Shawarma Al-Jazeera, a taste of my childhood

If you are one of the handful of people still reading my blog after couple of years of only occasional posts you might know I was born and lived most of my childhood in Saudi Arabia. I hope this would not offend any of my Saudi readers but I really hated the place. We used to live in Abha. It was at the time a small town high up in the mountains close to Yemen. The nature and weather were stunning but that is where the beauty stopped for me. I didn't like anything else about the place. I hated the lack of freedom compared to our summer holidays in Syria. I hated the constant feeling of being a foreigner, and as you might expect being a foreigner in Saudi Arabia is not fun.

The highlight of my life in Saudi was our frequent visits to Jeddah, Saudi's second city on the Red Sea. We used to visit frequently because of dad's work or to sort out some paperwork from the Syrian Consulate or simple to spend the weekend. Jeddah at the time was such a cool place for a young boy. It had an Ikea, massive shopping centres, smoked turkey meat, Levi's Jeans, Authentic Syrian Halawet el-Jeben, and above all Shawarma Al-Jazeera.

Shawerma Al-Jazeera or as became known later Shawerma Shaker Al-Jazeera is allegedly Jeddah's first Shawerma place. A small hole-in-the-wall places with massive beef shawarma skewer. It was perfectly normal for a guy to park his GMC Superban and come to the window to order 40 shawarma sandwiches. In fact most of the orders were in double figures and there was a constant stream of costumers from early evening to early hours in the morning. To cope with the demand the place adopteded a conveyor belt operation. You place an order in one window and the process start. One guy cuts the meat, another mixes it on the hot griddle with the vegetables, the third put the meat in the bread, the next down the line add the sauce and wrap the sandwiches and finally the last guy hands you over your food from a second window. This process continued non-stop, I kid you not. 

The Shawarma itself is nothing like the Syrian or Lebanese variety. The meat has a lot more "Arabic" taste with more spices adapted to the local palate. After the meat is shaved of the massive skewer it was cooked on a flat griddle with onions, parsley, tomatoes and chillies. The sandwiches were made with small white subs and served with nothing but tahini sauce and chilli sauce.

Here is my attempt to recreate a taste of my childhood:

Sirloin or similar tender cut of beef 350g

One onion

One large tomato

One or two green chillis

Garlic 3 cloves

Parsley two handfuls

Yoghurt one tbs

Tahini one tbs

Olive oil 2 tbs

Salt

Spices 1/2 tsp each (feel free to improvise) I use black pepper, paprika, allspice, ground ginger and ground coriander

Slice the meat and the vegetable as thin as you can. Take your time. It makes a lot of difference. It allows the vegetables and meat to cook at the same time without losing much liquid and give authentic shawarma feel to the final product (and it is also therapeutic if like me you had a s**t day in the office).

Mix all the ingredients together and let marinade for half an hour at room temperature. 

Heat a large skillet or other heavy-bottomed pan until very hot. Add the meat mixture and cook on high heat for 10-15 minutes until very little liquid is left. The secret to success is to use a hot very large pan. The meat mixture needs to spread evenly in a thin layer. If you don't have a large enough pan cook in patches.

Serve the meat in Arabic flat bread, pita pockets or sub rolls for an authentic experience. Serve with tahini sauce and a chilli sauce of your choice.

Sochi, a dark legacy

Up to and including the infamous Olympic rings incident, the Sochi games have been a complete PR disaster for Russia (On some level I am disappointed things didn't go spectacularly wrong in Sochi. Nothing would have made me happier than seeing Putin’s Russia the laughing stock of the world). While most of the column inches where directed at the discriminatory homophobic laws, another dark secret of the place failed to grab the world attention. The Ethnic Cleansing of Circassians from their motherland and its historic capital Sochi hardly made it to the press.

Being ethnically half Chechen I have always been interested in the North Caucasus. Despite never visiting, knowing the language and cultural differences I feel strong connection to the region mostly because of my great admiration of my late grandfather. Like the Circassians, Chechens and other East Caucasus people have suffered a great deal at the hands of Russians.

After defeat to Russia in the Caucasian War in 1864  Circassians were expelled en mass from their homeland. Hundreds of thousands of people were dragged from their villages to ports on the Black Sea to be transported to the Ottoman Empire. Unknown number of people perished of diseases or killed at the hands of the victorious Russians. Most of those deported settled in Turkey or moved further south towards Syria and Jordan. Their descendants today make a community of a hundred thousand or so in each country.

In Syria most Circassian settled in The Golan Heights. They were the majority ethnic group of the region up to the 1976 war. Most Circassians along with other Caucusian people and Arabs fled the Israeli occupation and resettled in and around Damascus or immigrated to Europe and the US. In the late Nineteen Seventies few hundred Circassians returned to Beer Ajam and Breeqa, two Villages closed to the seize fire line that lay abandoned for over ten years.

Beer Ajam is one of my favourite places on Earth. The nature of the place is breathtaking. The hills covered in green all year round mixed with black basalt volcanic stone makes a wonderful back drop to the beautiful villas built in a traditional Golan black stone style. I always thought to myself that one day I willI will buy a small plot of land in the village and build myself a nice summer villa. Needless to say this dream is further away than it ever was.

Although increasingly assimilated in the Arabic population, Circassians have preserved their identity and culture. Some still speak the Adyghe language and traditional music, dance and costumes are present in weddings and social occasions till this day.  

Circassian cuisine, similar to the rest of the North Caucases , is a simple hearty affair. The cuisine is heavy on meat, dairy, grain and flour influenced by the availability, or lack of, ingredients high in the Caucasus Mountains. Cheese and meat stuffed dumplings and various other pastries are the heart of the cuisine.

Today’s recipe Chipse Basta (شبس باسطة) is a Circassian dish served in Weddings and special family occasions. The dish is a simple chicken and Bulgur pilaf served with a garlic and walnut flavoured sauce.  Chipse is the sauce and basta is the bulgur. The dish has special costume to serve and eat. Traditionally the dish was served in communal large tray where all the guests sit around. The meat is arranged in a special way where the breasts and wings of the bird is placed in front of the older person with legs and thighs arranged on the sides. The host or the older person will say few words then take a bite of the wing. He will split the breast in two and pass it to the guests to his left and right. Then everybody dig in. The elder at the top of the table will remain seated and eating until everyone is finished, so no guest feels embarrassed and leaves the table before completely full.

This is my take on Chipse Basta based on my distant child hood memories, my Mum recipe and my dear friend “Maysaloon” family recipe.

One chicken cut to quarters or four chicken legs

Chicken stock 700mls (use cold stock)

Bulgur wheat 300g (you can use 2/3 Bulgur and 1/3 short grain rice)

Walnut 100g

Garlic 5-6 cloves

Ghee purified butter 3 tbs

Flour 3 tbs

Olive oil 3 tbs

Coriander powder 1 tsp

Paprika 2 tsp

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, half the paprika, a spoon of olive oil and one crushed clove of garlic. Let marinade for an hour or so if you have time.

Wash the Bulgur and soak in cold water for 30 minutes.

Cook the chicken to your preferred method; grill or roast. I like to start the chicken skin side down on a hot griddle pan to mark the skin and give a nice BBQ flavour. Flip the chicken over then continue to cook in the oven for 30 – 45 minutes at 195C depending on the size of the pieces.

While the chicken is cooking drain the Bulgur and cook in 3 cups or so of water. Add salt to taste. The bulgur needs to be cooked properly, almost over cooked.

In a separate pot start by frying the flour in the clarified butter on medium heat until the mixtures turns light brown. Add the clod stock slowly to make a roux stirring continuously with a whisk to prevent the flour clumping. Once all the stock is incorporated bring to a boil then turn down the heat to medium and let the sauce thicken. Add Salt to taste, the rest of the crushed garlic and the coriander.  Crush the walnut in a pestle and mortar or a food processor and add at the end.

Stir the cooked Bulgur with a wooden spoon to mash it slightly. Press in a cookie ring on the serving plate. Alternatively press the cooked Bulgur with the wooden spoon in a roasting tray and cut to squares to serve. Arrange a piece of the Bulgur, a piece of chicken and small ramekin of the chipse. Just before serving heat the olive oil in a pan and add the paprika. Remove of the heat immediately. Spoon on top of the chipse sauce.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 27. Musakhan

Palestinian food shares most of its dishes with the surrounding Levantine countries. Few "national" dishes of Palestine like Maqluba (upside down rice dish) and Mahashi (stuffed vegetables) are common all through the Levant with, sometimes very distinct, local variations. Today's dish, Musakhan is on the contrary a true uniquely Palestinian dish. Musakhan in it is original format is a very rustic dish of layered bread, sumac and onion mixture and roasted chicken.

In Syria, Musakhan is fairly well known and frequently eaten dish although the Syrian version varies a lot from the Palestinian ancestor. The flavours remained the same but the cooking, ingredients and presentation has been refined in keeping with Syrian fondness with food finesse. Here goes thick Taboon bread and comes in paper-thin Saj bread. Chicken is shredded and Musakhan is served in individual portions.

Musakhan is hardly ever eaten as a main dish in Syria. It is usually served as a side dish or part of a large spread in dinner parties and big family occasions. In coffee shops and restaurants Musakhan is usually served as a small snack dish you can munch on in the few hours you spending there smoking Argeeleh. Another very popular version of Musakhan is tiny small pastries stuffed with the chicken and sumac mixture and served as part of finger food buffet in parties.

For this recipe I use Saj bread, a very thin Syrian bread that can be bought from large Middle Eastern supermarkets. Alternatively you can use Lavash bread which is a similar bread native to Iran, Armenia and Turkey. If you live in an area where you can have access to Turkish shops then you can use Yufka pastry. Finally if you are getting desperate use filo pastry.


Here is my Syrian style Musakhan recipe:

Cooked chicken 500g (boiled or roasted)
Three onions
Olive oil 1/2 cup
Sumac 4 tbsp
Pomegranate Molasses 1 tbsp (my own addition, optional)
Pine nuts 30g
Saj bread
Salt

Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Start by frying the pine nuts until golden in the olive oil. Be very careful as pine nuts burn very quickly. Remove from the oil when ready.

Slice the onions thinly and fry on medium heat until they go translucent. Shred the chicken and add with the sumac, pomegranate molasses and the rest of the olive oil (keep some to brush the bread with at the end) to the pot. Taste and add salt as required. Remove from the heat.

Cut the saj bread into 20cm (8inch) squares. Spoon 3-4spoonfuls of the chicken mixture into the centre of the bread. Fold three corners in and roll the bread into a spring roll shaped pies (see below).

Arrange the rolls in a roasting tin. Brush generously with olive oil and back until golden brown.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 11. Pastirma

This is the last of my Armenian themed posts.

Pastirma is a spicy air-dried beef eaten in Syria mainly as part of a mezze spread. I am not sure if it is originally Turkish or Armenian as both nations lay claim to it, but it was brought to Syria and Lebanon through the Armenian community.

I am not going to give you a recipe as I don't make my own and no body else does. It is made by salting and hanging the meat for few days. The meat then get washed and dried. The next step will be covering the meat in a layer of spice paste made from paprika, cumin, fenugreek and chilli then hung again to dry.

In Syria we mainly eat pastirma as a mezze dish. We slice it very thinly and eat it uncooked although some people would grill it lightly. Alternatively we use it in sandwiches or fried with eggs as a supper dish. In Turkey they use pastirma in some types of bean stews.

Allegedly the best pastirma is made from camel meat. Years ago, I tasted what was sold to me as camel pastirma but it didn't taste any different. I genuinely belief he was laying and I just tasted an over-priced piece of beef.

In London, Maroush Deli on Edgware Road used to make their own pastirma and it was quite good. Unfortunately the deli has now closed and the shop turned into another Maroush fast food outlet. Since then, I buy packed sliced pastirma from a Middle Eastern supermarket in West Ealing. Not as good but it does the trick!

Sujuk, Damascene take on an Armenian sausage

Sujuk is another type of sausage introduced to the Syrian cuisine through the Armenian community. It is a strong tasting spicy sausage made usually from fatty beef mince or mixed beef and lamb. Similar versions with similar names are common in Turkey, Greece, Balkans, Bulgaria, Romania and all the way to Russia.

Sujuk is usually a cooking sausage used in different types of stews and dishes. One of the most classic ways to eat it is fried with eggs for a hearty breakfast. I personally like to use it in a similar manner to Chorizo to make pasta or even paella. I find it works very well with sea food and white fish especially monkfish.

In the Levant this Armenian version of Sujuk is widely available in Lebanon and in Aleppo in northern Syria where a large Armenian community lives.

In Damascus we use the word Sujuk to refer to a completely different type of spicy semi-cured meat. The spices used are similar to the ones used in the original Armenian sujuk but instead of making the meat into a sausage, "Damascene sujuk" is mince fried in its own fat till all the water evaporate and the meat starts to crisp. This process will allow the meat to last much longer. In fact, the flavours will develop nicely and the sujuk will taste much better after a couple of days in the fridge.

This Sujuk meat is used in a variety of ways. The most common of these is sujuk fatayer, the most flavoursome and one of the most popular fatayer (Fatayer is an oven baked pastries with different stuffing sold in communal ovens all around Damascus, check my post to know more).

The other very popular use is a sandwich filling with few slices of cucumber pickle. Although it is one of the most delicious yet it is one of the cheapest sandwiches you can eat, hence it sells around university, student halls of residents and in bus depot.

Finally before the recipe, in Narenj restaurant they serve sujuk as a hummus topping as in my photo above.

Here is my "Damascene Sujuk" recipe:

Mince lamb 500g (or half beef, half lamb)
Ghee clarified butter 1tbsp
Paprika 2tsp
Dry chilli flakes 2tsp
Allspice 1tsp
Garlic powder 1tsp
Fenugreek 1tsp
Salt 1tsp

Start by frying the mince in the ghee in a heavy bottom pan till it start to brown. Add the salt and all the spices and keep cooking till all the water evaporates. Turn the heat down and cook for about 30 minutes. Stir the meat every few minutes so it doesn't catch. The sujuk is ready when all the fat has melted and the meat is starting to crisp.

Transfer to a bowl and let cool down. Cover in cling film tightly and leave in the fridge for a day or two for the flavours to develop.

You have a very versatile "sausage". Use in sandwiches, pastries, pasta sauce, pizza or as a hummus topping. You can keep the sujuk in the fridge for over a week as it is almost cured with the salt and spices or you can even freeze it for a couple of months.

Mortadella: my first attempt

Mortadella is not something you would normally associate with Middle Eastern Cuisine. Firstly it is pork. Secondly it is Italian. So how come it featured on my Syrian food blog?

Well first things first, our mortadella is not pork although the pork variety is available in Christian areas in Damascus and Aleppo. Secondly our mortadella has very little to do with the Italian variety. Mortadella along with other clod meats has been introduced to the Syrian cuisine by the Armenian population mainly based in Aleppo with smaller communities in Damascus and other cities.

Syria has an estimated 300000 (although numbers vary a lot with some authors put the number at 800000) ethnic Armenians. This is the largest Armenian community outside Armenia and Russia.

Armenians were present within or around the northern borders of Syria since ancient times. The ancient Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia occupied the north western parts of greater Syria. This kingdom was part of the region historical and political landscape. It was involved in all the major events of the area from Mongols, Crusaders, Turks and Ayyobid wars. The Armenians established few towns in Greater Syria like Urfa and Aintab. These towns are in modern day Turkey and with virtually no Armeniains left. The kingdom finally fell under the control of Mamluks rule and the Armenian population numbers in Syria dwindled gradually as most of them either immigrated to Cyprus or lived under Ottman Turkey north of the Syrian border. The only town in modern Syria with an original Armenian population is Kassab in the north west of the country, with an Armenian presence estimated to be a 1000 years old.

Most of the current Armenians in Syria today came during the Armenian genocide at the turn of the twentieth century. Tens of thousands of Armenians were forced out of there villages by the Ottmans and taken to the edge of the Syrian desert near Deir Az'Zor were they were killed and buried in mass graves. Armenians who fled the genocide came to Aleppo and other cities in northern Syria where they were given refuge and protected from the slaughter. From there they spread to The rest of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Cyprus and Greece.

Although Armenians protected their identity, language and culture over the last century they are fully integrated within the Syrian community. This integration is reflected in the Syrian Armenian cuisine. Their food has influenced and been influenced by the wider Syrian food. These influences are most felt in Aleppo were Armenian specialities like pasterma and sujuk are an important part of the city cuisine.

Cold meats are another Armenian speciality. Different flavoured mortadella and sliced cold roasts can be bought from Armenian sandwich shops in Damascus. Hagop in Sha'alan and Syrob in Salhiyah are two famous Armenian take-aways that existed since the dawn of time and serve some of the best sandwiches in Damascus.

I had a go on making mortadella myself but unfortunately it was not that successful so I will not put a recipe. The flavour was very good but the texture was grainy (as you can see in photo) and the motadella didn't hold shape very well so I couldn't slice it thinly and above that it came out white coloured instead of a nice light pink.

I used chicken breast meat and eggs as a binding agent. I think this is where I got it wrong. Possibly in the future I will use an extra binding agent like corn flour or gelatin and I will add meat from the legs as the higher collagen content in will add extra binding and give smoother texture.

I will try again in the future and when I get a recipe I am happy with I promise I will publish it. Meanwhile, if anybody reading this have a recipe that works well please let me know.

Galnesh, Spirit of the Mountains

As I mentioned in my previous post my mother side of the family comes from Chechnya, a tiny nation in the North Caucasus Mountains. The geographical nature of the area as well as two hundred years of on and off wars and independence attempts from Russia left their mark on the Chechen cuisine. The food in Chechnya is very simple and basic. The available vegetables are no more than potatoes, garlic, onion, cabbage and few wild greens as the Caucasus with its sharp slopes and cold weather didn't offer a suitable environment for farming. During war time especially winter months people had to survive on very little but flour, dairy and preserved meats. Chechen in the diaspora although left Chechnya over a century ago managed to preserve some of their cuisine till this day.

My grandparents house wasn't strictly Chechen since my Grandmother is Kurdish. The language spoken in the house was Arabic and the vast majority of the food was Syrian. Nevertheless, few Chechen dishes were always on the menu. One of the most unusual dishes my granddad (and occasionally my mum) enjoyed for breakfast was Churychay. This was a bowl of hot tea and milk but instead of sugar salt and pepper and a piece of butter is added. You then dip your bread to soak the tea. When you are full you simply drink what is left! You can imagine my horror when I first tasted this stuff at eight years of age. This dish is the ultimate evidence that food is an acquired taste.

Kurzanesh was a crowd-pleaser in my grandparents house. It is minced lamb filled dumplings steamed or boiled depending how many hungry mouths my grandma had to feed. These then eaten alone or with garlic and yogurt sauce.

My favorite Chechen dish (this might be my favourite dish ever, or very close up there) is Chechenya's national dish Galnesh (Galvash, Djir-Galnish and Zhizhig-Galvash are other names of this dish). A simple pasta like dough cooked in meat broth and eaten with very strong Garlic sauce. This simple, filling and hearty dish reflects more than any other the historical isolation and resilience of the Chechen nation.

Here is my recipe:

Plain Flour 2 cups

One Egg

Lamb cubes 500g (or even better, lamb shanks)

Garlic 5-6 cloves

Water 1 cup

Salt

Pepper

Meat in Chechen cooking is always boiled (All Chechen food is cooked by boiling on open stove . There is hardly any fried or roasted dishes). Start with adding a liter or so of water to cover your meat. Bring to the boil making sure you regularly skim the surface to get a clear tasty stock. Season with salt and pepper. Once boiled reduce the heat and simmer for 60 - 90 minutes till the meat is nice and tender. Once cooked remove the meat aside. Keep a bowl of the meat stock for the garlic sauce. The rest of the stock will be used to cook the Galnesh.

Once the meat is simmering, start making your dough. Mix the flour, egg, one tea spoon of salt and 3/4 cup of water and start mixing. Add more water if the dough is too hard, the final dough need to be Pasta-like hard dough. Work the dough for few minutes, cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

When the dough is rested, cut into pieces and flatten with your hand to 5 mm thick. Cut into small squares. On a well floured wooden cutting board, using your fingers, press and roll the dough squares to form the Galnesh fingers. Arrange on a tray till the meat is cooked and you are ready to cook them. The video below will show you the way.

In a large pot add boiling water to the rest of the meat stock and bring to the boil. Drop the Galnesh fingers and cook for 20 - 25 minutes. This is similar to cooking pasta. The Galnesh need to be slightly al dente.

Crush the garlic cloves with salt in a pestle and mortar. Add the garlic to the meat stock preserved to make your dipping sauce. This need to be salty and very very garlicky.

Arrange your Galnesh around the sauce bowl and the meat pieces on top. With your fork take some meat and a piece of Galnesh, dip in the garlic sauce and enjoy.

Eighties Nostalgia

In preparation for the release of Terminator 4 Movie (I am a big fan) I made my poor wife watch the the first three movies within one week (we managed two so far, one to go) so we can go to watch it together in the cinema.

The sight of Linda Hamilton's hair in T1 gave me a severe attack of eighties nostalgia. All clothing items must be rolled up: long sleeves, short sleeves, jeans, the whole lot. Everything was over sized from sweat shirts to dodgy perm hairstyle. I was in my early teens towards the end of the eighties so I just managed to capture the "beauty" of that decade. I still remember my jeans jacket, neon T-shirt, acid washed jeans and a very bad hair style.

Bad style wasn't the only thing the eighties brought us Syrians. That period introduced a totally foreign dish to Syrian cuisine, Kabseh.

I was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there trough the eighties till I was 15 before we moved back to Syria. There was a huge exodus of Syrians to Saudi in the late seventies and early eighties caused by the oil boom in the Gulf and bad economical times in Syria. I can safely say that every Syrian family had at least a member moving to Saudi Arabia for a certain period of time time.

I remember when we used to go home on summer holiday we used to bring Basmati rice and Kabseh spices with us to cook a big family feast in my grandparents' house. We were not alone in that, every other Syrian family had similar occasions in the summer months. Slowly Kabseh became a stable dish on the Syrian table. It became so integrated in the cuisine that a Uni friend of mine, who was from another city, thought Kabseh is a traditional Damascene dish.

Kabseh is the national dish of Saudi Arabia. It is simple but extremely addictive. It is spicy rice pilaf served with meat. You can cook the meat with the rice or separately. I prefer the latter.

Two things differentiate Kabseh from any other Byriani-like dish: dry lime and the special spice mix of cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, galangal and more dry lime. You can buy ready made Kabseh spice mix from any Middle Eastern supermarket.

Here is my Kabseh recipe:

Basmati rice 1.5 cups

Chicken stock 1.5 cups

Water 1.5 cups

Two Tomatoes

One medium Onion sliced

One chopped green chilli

Sliced pepper 1tbs

Sliced Carrot 1tbs

Kabseh spice mix 1tbs

Dry lime 4-5

Wash your rice and soak in cold water for 20 min.

Start by sweating the onions in vegetable oil. Add the chilli, carrot and peppers. Gently crush the dry lime to allow cooking water to get in. Add the lime with the spice mix to the pot. Grate your tomatoes or put them in a food processor then add them and cook for few minutes then add the stock and water and season well.

Drain the rice and add to the mix. Bring back to boil. Stir the rice once and turn the heat down. Let cook for 20 minutes.

Serve with grilled chicken and salad or yoghurt.