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. 

Arabic Boiled Flour Pudding: Asida العصيدة

Asida is a boiled flour pudding cooked directly in water. It is a popular traditional dish served in Libya during celebrations such as births or Eid. It is made of wheat flour or whole-meal flour dough cooked in water, and is eaten with honey or date syrup and melted butter. Some people use olive oil or samn (ghee) instead of butter. It is usually eaten for breakfast. Like bazeen, asida is a communal meal served in a large flat plate or gas'a, and it is generally eaten with the fingers, although spoons can be used. While Bazeen has Amazigh origins and is a purely North African dish, this boiled flour pudding has an Arabic name and versions of Asida are made in the Arabian Peninsula.

Take a look at the steps for the smiley face asida for children. 

Ingredients
Serves 4

25g butter
1tsp salt
300g flour
1 litre boiling water

Served with:
Honey or date syrup
Melted butter or ghee

Fill a deep pot with 1/2 litre hot water. Add 25g butter and a teaspoon of salt.

Leave on medium heat until the water starts to boil.

Sift the flour then pour it into the pan all at once then remove from heat.

Immediately start to stir the flour into the buttery water.

Press the dough against the side of the pot to remove lumps. 

Once the dough is smooth, with the help of the wooden spoon form it into one lump.

Put the pot back on the heat and add another half liter of boiling water.

Use the wooden spoon to form some hollows in the dough. Do not cover and leave to cook on low heat until the water is absorbed.  Midway during this process, turn the lump upside down.The dough's cooking takes about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat. Immediately begin kneading, using a wooden spoon to smooth the asida. If you have a machine that will knead bread dough then it will handle asida fine. 

Melt about 75g of butter or samn (ghee).

Brush a wide plate with butter.

Place the asida in the center and begin folding in the edges to form a smooth dome.

Once the edges are folded in, roll the asida to even out any cracks.

Turn upside down and use a buttered ladle to form a hollow in the asida.

Pour the melted butter or ghee around the asida.

Pour honey or date syrup in the hollow. Serve immediately.

Children's Smiley Face Asida عصيدة للاطفال

This is a variation of asida for children, with a smiley face. Asida is a popular traditional dish served in Libya during celebrations such as births or Eid. It is made of wheat flour or whole-meal flour dough cooked in water, and is eaten with honey or date syrup and melted butter. Some people use olive oil or samn (ghee) instead of butter. Asida is usually eaten for breakfast, as a form of porridge. While most children love asida in any form, this makes it a lot more fun for the younger ones, who can help you with creating and decorating the smiley face. For the ingredients and steps to make the asida, see this link.

Put a small amount  of asida dough in a small bowl and press it down with the back of a spoon to form a smooth dome as above, then turn it upside down on a flat plat.

Use a circular object to make two deep hollows for the "eyes."

Use a spoon to form a curved line for the "smile". 

Pour honey or date syrup into the eyes. You could also sprinkle sugar in the "smile." Pour melted butter around the asida. Serve immediately with a glass of cold milk.

Celebrating the Liberation of Libya

The National Transitional Council is about to announce the complete liberation of Libya 8 months after the first demonstrations and exactly 2 months after the capital was freed. Gaddafi's last stronghold and hometown of Sirte has been liberated, as Libyans celebrate the demise of the bizarre and brutal dictator who has ruled us for 42 years. His humiliating last scenes, reminiscent of deaths of Ceausescu and Mussolini, are a fitting end to a man who delighted in televising executions and left the corpses hanging in university campuses and public squares. In some ways building a state of institutions will be much more difficult than the battle against Gaddafi's brigades, but today is a day to honour the martyrs and wounded who sacrificed for a free Libya, it is a day to celebrate. 

Celebrations in Libya mean one thing: Asida, a quick dessert that is made for births and Eid and is traditionally cooked and eaten as soon as possible after receiving good news.

Asida is a cooked dough eaten with honey or date syrup and melted butter. We have a step by step recipe for asida showing how the dough is cooked in water. Asida is an Arabic word and the dish is also known in the Arab Peninsula,  but is in some ways a sweet version of the Amazigh Bazeen which is also a dough of wheat or barley flour cooked in water. 
As soon as the news was announced, we at the Libya Food Blog made this Asida to celebrate the liberation of our country.

Smiley face asida with a Libyan flag.

Libyan Savoury Cookies: Kaak Malih كعك مالح ليبي

These savoury cookies are the typical accompaniment  to thick Arabic coffee, and they are also served with tea alongside sweet cookies and Libyan special breads. This savoury cookie recipe is very easy and uses store cupboard ingredients, making Kaak Malih an everyday treat. The savoury cookies are usually shaped into simple rings or braided as shown below. These savoury biscuits are light and very moreish so bake a little extra for everyone.

Makes 30  Cookies

Ingredients
100 ml milk
100 ml melted butter
100 ml corn oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 headed teaspoon salt
300 grams flour

Decoration
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Pour the milk, melted butter and oil into a mixing bowl and mix.

Sift the flour salt and baking powder into the bowl.

Combine into a dough, preferably with an electric mixer.

Knead just until  smooth, don't handle the dough too much.

Place in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for an hour.

Roll into ropes and cut  finger size pieces.

Thin out each finger then braid.

Place on an oven tray covered with baking paper.

Brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle sesame seeds on each.

Bake at 220°C in the middle of the oven for around 12 minutes until light gold in colour.

Tuna, Harissa and Olive Stuffed Bread: Khbeiza bil Tonn فطاير تونة و هريسة

This recipe was chosen as FoodBuzz Featured of the day on 11th October!

Khbeizat are individual stuffed breads often served with tea to afternoon guests. They also make great dinner rolls, turning a bowl of soup into a substantial meal.  The dough  is easy to make and is shaped into mini-loaves, mini-buns, ping-pong sized balls or as crescents as in this recipe. Typical stuffings include white cheese and dried mint, or cheese and olives. Tuna and harissa however is by far the most popular sandwich filling in Libya, so the combination is just made for a stuffed breads like Khbeiza.

Makes 32 pieces

Ingredients

25 grams fresh yeast / 2 tablespoon dry yeast

75 gram melted butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups milk

3 1/2 cups flour (210 grams)

1 tablespoon salt

Filling

400g tuna (2 cans), well drained

Harissa (homemade or commercial) to taste

1 cup olives (pitted and chopped)

Decoration

1 egg, beaten

Habet Baraka (Black cumin seeds/ Nigella seeds) or Sesame seed 

Crumble the yeast into a little warmed up milk and set aside, melt the butter and mix with the rest of the milk then leave to reach room temperature.

Place the flour and salt in your mixing bowl, add the milk and yeast mixture.

Pour in the butter and milk.

Knead to a dough with a soft and smooth consistency, cover and leave to rise (around half an hour).

Meanwhile drain the tuna, mash it with a fork and add harissa to taste.

 Pit and chop the olives and combine with the tuna and harissa.

Divide the dough into four equal balls

Roll each ball into a circle, then cut into 8 triangles.

Place a tablespoon of filling at the base of each triangle, rolling into a crescent shape as below.

Place the Khbeiza on a tray lined with baking paper, brush them with the beaten egg and sprinkle a pinch of Habet albaraka on each then leave to rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes.  

Bake in the middle of the oven at 225°C until golden, usually about 15 minutes

While Khbeizat are best served hot, this stuffed bread is also delicious at room temperature and more reminiscent of every Libyans favourite sandwich eaten that way.