Oriental Sausage - Dinner

Before moving here, I was not a fan of processed meat. I went to visit someone and she made these sausage links and I thought they were delicious. They are called Oriental Sausage. I use them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Here's one way I prepare them for dinner.



Ingredients
1 pack of Helwani Oriental Sausage (sausage links)
1 cup sliced green pepper
1 cup sliced yellow pepper
1 cup sliced red pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp oil

Heat 1tbsp oil in wok over medium-high heat. Add  onions.
Cook  until yellow. Add all peppers, stir constantly,
not allowing the peppers to burn or stick to the pan.
When tender, remove from pan.

Add 1 tbsp oil to the wok. Put the sausage in the pan and stir
fry until thoroughly cooked approx. 15 min.

Return vegetables to pan. Add honey and soy sauce. Stir fry
for an additional 10 min. 

Serve with rice.

Rice - Dinner

Rice was one of things that I could not master when I came to Egypt. I tried using the Egyptian rice and it always turned out to be like mashed potatoes. Then I tried Jasmine rice, it's okay but not something I can use often. I fell in love with Basmati rice, but not the price. Recently, I started using Thai Long Grain rice and I absolutely love it. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups rice
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 Maggi cubes(vegetable) (buillon cubes)
1/4 tsp salt
dash or 2 of black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
4 cups water
1 tbsp corn oil

Ingredients

Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook
until yellow. Add dry rice. Chop cubes into small pieces and
stir it in with the rice and onions, add the salt, pepper and
garlic. Stir.

Add water, cover and boil until rice is tender.

Serve with Oriental Sausage and Kidney beans

Scrambled eggs - breakfast

I really don't enjoy the taste of eggs if I can smell that egg smell :(...so here's my recipe to avoid the smell.

Ingredients:

4 medium eggs
1/4 cup milk
dash of salt and pepper
1 slice of cheese shredded
2 tsp butter

Combine eggs, milk, salt, pepper and cheese. Mix  well.

Mix  until many bubbles form.

Place griddle or pan over medium-high heat. Add
butter to pan. Pour in egg mix. As soon as the eggs
begin to settle, stir with a spoon. 

Enjoy with Pancakes
Pancakes

Syrup - Breakfast

This is an easy simple syrup recipe. It can be used on pancakes, waffles or French toast.


Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla (powder)
1 tbsp molasses
3/4 cup water

Heat butter in pan on medium heat. Add the sugar and allow to dissolve. Add the molasses and stir. Next, add the vanilla and water. Allow to boil on high heat for 3 min.

Syrup

Pancakes and eggs with syrup

Pancakes - Breakfast

This is one of my favorite pancake recipes.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp butter (melted)

Ingredients (not pictured  - 1 tbsp sugar)

flour

melted butter

after mixing the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar, make a well
in the center of the mix

Add milk, egg and butter. Mix well. Lightly grease griddle
butter or oil.  

Top with fruit or syrup.

Optional add 1tsp cinnamon and one small mashed banana to the mix for banana pancakes. 

Herb Biscuits

This is one of my favorite recipes. These are perfect with spaghetti. I also make these in the morning for breakfast but without the herbs. We eat them with jam and beef sausage. Well it's hard to find beef sausage here so we  use Halwani beef hamburgers. The small ones that come 8 in a pack. Slice the biscuit in half, add the jam and then the sausage. Delicious!!!


Preheat over to 350 degrees F

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp chilled butter cut in small pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp fresh chopped dill
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Combine butter with fork to resemble coarse meal. Slowly add milk. Add herbs, dill, oregano, parsley and garlic powder.

 drop by spoonful onto baking dish

Spinach and Feta Braid

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
1 1/2 tablespoon of salt
1 1/2 tablespoon  of active yeast 
6 cups flour 
3 cups of lukewarm water 

mix the salt and yeast together in the water then add flour. Mix well and then transfer to a large bowl cover with a towel for 2 hours.

Remove towel add a little flour and let sit for 30 more minutes. 

 Knead and roll  dough onto a flat surface. Slice the dough with a pizza cutter as shown in the picture.

Next add the spinach and feta cheese. You may add any filling of your liking (ie. peaches, apples, berries)

 Fold the sides of the dough to create a braid.

Bake until dough is golden brown. 

Eggplant ParmeCheddar

Today I had a desire for eggplant, but the only recipe that came to mind was eggplant Parmesan. As usual, I was lacking something. The Parmesan cheese and the ricotta cheese. So I decided to create my own thing. 

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Sauce:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

2 garlic cloves

3 whole tomatoes (crushed) (hard to find canned crushed tomatoes)

2 cups tomato paste

1 cup water

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp oregano

1 dried large bay leaf or 2 or 3 small

salt and pepper to taste

5 small eggplant sliced 1/2 in thick

1/4 in olive oil in pan

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup yogurt

 

1 cup Italian bread crumbs (can't find it here, so I make my own)

Bread crumbs recipe: 

shred 2 slices of bread or toast 

add salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp garlic 

Step 1

The Sauce

Heat oil over medium heat . Cook onion  until light brown. Add garlic cloves. Allow to simmer for 1 min. 

Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, oregano, bay leaves, salt & pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce to low and simmer.

Prepare bread crumbs. I used mixed grain bread. Which is similar to 12 grain in the US. I did not toast the bread.

 Slice the eggplant  1 /2 in thick. Beat 1 egg. Place each slice (one at a time) in the egg, then the flour and then in the bread crumbs. Fry in 1/4 in olive oil. Drain on paper towels.

Fried eggplant










Slice or shred 1 kilo of cheddar cheese. Mix 1 egg with yogurt.











Prepare dish by adding sauce to the first layer. Next place the eggplant over the sauce. Next, spread the egg and yogurt mix, then add some cheese. Repeat and place in the oven.









2nd layer












Bake for 45 min. Let stand for 20 min before cutting.

 

Introduction

My name is Amaal and I am currently living in Egypt (Misr). I've lived here almost 3 years. Upon arrival, one of the first things I noticed was the difference in food. Take-Out is easy because you have a variety of restaurants to choose from, but when it comes to a home-cooked  meal, things get a little tricky. Especially if you don't speak the Arabic language. The first  year was rough but I lost lots of weight :). Now I'm like a veteran. I'm learning how to substitute and simply MAKE IT IN MISR!!!