Tag Archives: Middle Eastern

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!

I fell in love with zaatar (it’s a mix of dried spices) since I moved to Dubai. I can’t remember how or when I tried it for the first time, but once I tried this incredible mixture, it remains my favourite Middle Eastern spice ever since. As my husband says: “you can eat anything with zaatar”. 😀 it’s funny but true. You can prepare many dishes using zaatar, like eggplant wedges with it and pomegranate molasses or delicious roasted salmon steaks, or anything else you like.

All you need for today is an egg and zaatar! A slice of wurzel or sourdough bread, some olives and feta could make your breakfast more complete and nourishing. Hope this bright and simple meal satisfy your taste buds! 😉

Zaatar friedd egg on a slice of wurzel bread

Zaatar fried egg

Servings: 1
Time: 10mins
Difficulty: very easy
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Ingredients

1 or 2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tbsp olive oil, for frying

1 tsp dry zaatar spice mix (per egg)

salt, pepper to taste

1 slice of wurzel or sourdough bread

1 tbsp olives (preferably in olive oil)

1 tbsp feta cheese

few cherry tomatoes, optional

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

Servings: 3-4
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: easy
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You can substitute pomegranate molasses with balsamic vinegar or any other pomegranate sauce.

Ingredients

3 medium eggplants

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

3 tsp zaatar mix spice

1 tbsp sesame seeds

pomegranate seeds

100g plain yogurt or sour cream for serving, optional

salt, pepper to taste

Preparation method

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!

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Arabic Mezze

While I’m enjoying the time in my home-country, in Dubai is the month of Ramadan. It’s one of the important months for Muslims; during the month they are fasting (no food or drink) during the daytime. Traditionally, it’s normal to brake the fast with dates before Iftar. Iftar includes buffet tables with a large variety of dishes.

Mezze is a selection of small dishes, appetizers served before the main course in many countries like Turkey, Lebanon, UAE, Syria, Greece, Cyprus. There are vegetarian, fish or meat mezze. Arabic-style mezze platters often include marinated olives, fresh herbs such as mint and zaatar, labneh (thick yogurt), halloumi cheese, kofta (meatballs) and many others. I guess, almost everyone is familiar with classic hummus – pureed chickpea dip. I do like this tasty dip, it’s wonderful with roasted chicken or lamb kofta, or simply with bread. But this time I made unusual hummus -with roasted red bell peppers and pomegranate molasses; it turned out so delicious! I served the hummus with Arabic pita bread, olives and baked halloumi cheese.

Halloumi cheese is another tasty appetizer, which is pretty popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. Baked halloumi with touch of honey and thyme makes wonderful snack. Serve it warm with bread or salad.

Arabic Mezze: Roasted red pepper hummus & Baked halloumi

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: easy
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Roasted red pepper hummus

Adapted from BBCFood

Ingredients

2 large red peppers

1 tbsp olive oil

1 shallot or 1/2 small brown onion

1 small garlic clove, chopped

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika (plain or smoked as you like)

1 can (400g) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2-3 tbsp fresh chopped coriander

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp orange juice

2 tsp pomegranate molasses (or add more lemon juice)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black/white pepper, to taste

Preparation

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.

Baked Halloumi

Ingredients

200g halloumi cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp liquid honey

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp black sesame seeds

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.

Arabian kofta

Kofta or Kufta is a simple dish, small balls of minced meat – usually lamb or mutton blended with fresh herbs, aromatic spices, garlic and/or onions. These meatballs are very popular in Middle Eastern countries like UAE, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, and there is no fixed recipe, each cook adds their favourite spices like chilli, cinnamon or cardamom. I highly recommend you to not omit fresh herbs; mint, coriander and parsley give kofta amazing freshness. Lamb meat is often used for kofta, but if you don’t eat lamb meat or it’s too fatty for you – you can easily substitute it with beef; in that case I suggest you to add a tablespoon of olive oil or butter for richness. And of course, the meat should be finely minced.

#10 Arabian meatballs

Kofta meatballs can be grilled, fried or even baked. Serve them with rice, fresh tomatoes and olives. I love to eat them wrapped in Arabic bread with a slice of roast eggplant, tomato and chopped fresh herbs, and dipping this lip-smacking wrap into hummus. 🙂

Arabian kofta

Servings: 28 small meatballs
Time: 30mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

500g finely ground lamb

100ml sparkling mineral water

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

3-4 Tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2-1 tsp harissa paste, optional

S&P to taste

2 Tbsp olive oil for frying

Garnish

Arabic bread, hummus, chopped iceberg and herbs

In a large bowl, mix meat with water. Add garlic, herbs, spices, season to taste and mix throughly with you hand.
Form small meatballs, the size of walnut.
Heat the frying pan with oil, add kofta meatballs and fry all over for 6-7 minutes or until cooked through.
Serve with bread, lettuce, herbs and hummus, if desired.

Enjoy!

Middle Eastern Salmon steaks

Salmon is a very popular fish in Russia. We pan-fry and roast it, make delicious cured salmon, pies, like worldwide famous Koulebyaka. Less fatty varieties, such as pink and hunchback are well-known and in high demand, they are less expensive, but still good and healthy choice. As you may know, such fish is an excellent sauce of Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A and B. 🙂

My husband and I love salmon and are always trying to find new ways to prepare it. The below recipe requires about 30 minutes and is guaranteed to please family or friends. It is simply amazing recipe, rich salmon, coated in aromatic Middle Eastern spices.

Middle Eastern Salmon steaks

Servings: 2
Time: 30mins
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Ingredients

2 salmon steaks

2 round lemon slices

1 tsp whole white peppercorns, crushed

1-2 tsp coarse sea salt, crushed

2 tsp zaatar*

2 tsp sumac

2 tsp sesame seeds

2 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

*Make your own zaatar: 2Tbsp thyme+2Tbsp oregano+2Tbsp sesame seeds+1Tbsp sumac+1/2tsp ground cumin+1/2tsp salt

Preparation

Rub salmon steaks evenly with salt, white pepper and sumac. Place fish on a baking tray (you may line it with baking paper), drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. Leave to marinate for 10-20 minutes.
Preheat the oven 180C/ F. Sprinkle zaatar and sesame seeds over steaks; top with lemon slices. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
For the side dish, you can roast some potatoes, turnips or carrots along with salmon. Cut veggies into thin slices, sprinkle with salt, pepper, sesame seeds and olive oil. Potatoes usually need more time to be cooked, so you may parboil them before.

Bon appetite!

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