Egyptian Faatah - Rice & Meat With Crispy Bread on Botto

Ingredients


1 lb stew meat
1 onion
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 fresh tomato, blended in blender to make smooth
4 fresh garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups short-grain white rice (Egyptian rice)
1/4 cup fideos, noodles
1/4 cup butter
2 cups oil, some for frying bread
1 white pita bread
1 tablespoon cumin
salt & pepper
3 tablespoons white vinegar


Directions

To prepare bread for bottom of dish: Take pita bread and rip into bite size pieces. In a frying pan, add about a 1/4 stick of butter, add bread pieces and fry until golden brown and crisp. Put these pieces in a glass baking dish, preferably a square sized dish. Set aside.

Add to same pan, a little more butter, salt, approximately 2 cloves of crushed fresh garlic, and a teaspoon or so of cumin stir around a bit until you can smell aroma, then add fried bread pieces to this mixture, stir to coat bread and put back into glass baking dish. Set aside.

To prepare meat: put some butter in a pot, stir fry meat until brown, add 1 onion quartered, salt & pepper, 1 cube of chicken bouillon and water to cover meat. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, cover and cook until tender, approximately 2 hours. After meat has cooled, take out chunks of meat and put in a bowl, set aside. Reserve soup from the meat separately.
To prepare the rice: Put some butter into a pot, add shareya (fideo noodles) like a handful or so, keep stirring until golden brown, not too dark, but very golden. Then add two cups of rice, stir a little bit until some of the rice turns an opaque white. Add 2-1/4 cups of water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to simmer, cook until tender. Test the rice tenderness after about 35 minutes.

Now take some of the soup from meat and add to the top of the bread pieces in baking dish to saturate. Add cooked rice on top of bread pieces. Slowly spoon remainder of soup onto rice, looking at glass dish sides to see level of soup, should reach just to top of rice, don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be exact. Now you’re ready to make the sauce and fry the meat to put on top.

To prepare red sauce: In a pan, add a little oil or butter, crushed tomato, a half teaspoon of tomato paste, salt & pepper, 2 cloves of fresh crushed garlic and cumin. Add also approximately 3 tablespoons of vinegar, stir this until you smell aroma and it is a bit smooth. It should be a bit thick, not watery, but if too thick you can add a bit of water. Spread with a wooden spoon atop the rice to cover.

To fry meat: In a pan add a bit of butter or oil, the meat, just a touch of tomato paste, about a tablespoon of fresh crushed garlic, salt & pepper, a teaspoon of cumin. Cook until meat is golden fried.
Spoon this atop the rice and serve. Enjoy!

EGYPTIAN BALDI BREAD

1 pkg. dry yeast

1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/8 c. warm water (105-115 degrees)
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sesame seeds
Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/8 cup warm water. Sift flour and salt together. Mix flour with 1 cup warm water - add yeast to the flour mixture and knead well; the dough should be smooth and firm. If necessary, add a little water or flour to get proper consistency. Cover dough and let rise until double - 2 to 3 hours.
Divide dough into 8 or 10 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, pat down, sprinkle sesame seeds on top and roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, four to a sheet, and let stand, covered with a towel, for 1 hour. Bake in 500 degree oven for 5-7 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Bread will puff up while baking and collapse when cool. Great to serve warm with soup.

Egyptian Bread - 'Eeish baladi' - Egyptial Local Bread

This bread is round, 15-20 cms in diameter and 1-2 cms thick, and is backed with whole wheat.

There are two types of 'Eesh baladi' - Egyptial Local Bread:
machine-made and hand-made.

Hand-made bread is enriched with a thin layer of bran sprinkled on the lower layer.
The loaves are sold individually and come in different textures: soft, dry, and very dry. The bread is used to scoop up various kinds of food. Very dry bread can be softened by wetting it under running water then passing it over a naked flame.

A Recipe for Egyptian Bread
Make the dough and bake the bread in one to two hours.

Ingredient

1) 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour.
2) 7 oz. water.
3) 1/2 tsp. salt.
4) 1/4 oz. Dry Yeast.
Bake


Procedures

1) Put flour and salt in an oversized bowl.
2) Mix Dry Yeast with the water.
3) Slowly add water.
4) Take turns kneading the dough.
5) Spread flour on a clean, flat surface.
6) Roll dough into small balls.
7) Form balls into flat round shapes or triangles.
8) Cover with a cloth for one to two hours only.
In one to two hours:
Bake bread on a greased sheet for 30 minutes at 350 Degree heat.

Egyptian Pita Bread
Is there some sort of flour (whole wheat, white, mixtures of both, or barley) for Egyptian Pita Bread?
In Egypt, there are three kinds of "Pita Bread":
1) Eeish Shamy "White Pita Bread":
The flour is a mix of wheat flour only. Aash Shamy "White Pita Bread" is the same as the American Pita bread.
2) Eeish Balady "Dark Egyptian Bread":
The flour is a mix of wheat flour and the wheat flour skin.

3) Eeish Makamar "Dark Crisp Egyptian Pita Bread":
The flour is a mix of wheat flour and the wheat flour skin. It is the same as the "Aash Balady" except it is baked longer, until it become "Crisp Egyptian bread". It is used to make "Fatta".