So after the dough is rolled out (roll the dough for the spinach a little thicker that for cheese and meat pies because when they cook they will release more water and if the dough isn't thick it will break and leak water everywhere.

Pinch the two sides together

Then fold up the last side so that the spinach pie is a triangle...DONE

Now i am not sure how to make the meat mixture but this is how i make mine. I take ground beef and mix it with pomegranate molasses, arabic spice, salt tomato paste and a little oil (i use lean beef)

Take the circles and press down to make them thin and long, then press in the meat mixture and decorate with pine nut (pomegranate optional)

To distinguish between which spinach pies have pomegranate seeds and which ones are spicy i sprinkled some sumac on top of the pomegranate spinach pies.

Written Recipe:

Dough:

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of yeast

1 cup of warm water

1 tablespoon of sugar or honey

salt

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Spinach: Modified from Najats kitchen on youtube

spinach sprinkled with salt and squeezed until 3 cups of spinach are left

1/2 cup of onions

1/4 cup of lemon juice (I use citric acid to lessen the moisture in the pies)

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 tablespoons of sumac

1/4 teaspoon of arabic mixed spice

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/4 teaspoon of cumin

red pepper flakes and pomegranate seeds optional

Meat:

1 cup of lean ground beef (or 80/20 if you don't want to add oil)

2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses (dibis rimman)

1 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon of arabic spice

1/2 tablespoon of tomato paste

salt to taste

(suggestion, cook up a little meat and taste it because some pomegranate molasses is sweeter or more sour than other)

Cheese:

Any cheese that will melt

sprinkle with black seed (optional)

Tsi2iyeh bi samneh

I haven't posted in a while because i just started school and because i am a little stressed AND because i am re-organizing the whole apartment and throwing away (giving away) as much as possible. Ok so now back to the recipe. So as some of you have noticed i usually have some random memory about every type of food and this one is once again Oussama. When we first got married Oussama use to make tsi2iyeh bi samneh for us on the weekends...and it just was not good. After about the first 6 months i got the courage to tell him he needs to stop with the thick laban tsi2iyeh...turns out he was making it up and didn't really know what he was doing. This is how i make tsi2iyeh bi samneh which we eat almost every weekend (either this the tsi2iyeh bi zayt or fool). By the way i haven't made this or eaten it since i first got married and then this Ramadan i decided to make it and then i reconnected myself with it.

Ok so I think that this is a MUST for really good (anything) hummus. Buy the dried chickpeas and soak them overnight with a little baking soda. This is what the chickpea looks like dry and after it soaked over night. Once it is cooked it gets even bigger.

Dry chickpeas and the chickpeas soaking. So once they have soaked you rinse them with water and bring them to a boil (add a little baking soda once more). Once the chickpeas have boiled lower the heat and let them simmer for about an hour. Feel free to use canned chickpeas if you don't have time...i just really love the softness of after you boil them and you cant get that from canned chickpeas... but the taste is the exact same.

In a deep bowl cut up 2 pita breads, you can add more or less bread depending on what you like. If i am not serving anything else with the fatteh then i say 1 pita bread per person (unless you get the big ones then it obviously would be less)

I smash my garlic and then i add chickpeas and smash them as well. I do this because the chickpeas are hot so they cook the raw garlic taste without actually cooking the garlic.

Either in a bowl or in a blender mix yogurt, lemon juice (unless you have sour yogurt, the arabic brands are usually sour), tahini, salt, garlic, a few chickpeas (or if you have some msabaha) and the chickpea broth, enough to make it watery like milk.

Mix most of the chickpeas with the bread and then pour over the yogurt mixture.

Sprinkle with paprika and more chickpeas

Cook Samneh and toast the pine nuts. Make sure the oil is hot because it needs to make a crackling sound once it hits the yogurt. (funny story, once i was at my parents house and my dad was finishing up the tsi2iyeh and he said to Oussama and me, "listen this is the best sound in the world" and then he poured the samneh over the tsi2iyeh and.....nothing happened...isn't my dad the cutest?!?)

In Laith's words TAH DAH. Serve with arabic pickles (cucumber ones and the pink ones)

Written Recipe:

1 cup of dried and soaked and boiled chickpeas (or a can)

1/2 of lemon

3 tablespoons of tahini sauce

1 tablespoon of msabaha (hummus)

salt

2 small cloves of garlic

1 cup of yogurt (any kind, low fat, full fat or fat free)

as much chickpea broth as needed

2 pita bread ripped into small pieces

1 tablespoon of samneh (clarified butter)

as many pine nuts as desired