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. 

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.

Pumpkin, Potato and Lamb Stew with Barley Dumplings

This is an alternative presentation which got some Palestinian dinner guests who usually baulked at the traditional version to try Bazeen. Form the bazeen into bite-sized dumplings before pouring the stew over them. Arrange halved boiled eggs and chopped chillies on top, and serve with lemon quarters.

Bazeen بازين

Bazeen, an Amazigh dish most often made from barley, is one of the most distinctive North African dishes. It is a staple in Western Libya, and often served for lunch on Fridays. There are variations on the basic lamb bazeen, serving it with stews featuring camel meat, chicken, squid or broad beans. A favourite winter variation is Bazeen served with Hassa soup made with dried meat (gideed). The most well-known Bazeen is made of a mixture of 3 parts barley flour to 1 part wheat flour. The flour is cooked in salted water to make a hard dough, and then formed into a rounded, smooth dome, with the tomato sauce, potatoes, boiled eggs around it, the mushroom shown in the picture is my addition, not part of the original recipe. An untraditional alternative is to serve bazeen as dumplings in a stew.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

about 1 kilo meat (preferably shoulder and leg of lamb)

1 large chopped onion

1/2 cup olive oil

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp fenugreek

1 tbsp tumeric

1 tbsp red chilli 

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

1 large garlic clove

2 chopped fresh green chillies

3-4 medium potatoes peeled and halved

500g pumpkin cut into medium sized cubes (optional)

for the dough

1 kilo barley flour

1/4 kilo plain / wheat flour 

1 tbspoon salt

about 11/2 litre boiling water ( more as needed )

Pour the olive oil in a  pot.

Add the fenugreek, onion and chillies to the pot. Stir and cook until the onion begins to soften.

Add the meat to the pot.

Add the spices and mix.

Add the roughly chopped garlic cloves.

Add tomato paste, mix well.

Add about 1/2 litre of boiling water. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes then add another litre of boiling water and cook on medium heat  for further 45 minutes 

                 Add potatoes halves, cook on low heat, meanwhile prepare the dough

Mix the barley with the plain flour in a deep bowl.

In a deep pot, pour 1 litre of boiling water and add 1 tbsp salt.

Pour in the barley mix, all at once.

With a wooden spoon, push in the edges, creating an island of flour in the middle of the pot, allowing the water to bubble around it. Do not disturb the flour in the middle. Do not cover the pot.

Stick a wooden spoon in the middle of the island, and move the spoon a little so the water can bubble up inside, then do not disturb. Leave the dough to cook for 45 minutes on medium heat.

Hard-boil 6 eggs.

Test the potatoes. They should be just cooked, firm rather than mushy!  Remove the sauce from heat at this point.

After 45 minutes the dough should be ready. Using the wooden spatula mix well with the water in the pot, you might need to add more hot water to make a medium hard dough. Using the spatula press the dough against the edges of the pot to remove any lumps. The best way to do this is to place the pot in the sink, holding it against a corner with one hand to get a good purchase. 

If you have a machine that will knead bread dough then it will handle bazeen fine, and you will get a smooth ball of dough in minutes. 

Test the dough by pressing it in your fist and checking if it holds together well. Remove the dough from the pot. Place in a large flat serving bowl and knead it to get rid of the lumps, then form into a ball. If there are deep cracks you need to knead it again.

Form the bazeen by placing your palm on the ball and rolling in circular motions around the dish until you have a smooth dome with a flat base.

Press the edges down to make the dough stick to the dish.

Pour the tomato sauce around the dough. Arrange the meat, potatoes, and pumpkin if used. Peel and add the six hardboiled eggs. Bazeen is served with fresh chillies and lemon and is typically eaten in a communal dish, using the right hand.

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.