spice your rice series ~ 3: Riz bi Hummous or Rice with Chickpeas

Hummous, also known as chickpeas or garbanzo beans, is another one of my favorite cooking staples. There is always either a can of it in my pantry or bagfuls in the freezer just asking to be eaten.

While the common misunderstanding in the US is that hummous is synomemous with dip, the word really refers to the actual legume. As versatile as eggplant, hummous can be eaten by itself, dressed with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil; mashed into hummous bi tahini, the dip everyone knows, with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil; added to salads, main dishes as in Maghmour, or rice such as this one.

Once you have the hummous ready, either boiled through if using dried and thawed out if frozen, or drained and rinsed if using canned, riz bi hummous is really a one pot dish and can be thrown together in less than 30 minutes. All you need is a medium sized yellow onion, chopped; chicken broth, home-made or store bought; white rice; and the beans. Sautee the onions until tender, add the hummous, rice and broth. Season with salt and cumin, which is the key secret ingredient in this dish, and simmer until rice is cooked through. You can add cooked chicken legs or breasts to the final dish, and serve it with my go to plain whole milk yogurt.

For a family of four, you need:

• 1 cup of rice;
• 1 can garbanzo beans, or about 14 ounces;
• 1 medium sized yellow onion;
• 2 cups chicken broth;
• 1 tablespoon olive oil;
• salt and cumin, to taste.

Like Eggplant? Try this! Maghmour



I try to make a vegetarian meal once a week. While I love my meats, red, white and everything in between, I think it is healthy to have a break from that form of protein periodically. In Lebanon, I grew up around Catholic friends who observed meatless Fridays. So, when I was invited over to their houses after school on those days I was always in for a treat, be it a lentil dish called Moujaddara, stuffed cabbage or grape vine leaves with rice and garbanzo beans instead of rice and ground beef, or a medley of vegetables slowly cooked in a minty tomato sauce called Maghmour.

 

I've been a fan of eggplant for as long as I remember. These days I keep an eggplant in the fridge as a staple. There are so many ways to skin an eggplant (!), so it never goes unused. Here I want to share how to make Maghmour so that you can try it one of these days as a meatless alternative. Granted you could add cubed beef to the mix (browned separately, then added), and I have had it that way and loved it, but below I share the vegetarian version.

 

To put this dish together you need:

 

• Carrots, one or two, peeled;
• Potatoes, one medium sized, peeled;
• Eggplant, of course!, one medium sized, washed but not peeled;
• Onion, half a medium one, or more if you like onions;
• Garlic, 4-5 cloves, peeled;
• Olive oil, 1 tablespoon;
• Garbanzo beans, 1 can, drained and rinsed;
• Diced tomatoes with juice, 1 can;
• Lemon juice, from one lemon;
• Mint, 1 teaspoon; and
• Water, 1/4-1/2 a cup

 

Chop all vegetables to about the same size cubes, for even cooking. Slice the onion, and crush the garlic on the cutting board leaving it almost in one piece.

 

Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the potatoes and the eggplant. Sautee for a few minutes to get a head start. Add carrots. Sautee some more. Put onions and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add last five items, starting with a 1/4 cup of water first. If the liquid seems too little, pour some more in. Season with salt. Cover. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked through and soft. 

 

Serve warm or at room temperature. And, like most of my favorite dishes, you could serve plain whole milk yogurt on the side.

 

enjoy!  



 

 

spice your rice series ~ 2: turmeric rice with corn

Yellow rice! Think of fun that would be to eat. And, with corn in the mix, it is even more appealing to the littlest taste buds.

Growing up, rice was a staple in our house. It was served at almost every dinner meal I can remember. Only on weekends did we have meals that did not include rice. So, my mom had to get creative with her cooking. One day she started making turmeric rice with chicken and corn. I do not know the origins of the recipe, but I have since adopted it in my own kitchen and make it for family and dinner guests alike.

To make it all you need is one pot, 30 minutes of cooking time and a handful of ingredients;

• 1 cup of rice
• 1 can of corn
• 1 small onion; diced
• 1 cup of homemade chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• salt

Heat olive oil and sautee onions until soft but not brown. Add rice, corn, water and broth. When the liquids start boiling, add turmeric and season with salt. Turn heat to low and cook until rice is done.

Enjoy with plain yogurt on the side, or on top.

Now, wasn't that easy!

 

 

 

cook's note: to make it more wholesome, you can shred cooked chicken and add it to the rice once it has finished cooking.

spice your rice series ~ 1: Riz bi Lahme or Rice with Ground Beef

There are lots of things I love about Lebanese food. One of them is how simple some dishes can be. Rice with ground beef may not be a "traditional" Lebanese dish, but it is served in many of the households I grew up with, and it was always the meal of choice at my Teta's house whenever there was a large lunch gathering. Served warm, topped with pine nuts and almonds sauteed in butter, with huge chunks of chicken hiding among the rice, it was always a satisfying meal. Garlic-mint yogurt is always this meal's trusted companion. It is not complete without a bowl of the yogurt sitting on the side, waiting to be drizzled on top.

To make this at your home, here is what you need:

• 1 cup of white rice
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 medium onion
• 2.5 cups of chicken broth; I use homemade
• salt, pepper and cinnamon
• olive oil

Finely chop the onion, and add it to the olive oil that is heating on a medium high heat. Once the onion begins to soften add the meat, salt, pepper and cinnamon; all to tatste. Brown the meat thoroughly, then add the rice and the broth. Once the broth has come to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the rice until cooked through, around 20 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed.

To serve, as above, cook the pine nuts and slivered almonds in melted butter until brown. Do this on low heat and keep a close eye on the nuts as they brown quickly. Shred some cooked chicken on top of the rice, add the nuts and serve with the side of yogurt. Enjoy!

 

 

cook's note: if you want to change it up a little, you can add 3/4 cup frozen peas to the rice while its cooking; that way you get your protein, veggies, and carbs in one dish. With the diary in the yogurt you have one completely balanced meal.

 

 

have you tried? pasta with spinach

In Lebanon we eat lots of stews served with a side of rice: okra, lima beans, green beans, eggplant, to name a few. One of my favorites, though, is spinach cooked with ground beef and rice. Growing up, my mom would make it at least once every other week. Until, one day, we all got tired of it being served with rice. Bring on the pasta! Since then, it has become the new favorite. And now, with a child of my own who will eat pasta with almost anything, spinach as a topping is an amazing hit. If you are looking for something different than simply mac and cheese, try this. You can serve it with a dollop of garlic-mint whole milk yogurt on top to make it even more nutritious; that's how we eat it here.

Here is what you need;

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 pound bag of frozen spinach, not thawed
• 1/4 diced yellow onion
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to season
• 1/4 water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add onion and cook until tender, but not browned. Add meat and brown completely. Season to taste. Once meat is cooked through, add spinach, lemon juice and water. Cover, lower the heat to medium low and cook for 20 minutes. When spinach is wilted and flavors have blended it is ready to serve.

To serve simply pile it on top of a plate of angle hair pasta, drizzle yogurt and enjoy.

To make the garlic-mint yogurt, crush a garlic glove with salt. Mix it with 3 tablepoons plain yogurt and 1 teaspoon dried mint.