Libya

For the past twelve days, everyone working on this blog has been riveted to the news, watching the events unfolding in Libya. We have family in Tobruk, Derna, Baida, Benghazi, Tripoli and Misurata, a reflection of the unity of Libya, and there can be no celebration for anyone until the whole of Libya is freed. The important point for us is to stress that this is not a civil war, this is a regime waging war against its own people, and Libya cannot be split, because as our family proves, the 6.5 million people in Libya are inextricably interlinked. However since today marks the tenth day since the official start of the revolution, and since a transitional governing body was announced yesterday, we thought it would be appropriate to put up the new flag of Libya, the pre-Gaddafi independence flag which has been hidden away for 42 years. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones, may all the martyrs of Libya rest in peace. 

Mediterranean Cooking Event – Libya

The Libyan Food blog participated in the 16th Mediterranean Cooking Event set up and organized by Tobias Cooks, which was focused on Libya this time around and moves on to Montenegro next. We participated with the following recipes posted between the opening and closing dates of the Libya event, from 10 Jan to 10 Feb. Please go check out the other participations in this event here.

Recipes between 10 Jan to 10 Feb:


Aubergine Wrap Kufta in Tomato Sauce
Basbusa with Dates 
Fried Fish stuffed with Potato - Kawali Mbatan
Cousous with Fish - Couscous bil Hout
Libyan Stove Top Flat Bread - Ftat
Roasted Salad - Salata Meshwiya
Libyan Lamb Casserole with Carrot
Steamed Pasta with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Semolina Cake with Date filling: Basbousa bil Tamr بسبوسة بالتمر

Basbousa is a traditional Arab semolina cake soaked in syrup and studded with almonds. There are many different ways to prepare basbousa according to region and country; this Libyan version includes coconuts in the cake mixture and date-paste sandwiched between two layers of semolina. It's an easily made dessert, and is perfect with Arabic cardamom coffee.

Ingredients:

2 cups semolina

1 cup plain flour

1 cup dessicated coconut

1 cup sugar (you can reduce the amount to 1/2 cup if you want it less sweet) 

1 cup melted butter

1 cup milk

1tbspoon baking powder 

1 tbspoon cinnamon

500g date-paste cut into thin slices

Decoration

1 cup blanched almonds

Syrup

5 cups boiling water

3 cups sugar

2 tbspoon lemon juice

2 tbspoon thick honey (optional)

To Serve
Qashta Cream

Prepare the syrup, by adding all the ingredients together, bring to boil, cook on low heat until  reduced to half the amount. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 

Mix all the liquid ingredients then add to the dry ingredients.

                                     Mix well

            Brush a rectangle 20x30 oven proof dish, and spread half the basbousa mix.

Arrange date paste slices on top carefully, then add the remaining basbousa mix and spread.

With a sharp knife mark 12 equal squares into the top layer of semolian, decorate each with halved almonds.

Bake in a preheated oven,  200°C degrees until golden in colour. Pass a knife over the squares again, deepening the lines. Add the the cold syrup while the basbousa is still warm. Leave to rest before cutting and serving. 

Serve warm or cold, with a spoonful of Qashta Cream.

Fried Aubergine and Kofta in Tomato Sauce: Kufta bil Batinjal كفتة بالباذنجان

This dish features traditional cylinder-shaped Arab kufta, ground meat mixed with onion, parsley and spices. There are a variety of recipes for Libyan kufta, this one includes a garlicy tomato sauce, with each kufta piece wrapped in aubergine slices. The aubergine is often fried, but a healthier option is to grilling the slices on a hot tray. 

Serve 4
Ingredients: 
2 medium aubergines thinly sliced lengthways.


Kufta Mix:
600g minced meat
1 large finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tbspoon of each, black pepper, cinnamon, chilli powder, salt
1 tspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 headed tbspoon fine bread crumbs
1 egg


Tomato Sauce:
4-5 chopped tomatoes or 1 can of chopped tomato
2 large garlic cloves
1-2 chopped chillies pepper
3-4 tbspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

                                      Cut eggplants into thin slices lengthways.

  Brush with olive oil, place on a hot tray, grill until both side become golden.

                        
      Mix onion, parsley, minced meat together and put in the food-processor.

 Add one egg, bread crumbs, and the spices and mix well.

Divide the kufta mix into 12 equal  portions, and shape into an oval shape on a BBQ stick, or wooden spoon handle. The tunnel left by the stick should remain open on both sides so that the kufta can cook on the inside as well.

                          

Brush a frying pan with olive oil, arrange kufta pieces, cover and cook on moderate heat.

Turn the kuftas upside down, cover and cook until the other side browned, remove from heat, and set aside.

    

      
                                                 Chop tomatoes and puree.

                                               Blend garlic cloves and chillies.

Put olive oil in a sauce pan, heat, add chopped garlic and chillies,stir. 

Add tomatoes puree, bring to boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes, and set aside.

Roll the aubergine slices over each kufta peice.

Put tomato sauce in an oven proof dish, arrange kufta peices, and bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

Serve with noodle rice and salad. 

Fried Fish with Mashed Potato Filling: Mbatan Kawali سمك مقلي محشي بالبطاطا

Mbatan are uniquely Libyan, it means 'lining' two layers with stuffing.  Always fried, Mbatan are vegetables stuffed with a minced meat mixture, like Cauliflower Mbatan  and Potato Mbatan . Mbatan Kawali is the exception, small fish stuffed with potato, garlic and coriander.

The stuffed fried fish are usually served as an appetizer or side dish, and as with all seafood meals in Libya is accompanied with a tomato, garlic and cumin salad.                                                              

Serves 4-6 as Main, 8-12 as Side Dish 

Ingredients

12 Small fish fillets (ideally Kawali, Herring is a good substitute)

Vegetable oil for frying

Potato Garlic and Coriander Filling:

3 medium size potatoes

1 cup finely chopped fresh coriander 

3 large garlic cloves

1 hot chilli

salt and pepper to taste.

Fish coating

2 beaten eggs

1 cup fine bread crumbs

1 cup white flour 

Tomato Salad

4 tomatoes, sliced

2  finely grated garlic cloves

2 tbs vinegar

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs ground cumin

1 tbs spoon salt

1 finely grated chilli 

1 cup finely chopped parsley

 Boil and peel the potatoes, cut into cubes, then mash with a fork.

Add the garlic and chilli mix, chopped coriander, spices and salt to the mashed potatoes.

Stuff the fish fillets with the potatoes and herb mixture.

                        
                                           Dip each fillet in the beaten eggs.

Coat each piece with flour and bread crumbs.

          Fry in hot oil, transfer to kitchen towels to absorb excess  oil.              

                                        

Set the fried stuffed fish aside, start to prepare the tomato salad. 

  Slice the tomatoes.

Blend garlic cloves and chillies in the mixer or chop finely.

Add lemon juice, vinager and cumin, mix all the ingredients together into a paste. Rub the paste into each tomato slice from both sides. sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.  

Serve the fish mbatan with the spicy tomato salad.  

Libyan Couscous with Fish: Kusksi bil Hoot كسكس بالسمك على الطريقة اليبية

Couscous is an Amazighi dish served throughout North Africa, and there is an enormous variety of sauces and methods of preparation in the region. In Libya the sauce is most often  tomato-based, although with different toppings, there is for example a root vegetable couscous, coucous with dried meat, coucous with busla (onion sauce), couscous with chicken, with chickpeas and raisins, with squid, and with a variety of fish. In seafood coucous, the vegetables are often fried in oil, then added to the tomatoes sauce, in this recipe I have replaced frying with grilling.

Serves 4-6

Steamed Couscous:

500g couscous (ready-cooked variety can also be steamed)

1 cup of hot water + 3 tbspoon olive oil

Stock

1-2 fish heads (washed, gills removed)

1 medium onion, chopped 

1 medium tomato, chopped  

1 cup parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon black pepper, ground cumin

salt, to taste

1 1/2-2 litre boiling water

Vegetable sauce

1 medium onion cut into wings

1 medium size potatoes 

1 medium size aubergine 

1 medium size squash 

1 medium size red bell pepper

1cup cooked/canned chickpeas (or fresh/frozen peas)  

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 tbspoon tomatoes paste

5 tbspoon olive oil  

1-2 chilli pepper

3-4 garlic cloves

For the Fish and Marinade:

4-6 portions of firm fleshed fish, grouper is the Libyan favourite

4 large cloves garlic

4 tbspoon lemon 

1 chilli pepper chopped 

1 cup chopped celery (optional )

1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper

2 teaspoons cumin

Olive oil to brush the fish before grilling 

Ideally steamed dishes or Imbawakh (an important category in Libyan cuisine) should be cooked in a kaskas, but any pot with a fitted steamer is fine. When steaming couscous you can place a square of cheese-cloth between the pot and steamer as its holes are larger than a kaskas, but from experience even without you will only lose a few grains.

 Put all the ingredients for the stock in the steamer pot. Bring to boil then reduce the heat and cook on medium heat. 

  

Pour 1 cup of hot water and the 3 tbspoon olive oil over the couscous, mix well. Put the couscous in the steamer, then place it above the stock pot. Lightly rake over the top layer only with a spatula a few times during the first steaming, so it gets steamed properly.

Put all the ingredients for the fish marinade in the food-processor, then use this paste to coat the fish from both sides. Cover the fish with cling film and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

                                  

                                    

                                      

Put the fish on a hot tray, grill until golden in colour, and keep warm to serve with the couscous.

After about 45 minutes, the stock will be ready. Remove the steamer and put the couscous in a deep plate,  pour about 5 ladles of hot stock onto the  couscous.

 Mix well, then return the couscous to the steamer for another 45 minutes. Stir lightly thoroughly 2-3 times during the second steaming to break up lumps.

Brush the vegetable generously with olive oil,  place on a pre-heated tray and grill (or fry the vegetables).

Meanwhile, begin preparing the sauce by putting olive oil, chopped onion, chopped chilli and whole garlic cloves in the pot, then stir until they have softened. Add tomato paste and chopped tomatoes, cover  and cook on low heat.

 Remove the vegetables from the grill at this point ( half done), and add to the onion and garlic mix in the pot.

 Add the peas/cooked chickpeas and about 3 ladles of strained fish stock, so the liquid is just about covering the vegatables, and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Remove the couscous from the steamer, add about 2 ladles of sauce from the vegtable sauce pot ( avoid the peas and onion), mix well. Put the couscous in a serving dish, arrange the vegetables above the couscous, spoon some of the remaining sauce around the vegetable.  Serve with the grilled fish and lemon wedges.  

Coucous is usually served in a communal dish in Libya. However if you want to serve couscous on individual plates, a suggested presentation is to arrange the vegetable in the base of a bowl, fill with couscous, spoon some sauce on top, leave for 1 minute and then turn upside down on a flat plate.