So this one…is just a bit outside of my taste range.  I’m sure it was an excellent and enjoyable treat.  This dish is NOT your typical omelet.  More like a savory sweet for the cook to show off their skill.  Posting this as a “Hmmm…how creative/showing off do I really want to do here.”

Ujaj Mudawwarat

(Another Omelet)

Translation:

Take some eggs and spate the whites from the yolks. Add a little honey to the whites, beat them together, and add to them chopped rue, tarragon, mint and basil. Beat this mixture well, put it in a pot and light a fire underneath it until it sets and thickens. Sprinkle it with ta little cumin cassia, murrie and olive oil. Turn the egg white disc onto a platter and spread it on the egg yolk you have separated, sweetened with sugar and cooked until thickened and set. (al-Warraq’s, pp. 329)

Ingredients:

3 eggs (Separate the whites from the yolk)

1 tsp honey

1/8 tsp ground tarragon, mint and basil

1/2 tsp sugar

Topping:

Cumin, cinnamon, fish sauce, and olive oil

Redaction:

Separate your eggs, the whites from the yolks.

Mix the whites with the honey.

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased pan.

Once out of the pan sprinkle with cumin, cinnamon, fish sauce and olive oil (a few drops not too much). Put the finished whites on a plate.

Next take the yolk add the sugar and cook.

Add the yolks on top of the whites for a crowned omelet.

I know this is a bit of a messy picture.  The omelet cooking in two parts was a bit of a messy project.  Try this once just to say you have.  This is a good learning experience with out taking to much time or to many costly ingredients.

This dish did not turn out as expected.  It was an experiment where a lot was learned and will be retried.  So here is my mistake with my ideas on how to do it better next time!

Translation:

Take some fatty meat and cut it into thin slices, the thinner you can get them. Take some round onions and slice them thinly crosswise into discs like coins.

Now prepare a clean pot of soapstone. Spread its bottom with a layer of the meat; sprinkle it with black pepper, coriander, and caraway; and spread a layer of the onion slices. Put another layer of the meat and fat sprinkle it with spices and salt then another layer of onion.

Cover with round of bread. Cook the pot on a slow-burning fire until meat is cooked. Invert the pot onto a wide bowl and serve it, God willing. (Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, pp. 311)

Ingredients:1.5 lbs thin sliced meat i.e. tongue or brisket

1 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp caraway seed

1 onion sliced in rounds; if too big to cut into coin sized rounds cut the onion in half and thinly sliced half pieces

1 round of raw dough.

Redaction:

This recipe was made with tongue, a tough piece of fairly lean meat. I personally believe that a fatty piece of meat such as a brisket would have been a good choice as well.

The skin of the tongue was peeled,

then sliced it as thinly as possible. Some slices were thinner than others.

The spices were gathered together then mixed together.

The clay pot was oiled on the bottom before the meat was added.

The meat was added then spiced. Rounds of onions were scattered over the meat. I used dabs of butter for the fat as the tongue is very lean.

A second layer was added and the final round of spiced meat.

            At this point a layer of dough should have been added over the meat; however as this was a first time dish not all of the directions were read. I have to say it was a good misfortune to have missed the dough. The dish came out very tasty but very moist, almost soupy, with all of the butter and juice from the tongue. Had a crust been added, it would have been soggy and nasty.

The meat came out of the oven a little too early. The very thin slices were perfect at 350 for an hour. The thicker slices were good but chewier and could have stood for another hour of cooking.

            Over all the dish was tasty, even with missing the crust. I would probably suggest using a tough and fatty meat for next time such as brisket. The brisket would negate the necessity of butter while allowing for a non-soggy crust.

So whats for dinner?  Beef!  I had a yen for a new dish and a bit of time on hand.  This gem showcases different flavors in the best of way.

Tabahija with Honey (Slice Meat with Honey)

Translation:

In a green glazed bowl, mix to blend 1/4 ratl murri with 2 Tbs. honey. Strain the mix through a sieve. Add 3 grams coriander, 1 1/2 grams black pepper, 1 gram cinnamon, and 1 gram asafetida.

Slice 2 lbs. lamb and marinate it in the sauce. Set up a pot on the fire and add 2/3 C. sweet olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the sliced meat with the marinade along with 1 gram crushed salt.

Cook the meat until the sauce is greatly reduced. Let the pot settle for a while then serve the Tabajija garnished with chopped cilantro and rue. (Iban Sayyar al-Warraq. Pp. 358, 359)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. slice meat (beef or lamb)

2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp coriander

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cloves minced garic

2/3 – 1 C. olive oil

Optional:

1 tsp sea salt

1 C. mead or sweet wine

Redaction:

I gathered the spices together and had to make a few changes (it’s cooking you’re allowed to change things a little).  I know…cinnamon and garlic and cumin just sound weird but it works.  Give it a try!

I used fish sauce mixed with soy sauce to mimic a good murri.   Then I mixed this with honey but I did not strain before mixing.

There were neither vegetable matter nor bug parts from the murri or honey that needed to be strained out.

I sliced up the meat.

I had a hunk of beef brisket tip that needed a long slow cooking recipe, this was that recipe. The meat was sliced roughly 1/2 inch thick as this will cook down and I didn’t want paper thin strips without texture. You can if you want cut the meat paper thin; this is a texture/taste issue!

I mixed the meat with the marinade.

As you can tell the marinade just covers all the meat. Either I need more marinade or I can use a sweet liquid to help bolster the sauce. I decide the liquid route especially since I had a bottle of mead handy. Red or white sweet wine can be used instead if you desire to use the liquid route or you can make a lot more marinade if you have more meat than expected. It’s all good.

Once the meat was in the marinade, I poured the olive oil into a pot and let it get hot.

When the oil was hot, I slide the meat, piece by piece, into the oil.

The marinade liquid was poured on top after all the meat was in the oil. The heat was turned low to allow the meat to slow cook until tender.

I didn’t add any salt.  I thought the fish sauce and soy sauce gave the dish a wonderful salty flavor complimented by the honey.  Because I think the meat is well salted and flavored I would suggest serving over a savory or plain jasmine rice.