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. 

Dried Fruit Salad: Khoshaf خشاف

Khoshaf is a refreshing fruit salad made of stewed dried fruits, with a sprinkling of nuts and orangeblossom water.  It is served throughout the Arab world during Ramadan.

Khoshaf is typically served in small portions, just to break the fast before Sunset prayers and then the sit-down meal. It can be made in batches and stored in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. This khoshaf recipe is from Eastern Libya, but is also popular in the West of the country where the traditional khoshaf is made with just raisins and fenugreek.

Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
3 cups dried fruits (figs, apricots, prunes...etc)
1/2 cup pine-nuts or halved blanched almonds
1 cup raisins/sultanas
1 fresh banana, sliced
3 tablespoons orange blossom water
Generous sprinkle of dessicated coconut (optional)

Deseed and chop the dried fruits.

Place in a pan with the raisins, cover with water, bring to the boil then turn off the heat . Leave for 15 minutes, then cool in the fridge for at least an hour.

Add the orange blossom water, pine-nuts/almonds and the banana slices.

Sprinkle with dessicated coconut. Serve chilled in small bowls.

Steamed Pasta with Pine Nuts, Raisins, Almonds, and Liver: Makaruna Imbaukha bil Khalta مكرونة مبوخة بالخلطة

This pasta dish is a famous Shargawi recipe, and is often served at Weddings in Eastern Libya. Thin pasta is lightly grilled until golden then steamed over chicken stock. It is then fragrantly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. The topping is a mixture of fried liver, almonds, pine nuts, and  raisins. The raisins are traditional and add sweetness to the dish, but I had to omit them for a guest. With slight variations this mix is served over rice in many Arab countries, including Libya.
This is the original recipe for Makaruna Imbaukha bil Khalta, but nowadays most Libyans cut the amount of oil and samn used - unless it is made for a Wedding feast!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 kg pasta capellini or other thin wheat pasta
4 pieces of skinned chicken (thigh/wings)
4 tablespoons corn oil in 1/2 cup of warm water

1/2 cup samn (clarified butter also known as ghee)

1 medium onion chopped
1 medium tomato chopped
4 bay leaves
2/3 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon cardamom pods, crushed
1/2 tablespoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
salt, pepper
Ground spices:
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground dried ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon black pepper
Khalta Topping: 

1/2 kg lamb liver

1/2 cup samn (to fry the nuts and raisins)
1/2 cup blanched almonds 
1/2cup  pine nuts
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

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.

In the bottom pot of a steamer (kaskas), add about 1 litre boiling water to the chicken, along with the chopped onion, chopped tomato, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, spices and salt. 

Break the pasta up and put it in tray under the the grill, until the top layer becomes golden. When it's mixed it will be two-coloured.

When the pasta has cooled down, sprinkle with 1 tb spoon oil mixed with 1/2 cup warm water.

When you can see steam  rising, place the pasta in the steamer.

Meanwhile melt a 1/2 cup of clarified butter (ghee) in a pan.

Fry the pine nuts first as they are the most sensitive to heat, then the almonds. If you like raisins with the khalta, fry the raisins next, taking them off the heat once they plump up. Set aside the left over samn (clarified butter).

Cube the liver and put in deep casserole. Pour boiling water on top leave about one minute then  strain well.

        This helps the liver cubes keep their shape.

Heat the samn used to fry the almonds and raisins. Add the liver and half the amount of ground spices. Stir constantly, make sure you don't overcook it or the liver will be rubbery. 

Drain the liver from the excess fat.

Set aside the fried liver, raisins and nuts to use as a topping later.

After about 45 minutes, remove the cooked chicken pieces and leave the stock in the bottom of the steamer. Remove the pasta from the steamer and put it in a deep bowl. Using a ladle, take about 3 cups of the stock from the bottom of the steamer, especially the oily top layer. Mix it into the pasta and return the pasta to the steamer. How long the pasta takes to cook depends on the pasta type. If the pasta is still not cooked , moisten it with another 1 or 2 cups of stock, and continue steaming.

Once the pasta is done place it in a heatproof bowl. Place the cooked chicken pieces under the grill or brown in a frying pan. Meanwhile add the remaining ground spices to the pasta. Heat up the  1/2 cup of samn until it just starts to smoke, then pour on top of the spices. It should be hot enough for a sizzling sound and bubbling. This  method of infusing flavour by 'burning' spices with hot samn is called the kawi, and is used in a lot of Shargawi recipes.

 Mix the spices and samn (clarified butter) through the pasta. 

Plate the pasta and cover it with the fried khalta of  liver, nuts and raisins then top with the browned chicken. Serve with Mseyer pickles.

Pumpkin and Bechamel Pudding قرعة بالبشامل

Stewed pumpkin topped with bechamel is a surprisingly addicitive combination. It is a dessert that is well-loved in Egypt and Eastern Libya. While pumpkin is almost a staple vegetable in Libyan cuisine, it is mostly used in savoury dishes, such as couscous, lamb stew or steamed pasta. This pumpkin pie is one of the few exceptions. The Egyptian version of the pudding includes a sprinkling of raisins and nuts between the layer of pumpkin and bechamel, and these can be easily added to this East Libyan recipe.  Pumpkin with bechamel is easy to make, and is delicious served either hot or cold.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo pumpkin

100g butter (melted)

100g flour

2 cups sugar

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Stick of cinnamon (optional)

2 eggs

Cut pumpkin into squares and place in a pan with 1 cup of sugar and just enough water to cover, and the cinnamon stick if using. Cook on low heat until pumpkin is tender.

Remove the pumpkin, leaving about 2 cups of liquid in the pan. 

Add the flour to the liquid.

Add 1 cup of sugar and 2 cups of milk while whisking.

Add the eggs and the vanilla and stir until smooth.

To inrtensify the sweet bechamel's pumpkin flavor, add a few pieces of pumpkin and mash. Pour in the melted butter  and give one final stir.

Mash the rest of the pumpkin squares with a fork roughly.

Spread less than a third of the pumpkin bechamel in an oven-proof dish, add mashed pumpkin on top, and then cover with the rest of the pumpkin bechamel. 

Place in the oven until surface becomes golden. Serve hot or cold.