Spice up your iftar spread with these 5 Middle Eastern recipes

Iftar feast | photo credit: pixels

Chelo Kebab Kobideh

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Difficulty Level – Intermediate

Cuisine – Persian

Type – Main course

Recipe – Sheraton Grand Hotel at Brigade Gateway / Chef Subimon Subhagan

Dietary Preference – Carnivore

Serves: 2

Component

• Leg of lamb (boneless) – 150 grams

• Lamb fat – 50 grams

• Onion – 100 grams

• White pepper – 10 grams

• Saffron – a pinch

• Parsley – 20 grams

• salt to taste

Preparation

1. Wash the lamb in cold water and set it aside to dry. Once dry, mince the meat.

2. Take the fat of the lamb in a bowl. Add onion, oregano, saffron and white pepper to the mixture.

3. Then put the minced meat in this mixture. mix well.

4. Take a Persian flat skewer and spread the mixture evenly on the skewer.

5. Once the mixture is flattened on a skewer, cook it over charcoal until it is well cooked

6. Serve with Arabian bread, rice and tomato (garlic mayo)

Juzeh Kebab

Serves: 2 | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Difficulty Level – Intermediate

Cuisine – Persian

Type – Starter

Recipe – Sheraton Grand Hotel at Brigade Gateway / Chef Subimon Subhagan

Dietary Preference – Carnivore

Component

• Baby Chicken Legs (Boneless) – 150 grams

• Onion – 50 grams

• Saffron – a pinch

• White pepper – 10 grams

• Lemon juice – 5 ml

• Labneh (curd strained) – 20 grams

• oil – 20 ml

• Butter – 5 grams

• salt to taste

Preparation

1. Take boneless chicken and cut into kebab pieces.

2. Take the fat of the lamb in a bowl. Add onion, oregano, saffron and white pepper to the mixture.

3. Then put the minced meat in this mixture. mix well.

4. Take a Persian flat skewer and spread the mixture evenly on the skewer.

5. Once the mixture is flattened on a skewer, cook it over charcoal until it is well cooked

6. Serve with Arabian bread, rice and tomato (garlic mayo)

Burani Spanish

Serves: 2 | Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Difficulty Level – Easy

Cuisine – Persian

Type – Appetizer

Recipe – Sheraton Grand Hotel at Brigade Gateway / Chef Subimon Subhagan

Dietary Preference – Carnivore

Component

• Boiled Spinach – 150 grams

• Garlic – 5 grams

• Kashk (mixture of grated curd, sugar and salt) – 10 grams

• White pepper – 5 grams

• Saffron curd – 10 grams

• Fried onions – 10 grams

• salt to taste

Preparation

1. Wash the spinach thoroughly in cold water.

2. Once washed, blanch the spinach and cool it in ice water. This will help retain the green color.

3. Keep it in a sieve to filter.

4. Roughly chop the spinach.

5. Add salt, white pepper, kashak (a mixture of grated curd, sugar and salt) and fried onions to the chopped spinach.

6. Serve hot with pita bread.

Cuisine by Chef, Sheraton Grand Hotel, Subimon Subhagan at Brigade Gateway, Bengaluru.

Chicken Korma

Serves: 2 | Prep Time: 10 minutes | Marination Time: 30 minutes | Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Difficulty Level – Intermediate

Cuisine – Mughlai

Type – Main course

Recipe – Cafe Delhi Heights / Chef Ashish Singh

Dietary Preference – Carnivore

Component

• Chicken cut into pieces – 4 pieces (280 grams)

• Curd – 250 ml

• Brown onions – 150 grams

• Coconut flakes – 100 grams

• brain (melon seeds) – 20 grams

• Refined oil – 100 ml

• bay leaf – 2 pieces

• Small cardamom – 2 pieces

• Black cardamom – 2 grams

• Clove – 4 grams

• Black pepper whole – 5 pieces

• Mace – 2 grams

• Ginger-garlic paste – 10 grams

• Coriander powder – 20 grams

• Cumin Powder – 5 grams
• Degi Chilli Powder – 10 grams

• Garam Masala – 5 grams

• salt to taste

Preparation

1. Cut the whole chicken into curry cut pieces and wash thoroughly in running water.

2. Marinate the chicken pieces with whisked curd, brain paste, salt, Degi Chilli Powdercoriander powder, Cumin Powder and Oil. Mix well and keep it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Take a saucepan, add refined oil and add all the spices mentioned in the ingredients. Let it splutter, add ginger-garlic paste and fry for five minutes or till the paste turns golden brown.

4. Add the marinated chicken to this pan and fry well for about 5 minutes.

5. Now add brown onion paste and coconut powder and cook for 10 minutes.

6. Add garam masala and turn off the gas. Serve hot with roti or rice.

Recipe by Ashish Singh, Corporate Chef, Cafe Delhi Heights, Bengaluru.

haleem

Serves: 8 | Prep Time: 50 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 hour

Difficulty Level – Hard

Food – Middle East

Type – Main course

Recipe – Grand Mercure Gopalan Mall, Bangalore / Chef Vinay Kumar

Dietary Preference – Carnivore

Component

• Lamb – 2 kg

• Ginger paste – 2 tsp

• Urad Dal – 5 tbsp

• Red chili powder – 1 tsp

• Curd – 2 cups

• Refined oil – 100 ml

• Cashew – 1/2 cup

• Black pepper – 1/2 cup

• Ghee – 1/2 cup

• Mint – 1/2 cup

• water as needed

• Yellow moong dal – 3 tbsp

• Oatmeal – 2 cups

• Garlic paste – 2 tsp

• Chana dal – 5 tbsp

• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp

• Onion – 1/2 cup

• Garam masala powder – 1 tsp

• Cinnamon – 1 inch

• Coriander leaves – 1 cup

• Green chili – 6 pieces

• Toor Dal – 3 tbsp

• salt to taste

Preparation

1. Wash and soak the brown oatmeal for 30 minutes.

2. Take two medium red onions, chop them and fry the chopped onions till they turn golden brown and keep aside.

3. Take mutton (lamb) with bones, cut off excess fat, put it in a pressure cooker and add 750 ml of water.

4. Add turmeric powder, ginger and garlic paste, red chili powder, garam masala to the mutton in the cooker.

5. Cook it till you hear 5 pressure whistles. Let it cool for 10 minutes and cut into pieces of lamb.

6. Boil porridge with urad, chana, tur and yellow moong dal in eight cups of water, adding one tablespoon ginger garlic paste, two to three green chilies and black pepper.

7. Cook the mixture until all the pulses are cooked well and become soft and blend the mixture for a few seconds.

8. Take a deep pan, add oil and heat it and add whole spices along with cinnamon stick.

9. Add grated mutton, green chillies and half a cup of fresh coriander to it and fry in oil for two to three minutes and then add two cups of curd.

10. Boil the mixture for 10-15 minutes by adding three more cups of water. Tip: Traditionally it is a slow cooked dish. Try cooking it on a slow flame in a handi.

11. Now in a deep pan or handi, combine the boiled dal and mutton mixture together.

12. Add a good amount of desi ghee and let the mixture cook for an hour on low flame. In between the cooking process, it is recommended to mash the mixture on low heat by stirring it with a wooden ladle.

13. Once it is completely mashed, complete this cooking process by adding ghee and brown onions on top and adding some fresh chopped coriander leaves. Tip – Be liberal while using ghee in preparation as it improves the taste and texture of the dish.

14. Garnish it with fried onions, mint leaves, cashew nuts, lemon slices and freshly chopped coriander leaves. serve hot

15. Take a deep pan, add oil and heat it and add whole spices along with cinnamon stick.

Recipe by Vinay Kumar, Executive Chef, Grand Mercure Bengaluru, Goapalan Mall, Bengaluru.