Yesterday was the first Friday of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims around the world. And there are some really delicious Mediterranean dishes shared at this time of year.
That said, my dedication writing about food and culinary traditions is what keeps me writing about food and to share recipes and traditions in the hopes of preserving them for future generations as well as to inspire nutritious eating and a healthy way of life overall.
Normally, after a day of fasting from just before sunrise to sunset, families gather at the table to partake in the Iftar, or meal to end the fast. It’s also very often done in communal surroundings such as mosques around the world or outdoors in neighborhood blocks in Muslim countries. People tend to be very intentional about hosting an Iftar or at least sharing their food, holding the belief that there is a reward from God for feeding a fasting person.
our homemade Iftar
Iftar dishes are highly regional and vary throughout the world. Someone in Indonesia will have a completely different Iftar meal than someone in Tunisia, yet all of the food will be Halal (from permissible sources, as dictated in the Holy Qur’an). If you’ve ever been to an Iftar, you’ll probably notice that the food provided is typically from the region of the host; if you’ve never been to an Iftar but are invited by a Muslim to attend one, this is your chance to experience some of the best global cuisine you’ll ever be served outside of a restaurant. Last night, for example, our local mosque served East African cuisine for the community: meatballs in a coconut curry served with Basmati rice and a thick Naan bread. It was tasty, somewhat of a cross between Indian and Thai food in my mind, but nonetheless uniquely East African.
East African Cuisine Iftar served at our local mosque
At home, I typically make Sicilian-style Mediterranean dishes for the main meal or at least something similar. I do tend to make a lot of soups, as they acclimate the body to food after a long day of fasting. For the initial breaking of the fast, everyone around the world will typically consume a date with water, as that is what the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) used to do. For something crunchy and savory (a common treat after having a date and something to drink), I typically make a Moroccan savory pastry with lamb or beef, which is what I’m sharing today. They’re easy to make and you can use a couple variety of wrappers to make them. They’re often called either briouat or briwatin Arab speaking countries (North Africa) and to me, are very similar to the Turkish borek when made with phyllo dough.
Moroccan Style Briouates with Ground Beef, Raisins & Almonds
Yields 12-14briouates
Briouats are Moroccan sweet or savory appetizers of phyllo sheets rolled, stuffed with ground meat and aromatic spices, and typically lightly fried in olive oil. You can also use egg roll wrappers which are quite sturdy and can hold a lot of meat and other ingredients, which makes them particularly filling. Any ground meat like beef, veal, turkey or chicken will substitute well for the lamb in this recipe and make great starters to the Iftar meal or serve as any party starter.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil plus more for frying the briouats
½ cup yellow onion, diced
1 pound ground beef or lamb
1 cup slivered almonds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon fleshy ground black or white pepper, or to taste
¾ cup raisins
2 tablespoons fresh or dried mint leaves, chopped
¼ cup finely chopped fresh or dried parsley
1/2 of one packet of phyllo dough or one pound egg roll wrappers
1 egg, beaten (only if using the egg roll wrappers)
Fresh lemon or lime wedges (optional)
Directions
Heat oil in a large saut. pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent.
Add the meat and the garlic. Stir and cook until the meat has slightly browned then add the almonds and ground spices, including the salt and pepper.
Add the raisins and stir until they become slightly larger in size. Continue to cook for another ten minutes. Add the chopped fresh herbs and cover the pan.
Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes, adding a bit of water if necessary.
Remove lid and drizzle meat with olive oil. Set aside to cool.
Using one sheet of egg roll wrapper or 1/4 of a phyllo sheet, place one heaping tablespoon of meat mixture in the center. Bring each side to the center then roll from the bottom upwards. Close by brushing the end with egg wash (egg roll wrappers only- egg wash doesn’t need to be done with phyllo). Repeat this process with all of the wrappers.
Once finished wrapping each one, heat an additional 2-4 tablespoons of oil in a large saut. Pan and fry the briouats. Do not crowd the pan; instead fry only as many as will fit comfortably at one time. Cook for several minutes on each side, or until each side is nicely browned.
Once finished, line a plate with paper towels to capture any excess oil. Serve warm with a dipping sauce and/or fresh lemon or lime wedges.
Enjoy this crunchy appetizer, whether Ramadan or not. Your family, your guests, will love them!
And Ramadan Mubarak to all who observe.
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Have you ever come up with a dish that is so tasty you think you invented it yourself, only to find out later that it’s actually one of the great national dishes of not one but many different nations?
Well, that happened to me when I thought I was a culinary genius for coming up with the most delicious breakfast egg dish I’d ever eaten. I was simply using leftover ingredients that I had on hand from my mostly Italian/Sicilian/Mediterranean cooking. Well, little did I realize that everywhere from Palestine to Turkey to Lebanon and Algeria, everyone has been making this dish, or something very similar to it: Shakhshouka (also spelled Shakshuka).
In Turkey, the same ingredients (onion, peppers, tomato sauce) are used but the eggs are scrambled and the dish is called Menemen. An Italian version might use leftover tomato sauce, and in Algeria or Morocco they spell it Chakchouka. In some Middle Eastern recipes they add nutmeg; I do not ever put nutmeg in mine.
I recently worked on a video project for American Muslims for Palestine called Turning Tables, so watch out for that to be published in the near future. I was asked to make a Palestinian recipe or one that was inspired by Palestinian cuisine, so I decided to make my version of Shakhshouka, inspired by the cookbook, The Gaza Kitchen by Laila Al-Haddad, which now has a new and updated version.
Gently warm the olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the onion, green and red peppers and jalapeno. Cook until the peppers have softened. Add the sea salt and ground pepper as they cook.
Add the tomato paste and swirl around the pan to dissolve it as much as possible. Add 1-2 teaspoons of water to thin it out. Add the paprika. Cook until the water has mostly evaporated.
With a wooden spoon, carve out 4 round spots in the pan and crack one egg into each spot. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let cook until the white membrane of the eggs have cooked and whitened.
Remove from heat and drizzle the dish with olive oil, the crumbled feta and chopped parsley. Serve family style on a hot plate on the table, with fresh and warm pita bread.
Bismillah and Sahtein!
You can see a slightly different, faster version that I made for breakfast recently and posted on my Instagram page:
When I went to Sicily in 1993, it was the first time I really ever experienced fruit as the main ingredient- and sometimes the only ingredient- in a dessert. At first I was waiting around for the real dessert to please show up and perhaps this was just one of many courses at the end of the main lunch time meal? Alas, except for the occasional all-natural gelato that was acquired during a passiagata in the main square, no deep-dark chocolate cake or cheesecake or pound cake or ice cream cake of any sort was going to show up.
That changed the way I ate forever. It also began to change the way I thought about the notion of artificial sweetness, processed foods and how not to hide from real food.
That said, all these years later I’ve come to love to have fresh berries and stone fruits combined with all-natural honey and nuts as part of a more luxurious dessert.
Recently I was watching a travel show where the host visited North Africa – Morocco and Tunisia, in particular. I was so focused on the food that I honestly can’t remember now which host or name of the show it was, but I’ll try to look that up some time because it was a good one.
Anyway, in the show they featured a little humble restaurant that served what looked like the most amazing and beautiful and fresh seafood I’ve seen since I’ve been to Sicily. After the meal, they served this dish of pine nuts, honey and strawberries as a dessert.
It reminded me so much of the food in Sicily and the way I learned to enjoy dessert in a healthier, all-natural way when I was there that I immediately decided to try this combo myself. You don’t really need much of a ‘recipe’ other than having the best quality ingredients and putting them together, to taste. If you like it sweeter, add more honey; if not, add less.
I love this for suhoor, for iftar and/or for dessert any day of the year. If you prepare it and let it stand for about an hour at room temperature or a little longer in the refrigerator, you’ll notice the water come out of the strawberries and make the dish a little less thick, but it’s still quite enjoyable.
Alternate: you can make another version with almonds or walnut:
When I’m looking for a quick way to cook and eat healthy, I begin thinking about what I can make in a tagine. They’re easy to make one pot meals in and because they have a conical lid, you can steam the contents either while cooking or when it’s out of the oven and resting. My latest creation was with shrimp and the Saffron Road Harissa Simmer Sauce– a great combination and only minimal ingredients are needed to add to it.
In this case, I added green peppers, garlic, onion, cilantro and parsley.
The main ingredient is large shrimp with the shells on. Boil for 5-7 minutes in water to cook them slightly.
Once cooked (they turn pink), drain the water and let them cool.
Peel the shrimp of all the shells. Place in the tagine with the cut peppers, garlic and onion.
Add a bit of ras-al-hanout, if you have it. It’s not necessary because the Harissa Simmer Sauce has spices in it already.
Just like the other Simmer Sauces that Saffron Road has in their line of sauces, they’re all natural, halal-certified and gluten-free.
Pour it over the shrimp and other ingredients. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Stir everything up before cooking then cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Once it comes out of the oven, put a lid on it and let it steam for about 5 minutes.
Serve with a side of pearl couscous or rice, if you have it.
It’s even good with just a nice big piece of rustic bread.
I guess this Ramadan proves that I’m drawn to Mediterranean and North African food as my go-to cuisine for the month. The mixture of sweet and savory, the healthy and light fare offered, the aromatic spices. Yes, please.
The original recipe (called Djaj M’Ammar Bil Kesksou) calls for stuffing the bird (chicken, pigeon, squab) with the couscous mixture after the bird has been cooking for some time, but it also says you can place it on the side. Stuffing seemed a bit difficult to me because, well, dealing with a very hot bird and a very hot pan, I honestly had trouble maneuvering around to scoop the couscous into the bird’s cavity. So, I did the next best thing- put the couscous all around the bird and covered the pan while it cooked, hoping it would not burn or dry out the couscous. What resulted was a perfectly moist bird and nicely steamed couscous. I’ll be doing it this way again and again, insha’Allah.
You’ll need something that’s not too shallow or not too deep, and definitely something that’s completely oven safe. I use the stainless steel Calphalon pans because they can go right from stove top to stove. You could also use a large tagine for this dish, which would actually be quite perfect. Just add them to the pan directly and combine.
You’ll need something that’s not too shallow or not too deep, and definitely something that’s completely oven safe. I use the stainless steel Calphalon pans because they can go right from stove top to stove. You could also use a large tagine for this dish, which would actually be quite perfect. Just add them to the pan directly and combine.
Rub a whole chicken (or a whole one cut up) around in the mixture (olive oil, honey, cinnamon and ginger, sea salt, pepper). Toss it around and be sure you get the whole thing covered up. Add about 1/8 cup of water to the pan, too. This will help prevent burning or drying up of any of the ingredients.
The directions I’ve read all say to cook the chicken breast side down so that it stays moist and you can flip it later to brown it. I know, chickens look so funny in the pan, don’t they?
The problem I have with that is that the skin usually rips off and it doesn’t look presentable. What I do instead is cook it the whole time, breast side up, but I cover it during the last 40 minutes of cooking. Comes out great- super moist and it’s nice and browned all over. I’ve done it both ways, which you might notice here.
So, while the chicken is cooking, prepare the couscous by adding water and salt to it.
Let it stand for about 5 minutes so it can thicken. I love how quickly and easily this happens! You can sort of tell it’s ready for more by fluffing it up with a fork. That’s when it’s ready to have the other ingredients added to it, before it goes into the pan with the chicken.
And you can’t forget about the mixture of dried apricots, prunes (or raisins), and dates.
The almonds, sautéd in butter, is probably my favorite part- it’s what truly adds all the flavor. So, sauté the almonds in butter for about 2-3 minutes, watching carefully so they do not burn.
Pour onto the couscous mixture.
Add a little fresh or dried citrus zest, if you have it. I think it makes a difference.
Leave this aside until the chicken cooks for a full 50 minutes. Flip the chicken (if you decide to be a flipper), and cook for an additional 10 minutes before adding the couscous.
Now place the couscous in the pan around the chicken. Add several pats of butter to the couscous.
And cover with a lid or foil. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes at the same temperature.
In this picture you can see what happened when I flipped the chicken, as the skin is coming off. Still good, still moist, though.
Everything is so nice and browned. You can even cover the wing tips with foil if you don’t like them browning more than the rest of the chicken, or you can tuck them to the inside of the bird with bakers twine.
Smelling this dish was an experience in and of itself. The cinnamon, the apricots, the citrus- they provided my kitchen with the most pleasant aroma it’s had in quite some time.
You can serve directly in the pan, which is nice and rustic, however, if you decide to plate it nicely and neatly that’s great, too. It all comes out so softly. What, with all that butter?
Today’s recipe is sponsored by Zabiha Halal, a Canadian company that produces halal-certified (US and Canada) and hormone-free poultry products such as this whole chicken pictured below, as well as fresh leg quarters, and even all natural and nitrite/nitrate-free deli meat like chicken breast or smoked chicken breast . You can learn more about Zabiha Halalon their website and even enter for a chance to try their products for FREE in this giveaway. They’re also offering a pretty grand contest on their Facebook page where you could win a trip worth $10,000 to anywhere in the world. That’s pretty grand…
Do check out their products and use this recipe as an excuse!
[yumprint-recipe id=’31’]
” data-wplink-url-error=”true”>black pepper). Toss it around and be sure you get the whole thing covered up. Add about 1/8 cup of water to the pan, too. This will help prevent burning or drying up of any of the ingredients.
The directions I’ve read all say to cook the chicken breast side down so that it stays moist and you can flip it later to brown it. I know, chickens look so funny in the pan, don’t they?
The problem I have with that is that the skin usually rips off and it doesn’t look presentable. What I do instead is cook it the whole time, breast side up, but I cover it during the last 40 minutes of cooking. Comes out great- super moist and it’s nice and browned all over. I’ve done it both ways, which you might notice here.
So, while the chicken is cooking, prepare the couscous by adding water and salt to it.
Let it stand for about 5 minutes so it can thicken. I love how quickly and easily this happens! You can sort of tell it’s ready for more by fluffing it up with a fork. That’s when it’s ready to have the other ingredients added to it, before it goes into the pan with the chicken.
And you can’t forget about the mixture of dried apricots, prunes (or raisins), and dates.
The almonds, sautéd in butter, is probably my favorite part- it’s what truly adds all the flavor. So, sauté the almonds in butter for about 2-3 minutes, watching carefully so they do not burn.
Pour onto the couscous mixture.
Add a little fresh or dried citrus zest, if you have it. I think it makes a difference.
Leave this aside until the chicken cooks for a full 50 minutes. Flip the chicken (if you decide to be a flipper), and cook for an additional 10 minutes before adding the couscous.
Now place the couscous in the pan around the chicken. Add several pats of butter to the couscous.
And cover with a lid or foil. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes at the same temperature.
In this picture you can see what happened when I flipped the chicken, as the skin is coming off. Still good, still moist, though.
Everything is so nice and browned. You can even cover the wing tips with foil if you don’t like them browning more than the rest of the chicken, or you can tuck them to the inside of the bird with bakers twine.
Smelling this dish was an experience in and of itself. The cinnamon, the apricots, the citrus- they provided my kitchen with the most pleasant aroma it’s had in quite some time.
You can serve directly in the pan, which is nice and rustic, however, if you decide to plate it nicely and neatly that’s great, too. It all comes out so softly. What, with all that butter?
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