Arab cuisine
Fish. Arabian red grouper
Baked Arabian red grouper
- Wash, pat dry fish. Arrange on a baking tray.
- Drizzle with lemon or lime juice, and season inside and out.
- Stuff with fresh herbs and citrus slices.
- Sprinkle with dried fennel and extra seasoning.
- Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.
- Bake in preheated 360F/180C oven for 15-18 minutes or until it’s cooked.
Enjoy!
Sunday Breakfast: Zaatar fried egg
Good morning to you my dear reader! I have an intriguing question for you this lovely Sunday morning – what time are you awake on weekends? Is it 6am or 11am? Today I had a special fitness morning. Firstly, I wake up early today: at 8am (yes, it is early for me), went to a nice and energetic pilates class, which is really made my day. Afterwards, I was so hungry and in need of something extremely tasty and healthy!
Zaatar fried egg
- Heat oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat, crack an egg, season with salt, pepper, then sprinkle with zaatar and fry for a couple of minutes.
- Meanwhile, toast the bread or put it under the grill for a minute.
- Arrange bread on a serving plate, carefully transfer the fried egg on the toast. Top with olives and crumbled feta.
- Serve immediately with fresh cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with extra zaatar, if you like.
Eggplant wedges
Hey everyone! I came back from the holidays recently and slowly getting into blogging again. In my previous posts I shared with you some recipes using white and red currants, and you may think that I have had only berries during the summer time in Russia.. Yes I did! This summer has been bountiful: lots of amazing produce, including various berries – gooseberries, strawberries and currants, as well as vegetables like cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants.
I’m so glad that I was able to enjoy amazing veggies and greens form my parents’ garden. We cooked many dishes using these vegetables, including zucchini oladushki (fritters), sauteed veggies, salads, and so on. Finally we get tired of cooking eggplants and zucchini the same way. Moreover, I missed Dubai with its seductive aromas and herbs, rich and spice flavours in the air.. Fortunately, I brought my favourite spice – zaatar, and the decision was found: to make eggplant wedges with a Middle Eastern note! It was an easy and quick way to prepare eggplants. I drizzled it with aromatic olive oil, sweet molasses and of course zaatar, then served with a slice of country-style bread, yogurt and sliced fresh tomatoes!
Eggplant wedges
Ingredients
- Cut washed eggplants into 8-10 wedges. Sprinkle with some salt and leave for 20-30 minutes. Place under running water to wash off the salt. Arrange wedges onto lined baking tray.
- In a small bowl, combine olive oil, molasses and zaatar. Brush eggplant wedges with this mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake in preheated 180C for 25 minutes. Then increase the temperature to 200C and bake for 20-30 minutes more, or until eggplants wedges are soft and nicely browned.
- Arrange eggplant wedges onto a serving plate, sprinkle with sesame and pomegranate seeds.
- Serve with yogurt on side, or pour it over warm wedges.
Enjoy!
Sharing with all bloggers at Fiesta Friday party!
Arabic Mezze
Arabic Mezze: Roasted red pepper hummus & Baked halloumi
Adapted from BBCFood
Ingredients
- Cut peppers into halves and place them onto lined baking tray under the grill for 15 minutes, or roast covered in foil in preheated 180C oven for 30 minutes. Remove their skins.
- In a small frying pan, heat olive oil, add onion and fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, add garlic and cumin and saute for a minute more.
- In a food processor, add peppers, fried onion, paprika, chickpeas, coriander, lemon and orange juices, molasses if using and pulse several times. Add extra virgin olive oil, and blend again. Season to taste.
- If you want to make the hummus thiner, add a couple of tablespoons of water.
- Serve with Arabic bread, pita, crackers or your favourite bread.
- Cut halloumi into slices. Place onto baking tray lined with baking paper or foil.
- Mix all other ingredients. Pour over cheese.
- Bake in preheated 200C oven for 10 minutes or under the grill until just begin to brown.