Emirati Recipes
Courtesy: Dubai World Trade Centre’s cookbook: A Culinary Journey; Celebrating 30 years of our history.
Starters
Green Mango an Humeidh salad
Ingredients
Green Chillies : 2 pics
Green mango: 300 g
Humeidh leaves: 500g
Lemon Juice: 100 ml
Olive Oil: 3 tsps
Pepper: to taste
Salt: to taste
Method
1.Shred the huemidh leaves and cut the green mango
2. Place them in a bowl and add olive oil, lemond juice and mix well with salt and pepper.
3. Toss them well and refrigerate for an hour before serving
Maleh salad
Ingredients
1. Chopped fresh tomato: 400 g
2. Chopped spring onion: 150 g
3. Fresh lemon 1 piece
4. Green chillies: 2 pieces
5. Lemon juice: 100 ml
6. Salted Tuna 1 kg
Method
1. Divide the fish into small pieces and discard the bone. Boil in water for 30 minutes , then drain the water and refresh it under cold running water. Drain again and spread out to dry on paper towels.
2. Place the tuna in a medium bowl, cover and chill for an hour. While chilling the fish, toss the spring onions, fresh tomatoes and coriander in the bowl.
3. 3. Add fish pieces, green chilli and lemon juice, mix together and serve in small bowls with fresh lemon.
Main Course
Aish-u-Laham
Ingredients
1. Bezar: 7 thsps 11. Green Chillies: 50 g
2. Boiled egg: 3 pieces 12. Lamb : 6 kg
3. Cinnamon bark: 20 g 13. Rice : 3 kg
4. Ground cinnamon: 5tsp 14. Saffron : 2 tsp
5. Dried lemon: 30 g 15. Salt: to taste
6. Fresh Coriander: 50 g 16. Whole cardamom: 10 g
7. Fresh tomato: 1 kg 17. Whole cloves: 5 g
8. Garlic Cloves: 100 g 18: Water : 10 lt
9. Ghee : 150 g
10. Ginger: 50 g
Method
1. Slice Onions and fry until brown. Ad cardamom and cinnamon bark and fry briefly. Add garlic, ginger and green chillies and continue until all are brown. Add tomatotes, half the coriander and the bezar.
2. Boil the meat for ten minutes and sieve the excess from the top. Add the onion, cardamom, cinnamon , salt and cloves and cook together for 45 minutes.
3. Remove the meat and add the rice to the broth. Once cooked, strain the rice.
4. Place the rice, meat and spice mixture with dried lemon in layer in a pot; repeat for two layers then sprinkle ghee, the rest of the fresh coriander, the saffron and ground cinnamon. Keep on a low heat for 15 minutes.
5. Serve on a large ceramic platter garnished with Emirati hashwa and whole boiled eggs
Note for making hashwa: You have to boil about 6 cups of chick peas for 10 minutes , add a tsp each of salt and turmeric, strain and set aside. The slice the onions, fry until brown, add another tsp of turmeric, a bark of cinnamon, a few cardamom and cloves and continue frying until all are brown. The add the cooked chick peas and a fistful of sultanas, almonds and cashew nuts and fry gently, > Cover and cook on a low heat for 7 to 10 minutes and your Emirati Hashwa is ready . Use it as a garnish or eat it plain.
Badiwiah Saloona
Ingredients
1. Bezar: 7 thsps 10. Green chillies : 20 g
2. Whole cardamom: 10g 11. Diced green pumpkin: 1 kg
3. Cinnamon Bark : 50 g 12. Onion: 500 g
4. Corn Oil: 50g 13. Diced potato: 1kg
5. Dried Lemon: 2 pieces 14. Salt: to taste
6. Fresh coriander: 200 g 15. Ground cinnamon: 1 tsp
7. Chopped fresh tomatoes: 500 g 16. Small whole lamb: 6-8 kg
8. Garlic cloves: 50 g 17. Ground turmeric: 2 tsp
9. Ghee : 2 tsp 18. Water: 10 lts
19. Cooked white rice: 3 kg
Method
1. Slice the onions and fry in oil with half the cardamom and cinnamon bark until it is browned. Add the garlic and ginger with green chillies and continueuntil allthe ingredients are browned, then ad the bezar with turmeric. Continue on a low heat for 3 minutes.
2. Then add fresh chopped tomatoes an half of the coriander,, continue to fry on a low heat for 10 minutes and put aside.
3. Boil the meat for 10 minutes and sieve the excess from the top. Then add the rest of the cardamom and cinnamon bark with salt and cook for another 35 minutes. At this point, cook the diced potatoes and pumpkin with the meat.
4. Add the onion mix and spices to the pot and sprinkle with ghee, dried lemon, ground cinnamon and rest of the coriander and keep on a low heat for 5 minutes.
5. Remove from the pot nd place the meat and vegetables on a large ceramic platter with white rice. Garnish with fresh coriander.
Desserts
Aseedat Bobbar
Ingredients
1. Red Pumpkin: 2 kg
2. Water : 4 lts
3. Sugar: 300g
4. Saffron threads: 2 g
5. Ground cinnamon: 1 tsp
6. Ghee: ½ cup
7. Roasted flour 11/2 cups
8. Rose water: 2 tbsps.
Method
1. Wash and peel the pumpkin and cut into large chunks, then place in a large pot an cover with water. Cook until soft which should take about 25 mins. Strain the pumpkin and let it drain.
2. Mash the pumpkin and blend with the roasted flour and ghee. Add the sugar, saffron and cardamom until it becomes a smooth mixture. Cover and Cook slowly for 10 minutes gently mashing the pumpkin from time to time until it is soft and tender, light and fluffy,
3. Add ghee and rose water. Then keep on low heat for a further 10 minutes.
4. Pour into an oval shaped plate and smooth the middle of the mixture with the back of a spoon allowing the outside edges to form a border. Warm 4 tbsps of ghee and drizzle on the top before serving.
Khabeesa
Ingredients
1.Cashew nut: 200 g 6. Rose water: 4 tbsps
2. Corn Oil: 300 ml 7. Saffron thread: 1 g
3. Ghee: ½ cup 8. Sultana: 100 g
4. Ground cardamom: 1 tsp 9. Water: 2lts
5. Roasted flour: 1kg 10. White sugar: 500g
Method
1. In a shallow pan, slowly melt 200g of sugar until transparent and caramel brown. Add 2 litres of water and bring to a boil and then add the rest of the sugar until it is dissolved.
2. Hear some of the corn oil in a deep pan and add cashew nuts and sultnas; fry at a low heat until the cashew nuts are slightly brown.
3. Add the flour and ghee, continuously introducing to the mixture half of the caramel syrup and the rest of the corn oil.
4. Keep on stirring until the mixture resembles a crumble. Add the cardamom and rest of the caramel syrup to moisten the mixture.
5. Add saffron and rose water and stir to retain the crumble mixture. Cover the pan and keep on a very low heat for 5 minutes to infuse and enhance the saffron and rose water flavour.
6. Place on a deep ceramic platter with a domelike shape in the centre. Garnish with roasted cashew nuts
Classic Staple in all Emirati Cuisine
Harees which is at least a thousand year old recipeand a must- include in all traditional Emirati menus for special occasions
Ingredients
1. Ghee: 200gm
2. Salt: 50 g
3. Water: 8 litres
4. Whole lamb: 1pc cut into 8 pieces
5. Whole wheat: 3 kg
Method
1. Boil the whole lamb for ten minutes and sieve the excess. Continue to boil for an hour.
2. Add the whole wheat and stir for 30 minutes; after that, add salt and continue to stir for another 10 minutes.
3. Seal the pot with a tight fitting lid to create a pressure cooker effect. Simmer on a very low temperature for 5 hours.
4. Remove the pot from the heat, open the lid and extract all the bones, beat the mixture with a long wooden spoon until it acquires a fluffly texture.
5. Serve on an oval ceramic platter, smothered with ghee.
Besar
(This is the standard local spice mixture which is used in all savoury recipes. The fresh spices are usually cleaned and hand pounded to create the aromatic mixture which is then stored in an air tight container to retain its aroma. But each household tweaks it a bit to create their own special bezar mixture)
Ingredients
1. Whole cardamoms: 100 g
2. Cinnamon bark: 200 g
3. Coriander Seeds: 1 kg
4. Ground turmeric: 100g
5. Cumin Seeds: 500 g
6. Nutmeg: 50 g
7. Dry Ginger: 50 g
8. Dry Red Chillies : 50 g
9. Star anise: 30 g
10. Fennel Seeds: 50 g
11. Fennel Seeds: 50 g
12. Whole black pepper: 100 g
13. Fenugreek seeds: 50 g
14. Whole cloves: 20 g
15. Nutmeg flower: 20 g
Method
1. Clean and wash coriander and cumin seeds with lukewarm water and then dry at 60 C for about 4 hours.
2. Roast the coriander and cumin seeds carefully on low heat. Add the whole cardamom and cinnamon bark and keep roasting for 5 minutes.
3. Then add the ground turmeric , fry ginger, dry red chillies and star anise seeds and continue roasting for another 5 minutes.
4. Thereafter add all the remaining ingredients and roast the spices together on a low heat for a final 15 minutes.
5. Take it off the heat and cool for 6 hours and then grind carefully to a fine consistency.
