For instant sweet dessert jalaibee / zalabeya

I've made jalaibee quite a few time and found the flavor to be too bland and sugary. So with a little experimenting with different flavors, I came up with the recipe below that is pleasing to my family's taste. I do hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy the pleasant taste and aroma along with a really nice crunch to every bite . 

Jalaibee / zalabeya Ingredients:
1 cup durum flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon yeast 
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/8 teaspoon fennel powder
1 teaspoon vinegar
few drop of yellow food color

• Mix all ingredients together to form a pancake like batter. Covered and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1-2 hours or until double in size.

For the syrup:                      

1 cup sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
pinch of saffron (optional)
pinch of cardamom
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup honey

• For the syrup, dissolve the sugar in water in a saucepan, adding the lemon juice and almond extract, saffron, cardamom, and honey. Bring syrup to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes before setting syrup aside.

• Heat the oil over medium heat in a pan. Put jalaibee mixture into  a squeeze ketchup / mustard bottle and squeeze into oil in a circular motion to form circular pattern as shown in the picture.Every circular pattern is unique. Fry until light brown. 
• Remove from oil and place immediately into the syrup (syrup should be warm when dipping jalaibee)for about 1-2 minutes. Now remove from syrup and drain off excess syrup.
• Enjoy!

shredded phyllo nest dessert

shredded phyllo nest dessert

1. First, preheat oven at 350 F.
2. Store bought a package of knafeh or kataïfi and cut the knafeh noodles into small pieces into a bowl. Now Add some melted butter and toss well to coated the knafeh noodle strands well.
3. In a muffin pan, add some amount of buttered shredded phyllo noodles (knafeh) and pressed it down to take the shape of the muffin cup with an indentation in the middle of it.
4. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Keep an eye on it because everyone's oven temperature varies.Allow it to cool before removing from muffin pan. It should look like the picture below.

You can store in an air tight container for later use. Also right before using, drizzled with honey and serve with desire topping.  Here I've used fresh sweet whipping cream with strawberries.

Follow step 1-3 and for another delicious dessert:- 

add some pistachio nuts

 mixed with 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 

pinched of powdered cardamom (optional) and 

dash of cinnamon ... into the phyllo basket before baking

now continue to follow step 4 and you'll end up with these delicious looking baskets/ nests.

drizzled with honey and serve.

Enjoy!

Homemade Coconut Oil

It easy as 1,2,3 ... just take a little time

Ingredients:

dry coconuts (1 dry coconut will give you about 1/4 cup pure homemade coconut oil)

water

Here are the Steps:

1.     Cracked coconut and removed the coconut meat then cut into pieces

2.     Process in a food processor or you can manually minced it by hand using a hand grater, however, by using a food processor saved a lot of time for a few minutes 



3.     Now a used a blender add the minced coconut and water to make it like a smoothie (in this case you can use any amount of water because we want to extract all the milk from the coconut meal) then strained it to separated the coconut milk from the coconut meal

4.     We are really interested in the coconut milk. Place the coconut milk into a container, cover, and leave over night. Do not disturb it. You can see the coconut fat is starting to separated from the water by settling on the top



5.     On the next day skimmed of the coconut fat and place it into a pan or pot and put  it over medium heat. Keep cooking until you will see the coconut fat turns into pure home made coconut oil

6.     Strained and cool before storing. Personally I keep my coconut oil in my refrigerator but it can stay in your pantry like regular oil.

Season cured Olives

Quick way to have flavorful olives for fish/chicken dishes  

Recipe:

 2 can California cure olives, drained ( used any olive brand) 

pieces garlic and lemon

2 medium sprigs of  rosemary

2 sprigs of thyme

 1/2 teaspoon harissa or red pepper flakes (optional)

 1/2 of lemon juice 

 2 tablespoon vinegar 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

and enough olives oil ( any oil you like)

 

Method:

Combine altogether in an airtight container/jar

 leave in your fridge for about 7 days but  leave it more days... 

it's much tastier also I do not change the olive marinate. 

 Look like the pictures.

*Enjoy!*

Season cured Olives

Quick way to have flavorful olives for my chicken dishes  or simply snack on them

Recipe:

 2 can California cure olives, drained ( used any olive brand) 

pieces garlic and lemon

 add few strips of onion

 1/2 teaspoon harissa or red pepper flakes (optional)

 1/2 of lemon juice 

1/4 orange

 2 tablespoon vinegar 

and enough olives oil ( any oil you like)

Method:

Combine altogether in an airtight container/jar

 leave in your fridge for about 7 days but  leave it more days... 

it's much tastier also I do not change the olive marinate. 

 Look like the pictures.

*Enjoy!*

 Season cured Olives

Quick way to have flavorful olives 

2 can California cure olives, drained ( used any olive brand)
stripped pieces garlic and lemon and stuffed olives center

add  few strips of green onion

1/2 teaspoon harissa (optional)

1/2 of lemon juice

1/4 orange

2 tablespoon vinegar

and enough water to cover olives

Look like the pictures. I'll leave in my fridge for about 7 days but you leave it more days... it's much tastier also I do not change the olive marinate.

Enjoy!

Garlic-herb Shrimp

Here is a real easy way for making shrimp

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 of small onion, chopped

3 spring parsley, chopped

2 sprig fresh thyme or use 1/4 tsp dry

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 of lemon... juice

dash of Cayenne pepper, optional

Method:

1. heat a pan on medium-high heat and add oil 

2. add shrimp and saute for 3-5 minutes

3. add onion, garlic, salt, and pepper; continue cooking for 2 minutes

4. add parsley, thyme, lemon juice and Cayenne and saute for another 1-2 minutes

5. Serve and Enjoy.