UAE Recipes – Emiratican Kitchen (2024)

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Posted on July 9, 2013 | 12 comments

Fasting for Ramadan 2013 starts tomorrow and my daughter and I have been doing food prep this past week. Yesterday we filled about 250 samboosas and then froze them. So we are good to go for a few weeks, InshaAllah (God Willing).

A daily Ramadan staple is Harees. I only ever cook it during Ramadan. It is tasty and filling and a great thing to have for suhoor. The original recipe uses wheatberries which is locally called “harees”. It is a thick porridge made with a few simple ingredients: wheatberries, choice of meat, water, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.

I met a lady, originally from Iran, now living here in the UAE who once told me that she made Harees using Quaker oatmeal and nobody knew the better of it. I was intrigued because when I make it, it takes forever and her way sounded much easier. I never followed through with her suggestion until about 3 weeks ago when another lady on a Facebook group that I am on, shared her recipe for Harees and it included oatmeal…so I had to try it! It was so easy and tasty to make…even my husband liked it and could not tell the difference until I told him!

So here it is…easy peasy:

Harees Using Quaker Oatmeal

1 kg (2 pounds of meat of your choice) you can use lamb, beef, or chicken. Note: if you use beef, I suggest it be 1/2 kg or one pound. When I first made this recipe I used 1kg of beef and the harees came out a darker color than usually…it was still very tasty but not so good looking.

3 cups of Quaker oatmeal

1 small onion, chopped

1 small stick of cinnamon

1.5 liters (6 cups of water)

1 tablespoon of salt

1/4 tsp of black pepper

1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder

1/4 to 1/2 cup of melted butter

Directions:

In a large pot, add the meat of your choice, the chopped onion, cinnamon stick, and water. Bring to a boil and cook until very tender.

Remove meat/chicken…debone if you have to…and then place into a food process and blitz for a few seconds until shredded. Or you can finely chop the meat/chicken.

Using a strainer, drain the stock into a large pot. Add the shredded meat/chicken, the 3 cups of Quaker oats, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Stir using a whisk. Add more water if necessary by the cupful. Bring to a boil and check every 5 to 10 minutes. Stir each time you check on it. Add more boiling water if necessary. Cook for about 40 minutes. Add the melted butter, stir and then serve.

(Note: Make sure you stir the Harees every few minutes because it will stick to the pot and become an awful burned mess!)

Thank you Fatema for sharing the recipe 🙂

12 Comments

Posted in Beef, Chicken, Food in UAE Pop Culture, Lamb, Ramadan Recipes, UAE Recipes

Tagged Ramadan

Posted on July 30, 2012 | 8 comments

Arseeyah (Ar-see-yah)

Arseeyah is a simple and hearty rice and chicken dish. I consider of the UAE’s great comfort foods. It is a great food for young children (it is one of my children’s favorite foods) and adults love to eat it as well. I cook this often during Ramadan and it is also a dish which is always made at my sister-in-laws house every Eid for breakfast time. I like to make this for a simple lunch or dinner.

This past April, Sharjah had a Heritage Festival. If you are able to go please do it is held every April. Anyway, this was a common dish being offered there. I was able to ask one of the women there how she made hers and it was the same except that she used basmati rice instead of calrose (short grain) rice like I do but she assured me that it could be made using the calrose rice. I have never tried making Arseeyah with basmati rice.

Arseeyah is very easy to make and only has just a few ingredients. I use chicken breast to make mine but you can definitely use a whole chicken which will give you more flavor of course. Okay, now for the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups of calrose (short grain) rice

1 kg (2 pounds) of chicken breast or 1200 grams of whole chicken

2 liters of water (about 8 cups)

1 large piece of cinnamon bark

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper powder

Melted Samen or ghee

Directions:

In a medium size pot add the chicken, water, and cinnamon bark. Boil the chicken breast for one hour or the whole chicken until it is falling off the bones. Remember to skim off the scum. Strain and reserve the broth.

Cool and then debone the chicken. The chicken will now need to be cut into finely chopped pieces.

In a large pot add the rice, the strained broth, the chopped chicken, salt, pepper and cardamom powder. Stir.

Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. The pot needs to be covered. Every ten minutes go and stir the Arseeyah so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pot.

Every ten minutes you will need to stir the Arseeyah.

Turn off the heat and remove the lid to let all the steam out.

Once, it finished cooking it will look like this…not dry but still moist.

Taste for salt.

With an electric mixer set on high, mix the Arseeyah until the rice and chicken are “melted” into each other very well.

Arseeyah needs to be served hot.

Place the Arseeyah onto a platter and spoon melted samen (ghee) over the entire surface and smooth out. Since it is Ramadan I am serving the Arseeyah in a huge hot pot (I just love these! It will keep the food nice and hot for hours!).

Variation: I like to add 1 can of Nestle Cream to the Arseeyah and then mix it well using the electric mixer.

I hope that you try and enjoy my recipe!

Print this recipe.

8 Comments

Posted in Breakfast, Chicken, Dinner, Eid Dishes, Lunch, Ramadan Recipes, Rice Dishes, UAE Recipes

Tagged Calrose Rice, Chicken, Comfort Food, Eid, Iftar, Ramadan, traditional emirati food

Posted on July 29, 2012 | 18 comments

Thareed is another popular dish to make when a Muslim is fasting. It is very common to make Thareed for Iftar(breaking of the fast) during Ramadan because it is light on the stomach. It is basically crispy flat bread layered with a meat soup. Actually it is a cross between a hearty soup and a soupy stew. (Does that make sense?)

It is often mispronounced as “Fareed” but the correct way to say it isThareed.

Thareed is even mentioned in a hadith of the Prophet Mohammed(peace be upon him).

Thareed can be made with lamb, chicken, and also with just vegetables. Today I will give you the recipe forThareedwith lamb and will post the recipes for the chicken and vegetable later on, InshaAllah.

The best bread to use when makingThareed is Khobuz Raqaq which is a crispy wafer-thin bread.

If you live in the UAE you can usually find it in abundance during Ramadan. There are women who make this early in the morning and will sit out front places like the Co-Op or the fruit and vegetable market selling these for Dh10 a bag.

You could also use Khobuz Iraniwhich is a thin flat bread (about the thickness of tortillas) and this can be bought at any Iranian bakery. Sorry I don’t have a picture to share of what it looks like. Here in Sharjah there are many Iranian bakeries which are little hole-in-wall places in the neighborhoods of Ghafiyah andUmmKhanoor.

When I was living in the US, I would substituteRotiwhich I bought from the frozen food section of an Indian grocery store. You could also use regular pita bread. I have never used it before but a friend of mine has.

This recipe can easily be halved but since it is Ramadan it is nice to share with your neighbors or to feed the poor.

Okay so on to the recipe:

Thareed Laham(serves 8-10)

Ingredients:

1 kg (2 pounds) lamb stew meat

1 ½ liters of water (6 cups)

2 cups of finely chopped onions

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of corn oil

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 large potatoes, each potato quartered

4 small koosa (courgettes or kalabasa squash) each piece cut into half

1 large carrot cut into 4 pieces

4 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 pieces of whole black dried lemons

1-3 pieces of green chili

3 cubes of Maggi

1 tablespoon of Arabic Bizar spice mix

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon black lemon powder (loomi aswad)

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cardamom powder

½ teaspoon black pepper powder

¼ teaspoon red Kashmiri chili powder (or cayenne pepper)

¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped

5 large piece of Raqaq bread or 2-3 pieces of Khobuz Irani (or you can substitue Roti or Pita bread)

(Note: Tear the Raqaq bread or the Khobuz Irani into large pieces…about the size of the palm of your hand. Leave the pieces out to air dry on a large platter on your kitchen counter or dining room table. If you do not have Raqaq bread or Khobuz Irani available, you use Roti or Pita bread.)

Directions:

In a large pot, boil the lamb meat removing the foam when it starts to boil. Boil for one hour.

Strain and reserve the broth.

In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onions until they get a nice golden brown color. Don’t burn the onions. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant.

Add the tomato paste and all of the vegetables, EXCEPT the koosa (squash) mix together to coat the vegetables with the tomato paste.

Rinse the two whole dried lemons and then pierce each one once with a sharp knife.

Add the lamb meat, reserved broth, Maggi cubes, and the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT the koosa and the chopped cilantro.

Add more water if necessary to make this stew a bit soupy. Taste for seasoning.

Bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are almost done. You can now add the koosa (squash) and the chopped cilantro and cook until the koosa is fork tender.

Preparation:

Carefully remove the meat and vegetables from the pot and keep aside on a large platter.

In a large deep sided bowl, add one layer of Raqaq bread (or whichever bread you are using.

Add another layer of bread and ladle some more liquid.

Each layer of bread will be soaking with the liquid from the stew. None of the bread should be left dry.

Ladle the remaining liquid from the pot onto the bread.

Now you arrange the vegetables and lamb meat over the soaked bread.

You can garnish with a little bit more chopped cilantro if you wish.

Serve and enjoy!

Note: Thareed is best eaten on the same day.

Print this recipe.

18 Comments

Posted in Dinner, Food in UAE Pop Culture, Lamb, Ramadan Recipes, Soups, UAE Recipes

Tagged Black Lemon, Fareed, Iftar, Lamb, Ramadan, Tharid, traditional emirati food

Posted on July 25, 2012 | 8 comments

Pakora’s are a delicious fried little munchie that seems to be another Ramadan staple but of course it can be enjoyed all year round. Oh! and this is soooo delicious with Laban Up.

The Pakora’s that I either bought or ate somewhere else were always hard and heavy feeling. I played around with the ingredients and have come up with this lighter and crunchier version that is filled with more vegetables. I hope you try it and like it! It is very easy to make and I will provide you with 4 variations on what to put inside.

Pakora (Deep Fried Vegetable Balls)

Ingredients for batter:

3/4 cup chickpea (besam) flour (this can be found in an Indian grocery store)

1/4 cup corn meal or rice powder (I prefer using the corn meal though)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon red chili powder (or 1 heaping teaspoonMexican-style chili powder)

1 teaspoon tumeric powder

1 egg

1/2 cup water

In a medium size bowl, mix all these ingredients together.

Ingredients for vegetable variations:

Variation #1:

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped cilentro

1-2 finely chopped green chilies (it is up to you on the heat…deseed if you want)

Variation #2:

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoon finely chopped cilentro

8 oz uncooked potato, shredded

1 green chili finely chopped (optional)

Variation #3

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilentro

1 small raw carrot, shredded

1 small raw zucchini, shredded

1 small raw potato, shredded

Variation #4

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cups of small okra (okra zero) or 1 cup sliced okra

Cooking Directions:

Once you have chosen which vegetable variation you will use just add it to the batter. Mix it very well. It should be thick like in the 2nd picture below.

You can fry it now or you can place this in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (not necessary) but I like for the flavors to blend together and also I like to prepare it in advance so I can fry it 45 minutes before Iftar (breaking our fast during Ramadan).

If you let the mixture settle in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, you will notice that it has become a little runny…no worries…this is how turns out if you let it sit for a while. You will need to add a little bit more of the chickpea flour and the cornmeal. You can addan additional 3 tablespoons of chickepea flour and 1 tablespoon of corn meal at a time. It will be 1/4 cup total addition.

Go ahead and heat up enough oil (I like to use corn oil or canola oil) in a wok or deep-sided frying pan. Turn the heat down to medium-high.

Drop by tablespoonfuls into the hot oil.

Gently fry the pakoras until they get a nice golden brown color. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.

This recipe will make around 24 pakoras.

I like to serve this with 1 cup of yogurt and 1 packet of salad dressing mix (basil & thyme). It is sooooo yummmy!

Enjoy!

.

.

8 Comments

Posted in Appetizers, Ramadan Recipes, Side Dishes, Snacks, UAE Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Tagged Can't Eat Just One, Iftar, Laban Up, Munchies, Quick and Easy, Ramadan

Posted on July 23, 2012 | 17 comments

Harees is one of the daily Ramadan staples here in the UAE. It is easy on the stomach after a long day of fasting. It is a very simple, delicious,and filling dish that can be eaten at Iftar (breaking the fast) or for Suhoor the meal before Fajr(morning) prayers. It is served either alone as a main dishor as a side dish with all the other goodies during Ramadan.

During Ramadan, you will find this is one of those dishes that is widely shared between neighbors….if you should receive a bit too much or you get tired of eating it, it will freeze very nicely. Just freeze it in an aluminum container, thaw it out in the fridge, and then heat it up in the oven.

Harees is also one of those dishes that you will find at every occasion…Ramadan, Eid, weddings, engagement parties, any special event…so I would classify it as one of the foods in UAE popular culture.

The “harees”grain is wheatberries in English and can be made with either lamb or chicken. When my family was living in America, I also used pearl barley for this because it looked so similar to wheatberries and I achieved the same tasty result using it.

Also, you can add as much or as little chicken or lamb as you wish. For the 2 cups ofharees,I will usually use 1 kg of meat. Of course, the more meat you use the more richer the dish. But for economic reasons the hareeswould be more. If you are using lamb this is a good time to use those bones and make a stock from it and debone what you can use.

I made Harees Laham(Lamb Harees) just the other day and I experimented using the crockpot/slow cooker. It is summertime and the temperatures outside are at least 45C. During Ramadan in the summer, I want to spend as little time in the kitchen! The results…I think it turned out better in the crockpot than cooking it over the stove top!

Okay now, on to the recipe:

Harees (serves 8-10)

Ingredients:

2 cups ofharees (wheatberries)For best results, you will need to soak theharees(wheatberries) overnight or for at least 8 hours.

1 kilo (2 pounds) of chicken or lamb

2 sticks of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of black pepper powder

2-3 teaspoons of salt

water

samen (local-made clarified butter) or melted butter

Directions:

First of all, you will want to boil the chicken or the meat until tender. After boiling until tender, debone your chicken or lamb. Save the stock to use later on in this recipe.

In a large pot, add the harees, deboned chicken or lamb, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and the stock. Add water if needed. The stock/water need to cover theharees by about 2 or 3 inches.

Bring to a boil and then turn down the fire/heat to low. Let it boil, boil, boil until it reduces to a watery oatmeal-like consistency. Total cooking time will be about 1 hour…I didn’t time it.

(Note: Be sure to check every 10 minutes and just stir the pot so that theharees won’t burn at the bottom.)

Now you are ready to blend theharees. Using a hand mixer, blend thehareesin the pot until smooth. It won’t be entirely smooth. You can also use one of those hand blenders to do the job.

The hareeswhen ready will have a thick consistency. Serve on a small platter and spoon thesamen(clarified butter) or melted butter on top to cover. Some people will decorate the top of thehareeswith powdered cinnamon in a simple pattern.

CookingHarees in the crockpot or slow cooker:

This was my experiment: If you are cooking thehareesusing a crockpot, you will just need to add all the ingredients to the crockpot. Add enough stock and water to equal 3 liters (12 cups). I cooked this on high for 6 hours.

I added the lamb without deboning (I don’t think I will do that again). I had to add a little more water so that I could blend it and then let it cook a little bit more (maybe an hour).

I will be making theharees again this way today because I think that it turned out much better than on the stovetop. This time though I will be using already cooked and deboned lamb.

17 Comments

Posted in Chicken, Eid Dishes, Food in UAE Pop Culture, Lamb, Ramadan Recipes, Side Dishes, UAE Recipes

Tagged Chicken, Crockpot Recipes, Eid, Iftar, Lamb, pearl barley, Ramadan, Suhoor, traditional emirati food, weddings, wheatberries

Posted on July 17, 2012 | 7 comments

The fish that I am using in this recipe is calledHalwayohin the local Arabic (pronounced helll-why-oh). the fish has small, itsy-bitsy scales and is very easy to clean. It is a rather plump fish and has a creamy-white flesh. Whenever my husband would bring home a Halwayohto cook it would always be made into a stew, but just this past year we have enjoyed cooking it fried and even cooked in the oven stuffed with a hashwa(herb stuffing) like the one I made in this recipe Grilled Hamra with Hashwa…(hell-why-not)…sorry I just couldn’t resist

I really don’t think that you can overcook Halwayoh. I have done so by mistake a couple of times when I have made it into stew and it did not turn out hard like or fall apart like some other kinds of fish.

I think the nameHalwayoh is akin to the Arabic word forHeloo meaing “sweet” or “nice”…well, to me it does anyway… I think I asked my husband about it once a long time ago.

Correct me if I am wrong though about the word relation

Everyone always praises and values using the Hammour (grouper) but I much prefer this fish in stews, baking, and even in frying. It is very delicious no matter how you cook it. If you should find this in the fish souk (or local market) buy it without hesitation! It is rare to find and will be a little bit costly but it is well worth it!

Here is what you will need:

1 kg fish cut into 3-inch slices (I prefer to use a chunky fish such as hammour or halwayoh for this dish)

For the marinade:

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Arabian Spice Mixture

1 inch cube of fresh ginger, grated

1 teaspoon salt

juice of 1 lemon

For the stew:

2 tablespoons corn oil

1 cup of onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

1 large tomato, skinned, de-seeded, and chopped

1 to 2 green chilies

1 heaping teaspoon of Arabian Spice Mix

2 Maggi stock cubes

1 teaspoon tumeric powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

2 inch cube of dried tamarind, soaked in hot water

2 tablespoons tomato paste

6 cups of water

2 dried black lemons (loomi aswad)

1/2 cup cilentro, finely chopped

1/4 cup of corn oil for frying

Directions:

Mix all marinade ingredients together. Thoroughly rub with the fish with marinade and set aside for 20 minutes.

Heat 1/4 cup of corn oil in a wok or deep frying pan. Add the marinated fish pieces. Lightly fry until just golden brown. You do not want to thoroughly cook the fish because you will be letting it simmer and finish cooking in the stew in just a little bit. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Mix the soaking tamarind seeds with your hands to separate the seeds. Drain into another bowl and save the water. Discard the seeds.

In a medium sized pot, heat the 2 tablespoons corn oil. Add the chopped onion and sautee until the onion is soft and translucent.

Add the garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and green chili. Stir until the tomato has become soft.

Add the Arabian Spice Mix, Maggi stock cubes,turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, and dried lemons.

Add the tomato paste, tamarind juice, and water. Stir. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the cilentro and then gently add the fried fish chunks. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Serve in individual soup bowls accompanied with basmati rice and a platter of fresh greens.

Enjoy!

Note: I have come across some Khaleeji recipes that cook this fish stew with potato chunks. In all the times I have had Marak Samak (fish stew) at my mother-in-law’s or other in-laws homes I haven’t ever had any stew with potatoes in it. I asked my husband one time about putting potatoes in the stew and he gave me theweirdestlooksooo….it’s up to you if you want to try it with potatoes…If you are married to a local (Emirati) ask him first if he would like potatoes in his fish stew…before he gives you that “Are you crazy?!?!” look!

7 Comments

Posted in Dinner, Fish, Lunch, UAE Recipes

Tagged Fish, Fish Curry, Fish of the UAE, Great Amberjack, Halwayoh, traditional emirati food

Posted on June 28, 2012 | 9 comments

Hello all,

I have only had camel meat three times in my life, twice was at a bedouin family’s wedding in Al Ain and the other was at a party at my sister-in-law’s house. To me it tastes just like lamb…but it isn’t fatty like lamb meat. The way that the camel meat was cooked when we had it at the wedding was quite delicious and hard to forget the succulent taste and the tenderness of the meat.

The best camel meat to use for cooking is from the younger camel because the older the more tougher.

Well, to tell you the truth I have not cooked camel meat at my home but for the purpose of this post I will use lamb meat which is the same method used for cooking camel meat. The way that I am cooking this meat is the same way the meat (lamb, chicken, camel) is prepared when making it for special occasions (wedding parties and Eid).

This is just a basic recipe. You can adjust the seasonings and add others to your liking later on. Okay, on to the recipe…

Ingredients:

2 kg, or more, of camel meat best if it is a whole piece like a roast or cut into big chunks like in the picture above

1 tablespoon tumeric powder

2 dried black lemons(loomi)

1 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns

8 pods of green cardamon, crushed

1 teaspoon of whole cloves

1 large piece of cinnamon bark

3 bay leaves

1/4 cup of salt (to be added towards the end for flavoring)

oil for frying

Directions:

In a large pot, add about 2 tablespoons of corn oil. Heat it up and lightly brown the meat to seal in the juices.

After the meat has that nice golden color add the tumeric, dried lemons, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, and bay leaves. Add enough water to cover the meat. Bring it to a rolling boil, lower the fire/heat so that it simmers, and cover the pot.

Cook it this way for about 1 hour and then add the salt. Keep simmering until the meat becomes tender. Take the meat out of the pot and set in a colander to drain. At this point, you can save the stock to prepare some rice.

You will now need to lightly fry the meat. So add enough oil to a wok or deep-sided frying pan, heat it up and carefully add the meat. Be careful because it is going to splutter. You just want to lightly fry the meat until it gets a nice golden color. Remove it from the oil and let it drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

That’s it! This is then layered over rice such as Yellow Riceand Lentil Hashwa (recipe for the Hashwa is upcoming!).

9 Comments

Posted in Chicken, Eid Dishes, Lamb, UAE Recipes

Tagged Black Lemon, Camel Meat, dinner, Lamb, lamb meat, traditional emirati food, whole cloves

Posted on December 9, 2010 | 16 comments

Today’s “Fish of the Day” isHamra. In English this fish is also known as Red Snapper.

I will show you in today’s recipe how to prepare Hamra with an easy to makehashwa (stuffing). Hashwa literally means “stuffing”. This stuffing recipe is very easy to make andbrings a wonderful aroma and flavour to fish.

Grilled Hamra with Hashwa or Grilled Red Snapper with Cilentro and Onion Stuffing

Ingredients:

Hamra (Red Snapper) 1 kg or larger (the fish only needs to be gutted. Do not scale or trim the fins!)

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium-sized green bell pepper, chopped (optional)

1 bunch of cilentro (kuzbara) chopped

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 heaped teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cumin powder (or Arabian Spice mix)

Since you will be grilling the Hamra the only thing you will need to do to the fish is have it gutted. Gut the fish from the belly so that you will have a pocket to stuff the hashwa in.

Do not scale it or trim the fins. The reason for this is that you will be placing the whole fish directly onto the grill and having the scales still on the fish will prevent it from sticking to the grill.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix all of the ingredients (from chopped onion to cumin powder). Note: that this hashwa can easily be doubled or tripled according to how many fish you will be grilling.

Now all you have to do is stuff eachhamra with the hashwa.

Now you will need a large-eye needle and some cooking twine (I didn’t have any twine so I just used cotton yarn) for sewing up the belly of the

Now all you have to do is prepare your grill. Grilling time will be approximately 1 hour. Every 30 minutes turn the fish over so it will not char. Do not turn the fish over before 30 minutes because it will break up over the grill and you don’t want that!

When the Hamra is finished serve on a platter. When you get ready to eat it just peel away the skin. Serve with the hashwa with a squeeze of lemon if you wish.

When I prepare grilled fish with hashwa I serve it with white rice, daqoos is optional, lemon wedges, and fresh greens.

If you so happen to plan a picnic on the beach in the evening all you need is a roaring fire, some lemons and bread from an Iranian bakery (khobuz Irani).

Enjoy!

16 Comments

Posted in Fish, Grill and BBQ, Lunch, UAE Recipes

Tagged Fish, Fish of the UAE, Hamra, Red Snapper, traditional emirati food

Posted on December 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

Since I am posting the pictures of Fish of the UAE I will go ahead and post this recipe to frying fish UAE style.

The recipe that I am sharing with you today is basically fish coated with a dry spice rub. Almost all of the fish that you will in the UAE can be fried. Depending on the size of the fish you will need to cut it into big chunks or if frying a whole fish that is fat in size, you will need to make a couple of slits on the sides to ensure even cooking.

In this recipe today I am using Chennad (Kingfish). It is quite long so I had it cut into big chunks.

Ingredients:

fish

1 heaping teaspoon of Arabian Spice (or you can use garam masala or curry powder)

1 teaspoon of tumeric

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon of salt

(Note: the spice mixture can easily be doubled or tripled according to how much fish you will be cooking.)

Corn oil for frying (I like to use Coroli corn oil)

Mix all the spices together in a small bowl.

Since this is a dry rub, sprinkle the fish with the spice mixture and then gently rub into the fish. Let this sit, covered for at least 30 minutes. The moistness from the fish will soak in the spices.

On a high flame, heat the oil in a deep skillet. When you see the oil slightly smoking turn the flame to low. Add the fish.

Cook for 5 minutes and then gently turn the fish over and fry for another 5 minutes. Take fish out and drain on paper towels.

Serve with basmati rice, daqoos, and fresh greens. Enjoy!

Leave a comment

Posted in Fish, Lunch, UAE Recipes

Tagged Chennad, Fish, Kingfish, traditional emirati food

Posted on October 5, 2009 | 12 comments

This delicious stew is a regularlunch staple atmy home. I use lamb because this is preferred by us at home and when I cook with lamb the meat is more tender. You could use beef if you wish but here in the UAE the beef available never cooks tender no matter what method I use to cook it. It always turns out chewy and stringy.

The stewis very versatile in that you can cook it with or without vegetables and you can make it is thick or thin as you like. It can be served with plain white rice or flat bread.

I finally got around to taking pictures and uploading them. Much more pleasing to the eye and you will know what the end product will look like! I will try do that to all the new recipes I post from now on, InshaAllah.

2 cups of chopped purple onions

2-3 cloves of minced garlic

1-inch cube of ginger, grated

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 medium-sized capsicum (green bell pepper) chopped

½ cup finely chopped parsley

¼ cup corn oil

1 kilo lamb stew meat with bone, cubed into 2-inch pieces

1 ½ teaspoons Madras Curry powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground loomi aswad

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground red kashmiri chili powder

2 cubes of Maggi Chicken stock

1-2 green chilies, whole

1 loomi aswad (dried black lemon), whole

¼ cup tomato paste

1 ½ liters of water (about 6 cups)

* Potatoes, calabaza squash, zucchini, okra, carrots (see the star below)

Salt to taste

In a medium-sized cooking pot, heat the corn oil. When hot add the chopped onion.

When the onion is translucent, add the lamb cubes. Stir often and sauté the lamb until it is nicely golden brown on all sides.

Add the minced garlic and grated ginger. Stir to mix.

Add the chopped tomatoes and all of the ground spices. Mix together and sauté until the tomato becomes very soft (like a mushy consistency).

Add the capsicum/bell pepper and the chopped parsley. Stir.

Add the tomato paste and water. Stir.

Add the green chilies and the whole piece of loomi aswad.

Bring the stew to a boil and then lower the flame to very, very low. Let the stew simmer, covered, for 1 ½ hours or until the lamb is tender.

After the lamb is tender, the liquid level should be at half the pot. At this point you will need to add more water or boil until the liquid level is half of the pot.

* You can now add your vegetables. For my large family, I will usually add 3 large potatoes. Each potato is quartered and added to the pot after the lamb becomes tender. If you wish to add a mixture of vegetables you can use:

1 large potato, quartered

1 carrot cut into 1 ½ inch chunks

1-2 small squash

Potatoes and carrots are the usual combinations though that I have

seen.

If you add vegetables to your stew, you will need to add approximately 30 minutes to the cooking time.

After adding the vegetables, bring the stew to a soft boil and after 10 minutes, taste and adjust for salt. When I cook with potatoes I will add an additional 1 teaspoon of salt (but this is for my family). Softly boil for an additional 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Your stew is now ready to enjoy! Serve with plain Basmati rice or Khobuz Irani (if you are in the UAE) and a nice green salad made from a mixture of local-grown greens!

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Posted in Beef, Dinner, Lamb, Lunch, UAE Recipes

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