Libyan Home-made Pasta: Megata/Rishdet Burma مقطع/رشدة برمة

Megata (literally: chopped) is also known as Rishdet Burma in Tripoli - Burma means pot and this is to distinguish it from Rishdet Kaskas, another kind of fresh pasta steamed in a couscous pot. Megata is a Libyan dish of fresh home-made pasta cooked in a tomato-based sauce, often made  with gideed (dried meat). Depending on the region, the dish can include different kinds of additions. In the west Megatat is made with  beans, lentils, fava beans, chickpeas and fenugreek. The eastern method is with coriander, basil and fresh mint. A lighter version of Megata is cooked in milk or buttermilk instead of a tomato-based sauce. There is another variation (which is good for colds) where the pasta itself is made with a mix of thyme and flour, and served in a thyme and olive oil sauce.

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

Dough

6 cups of flour

3 cups of water

1 tsp salt

Sauce 

2 handfuls chopped Gideed (or 500 g cubed fresh beef or lamb)

1/2 cup of oil

1 finely chopped onion

2 finely chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste

3 finely chopped cloves of garlic

1/2 cup lentils

1/2 cup of pre-soaked chickpeas
1/2 cup of dry fava beans

1/2 cup of fresh fava beans
2 fresh hot chillies (optional)

Spices

1 tablespoons fenugreek
1 teaspoon red pepper

2 teaspoons tumeric

1 teaspoon black pepper

Salt to taste (remember that the gideed is salty!)

 

Pour the flour in a deep bowl, add the salt, make a hollow in the center and add the water gradually, until the dough is firm. The dough is meant to be hard. Cover and leave to rest while you make the sauce.

 Stir the gideed in a little oil.

Add the tomato paste, chopped tomato and onion and the spices. Stir on medium heat for a few minutes.

Add the pulses and chickpeas.

 Add the garlic and chillies, then about 1 liter of water to the pot and cover and leave the sauce on medium low heat for around half an hour. Meanwhile return to the dough!

Once the dough has rested, form into a 'loaf' and cut into 'slices'.

Powder each side of each 'slice' with plenty of flour.

If you have a pasta machine, put each piece of dough through the lasagna roller and layer the resulting lengths on top of each other, with a (very generous) dusting of flour in between to prevent sticking.

Cut each length into half and thin out again by putting through the machine for a second time.

The third time, put the dough through the tagliatelle cutter.

If you don't have a pasta machine, use a rolling pin to thin out each piece, then begin chopping from one end into noodles/tagliatelle. I've demonstrated using only one layer, but you should stack four layers with plenty of flour in between then begin chopping.

Add about 1 liter of water to the sauce pot. Bring to boil. Throw the pasta in the pot, a bunch at a time rather than all at once and stir gently. Let it cook for around 20 minutes.

Serve warm with wholemeal bread and lemon wedges.

Lamb, Pumpkin and Chickpea Stew with Raisins: Tbeikhet 'Eid طبيخة عيد

This recipe was featured on My Halal Kitchen's post on Traditional Eid Foods

 This pumpkin stew requires no special ingredients, yet has an exotic taste, with the perfect combination of flavors and textures. The pumpkin and raisins give this stew a hint of sweetness typical of savory specialties in Eastern Libya, where aromatic spices like cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and especially shaiba leaves are used more often than hot spices and turmeric. This stew is from the town of Derna. Known as Eid Stew, it is made on feast days as a distinctive flavorsome dish suitable for special occasions yet very easy to put together. This recipe is perfect for Halloween.  For dessert pumpkin and bechamel pudding is a tried and tested favourite.

 Serves 4

Ingredients

4 servings of lamb, bone in, washed and drained

1/2 kilo pumpkin. peeled and cut into medium cubes

1 medium onion,  finely chopped

4 tablespoons clarified butter (samn/ghee) or oil

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 cup raisins 

1 can crushed sieved tomatoes or 2 tablespoons tomato puree disolved in 2 cups water

10 cloves
5 bay leaves 

3 cinnamon sticks or 2 heaped teaspoons cinnamon
1 heaped teaspoon ginger
A few shaiba leaves, known as dagad phool in Indian cuisine (optional)
Salt to taste

In a heavy base pot put ghee, onions, lamb and add ground and whole spices then cook on medium heat. Stir constantly until the onion softens and the oil/ghee is infused with the spices. 

Add the sieved crushed tomato and leave on low heat for  about 10 minutes, then add about 2 cups of boiling water and cook on medium heat unitl the lamb is well done (45-60 minutes).

Add the pumkin, raisins and cooked chickpeas, cover the pot and cook for a further 30 minutes. Add water when needed, but a little at a time so the sauce is concentrated. 

Serve hot with warm tanoor bread to soak up the sauce. 

Libyan Soup with Lamb and Mint: Sharba Libiya شربة ليبية

As its name suggests Libyan Soup is our national dish, equally popular in all regions and summing up in a spoonful the flavours that dominate Libyan cuisine.  There is definately something addictive about this aromatic soup, it's made almost everyday during the fasting month of Ramadan and the only complaints are when another soup is made for variation. There are versions with chicken and fish, but this is the recipe for the classic Sharba Libiya with lamb and dried mint. You can omit the whole spices and still produce a delicious soup, but this is a recipe where more truly is more.

Serves 4-6
Ingredients

200g lamb meat, chopped into small cubes

1 onion, chopped

1 finely chopped tomato 

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon dried mint
4  tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1/2 cup lisan asfour (orzo or other soup pasta)

1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight then cooked or use canned (optional)

about 11/2 litres boiling water

1 heaped teaspoon each of: turmeric, black pepper, red paprika, mixed spice

1 level tablespoon salt

Whole Spices (optional)

1 cinnamon stick
5 cardamom pods, crushed
A few shaiba leaves (known as dagad phool in Indian cuisine)
3 bay leaves  

Pour the oil in a pot, add the chopped lamb and chopped onion, drop in any whole spices you are using, stir on medium heat for a few minutes until the oil is infused.

Add the ground spices, chickpeas,chopped tomato,  tomato paste and  cook for few minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionaly.

 Add 1/2 a litre of water and 2 tablespoons of parsley , then cover and cook on low heat for 45 minutes. Once the lamb is cooked, remove the whole spices. Add a litre of boiling water, then add the parsley, and lisan asfour (orzo) cooking for further 15 minutes.



After turning off the heat rub a handful of dried mint between the palms of your hands straight into the pot, then give the soup a final stir.

Serve the soup with lemon wedges, tanoor bread and mbattan.

Steamed Pasta with Pumpkin and Raisins: Makaruna Imbaukha مكرونة مبوخة

Makaruna Imbaukha originates from East Libya, but is known throughout the country. A more time-consuming version is rishda imbaukha which calls for home-made pasta known as rishda. Steamed pasta is the basis of this dish, but the secret is a rich onion and chickpea sauce with the consistency of stew and more than a hint of sweetness from the pumkin and raisins.

Serve with Mseyer pickles .

Serves 6
Ingredients

1/2 kilo  lamb meat
500g capellini pasta
3 tablespoons samn (clarified butter)/ or 1/2 cup corn oil.

3 tbsp tomato paste
1 finely chopped medium onion

1 finely chopped tomato
1 cup chickpeas (soaked over night and parboiled, or use canned)
3 medium size onions cut into wings
1cup sultanas or raisins 
2 medium potatoes halved
250g pumpkin cut to large cubes

1 tsp black pepper
5 whole cloves
4 bay leaves
A few shaiba leaves (known as dagad phool in Indian cuisine)
1 teaspoon grated ginger root/ ground ginger

final touch:  

2 tablespoon orange flower water (optional)

1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

2 tablebspoons samn (clarified butter)/ or butter

                                        

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, especially for steamed rice and pasta.

                           

Start by cooking the meat in the pot under the steamer. Brown the meat in oil or samn (clarified butter) add ground shaiba leaves, then add the chopped onion, chopped tomato, tomato paste, rest of the spices stir, then add about a 1 liter of water bring to boil. Once steam rises from the pot begin steaming the pasta over it while the meat cooks.

Mix oil and water in a small bowl.

This will be used to wet the pasta before steaming.

    

Take a nest of angel hair pasta, dip it quickly in the water and oil, shake off the excess water and place in the steamer above the pot.

                                                              

Work angel hair pasta nest loose with your fingers as you drop the into the steamer

 

Let the pasta steam for 45 minutes, then take down steamer insert

Put the pasta in deep plate. Using a ladle, scoop up the gleaming top layer of the meat broth from the bottom pot, pour over the pasta and mix.  (about  4-5 ladles).

Return pasta to steamer. Add onion wings, chickpeas and potatoes to the pot below the steamer  Put the steamer back on the pot, and leave to steam for a further 30 minutes.

  

You may need to add some water to the meat broth. Add the pumpkin and sultanas/raisins, then cook for a further 15 minutes.

When the pasta is cooked, return it to the deep plate. Sprinkle with orange flower water, mix and sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger. Heat saman or butter (to smoking point) pour immediately over spices then mix. Spread the pasta in a large flat serving platter and spoon the onion, chickpeas, and sultanas sauce generously over it, and arrange potatoes, pumpkin, and meat on top.