Homemade Pita Bread Recipe - NYT Cooking. Easy Soft Flatbread Recipe (No Yeast) 20 best Middle Eastern recipes: part 1. Claudia Roden’s aubergine slices with pomegranate, yogurt and tahini – batinjan bil rumman wal laban The dressing of pomegranate molasses and vinegar gives the aubergine slices a sweet-and-sour flavour.
Serve them hot or cold, with the yogurt topping at room temperature. Serves 6aubergines 4 (1.2kg)extra-virgin olive oilsaltpomegranate molasses 1½ tbspred or white wine vinegar 1½ tbspnatural (full-fat) yogurt 500ggarlic 1 clove, crushedtahini 2 tbsppine nuts 50g Cut the aubergines into slices (lengthways or across) about 1¼cm thick. Place them on an oiled sheet of foil on a baking sheet or tray. Mix the pomegranate molasses, vinegar and 2 tablespoons of oil, and brush the aubergine slices with this dressing. VARIATIONInstead of the pine nuts, garnish with the shiny pink seeds of a fresh pomegranate.From Arabesque by Claudia Roden (Michael Joseph, £30) Fadia Chabtini’s lahm bi ajine In Beirut, lahm bi ajine is done with tomatoes. To make the dough, put the flour and salt in a large bowl.
20 best Middle Eastern recipes: part 2. Claudia Roden’s bell peppers stuffed with rice, raisins and pine nuts – zeytinyağli biber dolmasi This is the classic Turkish rice filling for vegetables to be served cold.
Choose plump bell peppers that can stand on their base. I prefer to use red peppers because they are sweeter and for the colour, but in Turkey green ones are more often used. Serves 6onion 1 large, chopped finelyextra-virgin olive oil 6 tbspshort-grain or risotto rice 250gsalt and peppersugar 1-2 tsppine nuts 3 tbspcurrants or tiny black raisins 3 tbsptomato 1 large, peeled and choppedground cinnamon 1 tspground allspice ½ tspmint a handful, choppeddill a handful, choppedflat-leaf parsley a handful, choppedlemon juice of 1green or red bell peppers 6 mediumnatural (full-fat) yogurt 250g, mixed with 1 crushed garlic clove to serve (optional) For the filling, fry the onion in 3 tablespoons of the oil until soft.
Retaining the stalk, cut a circle around the stalk end of the peppers and set on one side to use as caps. 20 best Middle Eastern recipes: part 3. Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich’s chicken pastilla Serve this with a big plate of orange slices and rocket drizzled in lemon juice and olive oil, and with great pride.
To serve 4 shameless or 6 polite guestschicken thighs 6, with skin and bones (about 800g)salt 1 tsp, plus 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp pitted dates 100g onions 3, peeled and sliced thinly (about 300g)cinnamon stick 1 dried red chilli 1 (you can remove the seeds if you prefer milder flavours)ras el hanout spice mix 2 tbsp water 240ml filo pastry 1 packet (about 250-270g)melted butter 60g (or oil/other fat if avoiding dairy) Heat your oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
Put a large frying pan on a medium heat. Place the chicken thighs skin-side down in it and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. Keep the fat in the frying pan and add the sliced onions and the other teaspoon of salt. Open the lid carefully and check whether the chicken is fully cooked – it should just fall off the bone. Remove the chilli and the cinnamon stick. 20 best Middle Eastern recipes: part 4. Anissa Helou’s stuffed mussels – midye dolmasi If there were one street food I could take with me to a desert island, it would have to be stuffed mussels.
I remember the first time I visited Istanbul in the mid 1970s, I stayed at the Pera Palace, still in its faded glory, spending my mornings in mosques and museums and my afternoons and early evenings in the bazaars. I was on a mission to find the ultimate stuffed mussels. I had never eaten them before and had fallen in love with this elaborate delicacy that was sold so cheaply on the street when it could have been on the menu of a Michelin-starred restaurant. My hotel was just down the road from Çiçek Passajı (Flower Passage), a lovely small market leading into a maze of narrow streets full of charming restaurants. It is not that easy to find mussels that are large enough for stuffing. Put the olive oil, pine nuts and onions in a saucepan and sauté, stirring regularly, until lightly golden. Georgina al Bayeh’s falafel.