Oozy Palestinian Middle Eastern Recipes

Steps:

• For the lamb: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Heat oil in a large Dutch oven and sear lamb all around until nicely browned. Remove to a roasting pan and drizzle with apple cider vinegar.
• Add diced garlic, then onions to the Dutch oven and cook until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add Burgundy, Marsala, sherry, salt, allspice, pepper, cinnamon and 1 1/2 quarts water and let it simmer a few minutes.
• Add tomatoes, bay leaves, rosemary and the contents of the Dutch oven to roasting pan with the lamb. Cover it tight and roast until tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours.
• For the ouzi rice: Meanwhile, add ground beef to a hot pot and cook, stirring and mashing constantly, until cooked, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
• Place oil and onions in same pot and cook until tender. Add the rice and stir all together, then add the ground beef, salt, allspice, cinnamon, pepper and 4 1/2 cups water. Cover and cook on really low heat for 40 minutes.
• For the beurre noisette: Cook the butter in a small saucepot until it starts to brown, then add almonds and pine nuts and continue to cook until toasted.
• Serve chunks of lamb over ouzi rice. Top with beurre noisette and serve with yogurt.

Steps:

• Place the cut up chicken in a pot along with enough chicken stock to cover the chicken. Add just a dash of salt. Skim the top of the stock and remove the froth as it forms. Once all the froth is gone, add the diced onion and let boil for about ten minutes.
• Add the Arabic seven spice to the stock, along with the cumin and tumeric powder. Let boil for another 5 minutes, then add the peas and carrots. Let boil for another 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked.
• Remove the chicken and place on a baking pan, and place aside. Brown the ground beef in a frying pan, and add just a dash of salt and 1 tsp arabic seven spice.Brown almonds, and add to the ground beef.
• Wash the rice. In a pot big enough to hold the ingredients, place the ground beef on the bottom of the pot. The strain the peas, carrots, and onions out of the chicken stock and place on top of the ground beef, making a second layer (do not mix them in the pot). Then add the rice on top of the peas and carrots. Add enough of the chicken stock from the first pot to cover the rice, peas and carrots, and ground beef (add slowly, trying not to mix everything up).
• Cover and let cook until the stock is gone and the rice is cooked.
• Squeeze the half of lemon on top of the chicken, just adding a hint of flavor and sprinkle seasoned salt over the chicken. Place under the broiler just until it is golden brown.
• Brown the pine nuts.
• Take a serving tray bigger than the pot used to cook the rice in and place it on top of the pot. With one hand on top of the tray and one on the bottom of the pot, flip the pot upside down on top of the tray. Tap the bottom of the pot making sure all the ingredients came down. Remove the pot and shake the tray a little making everything spread out nicely.
• Arrange the chicken on top of the rice, then sprinkle the pine nuts and parsley for garnish. It is normally eaten with a salad or some laban.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Slash the flesh of each piece of chicken diagonally a few times, around 3/4 inch apart, and then place the meat in a large bowl or plastic container. Add the lemon juice; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 1 1/2 tablespoons sumac; the garlic, cumin, allspice and cinnamon; and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Rub the mixture into the meat. Add the red onion and toss to coat. Cover and transfer to the refrigerator to marinate, 1 to 3 hours.
• When you are ready to cook the chicken, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Transfer the meat, onion slices and any juices to a baking sheet and roast until the juices run clear when the chicken pieces are pierced at their thickest part, about 40 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked, cover the baking sheet tightly in foil and set aside while you prepare the toppings.
• In a small skillet, cook the pine nuts in the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over low heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 2 minutes, then transfer to a paper towel to drain.
• To serve, heat the naan or taboon bread in the oven until toasted and warmed and transfer to a platter. Arrange the chicken and red onion on top. Finish with a smattering of pine nuts, sumac and chopped parsley. Drizzle any remaining roasting juices so they soak into the bread, then drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Steps:

• Mix smeed, flour, salt, sugar, and butter/oil in a large pan. Cover and leave for ten hours, or overnight.
• Dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons water and a dash of sugar. When it rises, add to smeed mixture.
• Dissolve mahlab and miska in cold water. Add to smeed mixture.
• Combine warm water and milk. Pour gradually while mixing all the ingredients together. (Do not knead, just stir the mixture to have a moist crust rather than a dough).
• Mix dates, nutmeg, cinnamon, and butter in a pan and warm to soften dates. Knead well.
• Roll dates in 1/3 inch thick balls. Cut a piece of dough, one at a time, the size of a walnut. Spread lengthwise, 4" by 1". Fill with date ball and roll, sealing the sides together to form a ring.
• Pinch the rings with a cookie tweezer to decorate (so powder sugar will stick to it). Place on baking sheets and bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until light gold. (Place baking sheet on top rack).
• *NOTE* This is one way to do it, but I also take a round piece of dough, slightly bigger than the date ball, and push my thumb in it, then place the date ball inside and spread the dough around the date ball completely covering it. Then using a ma'amool cookie mold I place the dough with the date inside in the mold and tap the mold upside down so the finished cookie will fall out. Baking instructions are the same for either variation!
• When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar. When completely cool, freeze or store in tightly covered jars.