Oozy Palestinian Middle Eastern Recipes

KA'AK BI AJWA (DATE RING COOKIES) PALESTINIAN, MIDDLE EASTERN

Steps:

• Mix smeed, flour, salt, sugar, and butter/oil in a large pan. Cover and leave for ten hours, or overnight.
• Dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons water and a dash of sugar. When it rises, add to smeed mixture.
• Dissolve mahlab and miska in cold water. Add to smeed mixture.
• Combine warm water and milk. Pour gradually while mixing all the ingredients together. (Do not knead, just stir the mixture to have a moist crust rather than a dough).
• Mix dates, nutmeg, cinnamon, and butter in a pan and warm to soften dates. Knead well.
• Roll dates in 1/3 inch thick balls. Cut a piece of dough, one at a time, the size of a walnut. Spread lengthwise, 4" by 1". Fill with date ball and roll, sealing the sides together to form a ring.
• Pinch the rings with a cookie tweezer to decorate (so powder sugar will stick to it). Place on baking sheets and bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until light gold. (Place baking sheet on top rack).
• *NOTE* This is one way to do it, but I also take a round piece of dough, slightly bigger than the date ball, and push my thumb in it, then place the date ball inside and spread the dough around the date ball completely covering it. Then using a ma'amool cookie mold I place the dough with the date inside in the mold and tap the mold upside down so the finished cookie will fall out. Baking instructions are the same for either variation!
• When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar. When completely cool, freeze or store in tightly covered jars.

OOZY (PALESTINIAN, MIDDLE EASTERN)

Steps:

• Place the cut up chicken in a pot along with enough chicken stock to cover the chicken. Add just a dash of salt. Skim the top of the stock and remove the froth as it forms. Once all the froth is gone, add the diced onion and let boil for about ten minutes.
• Add the Arabic seven spice to the stock, along with the cumin and tumeric powder. Let boil for another 5 minutes, then add the peas and carrots. Let boil for another 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked.
• Remove the chicken and place on a baking pan, and place aside. Brown the ground beef in a frying pan, and add just a dash of salt and 1 tsp arabic seven spice.Brown almonds, and add to the ground beef.
• Wash the rice. In a pot big enough to hold the ingredients, place the ground beef on the bottom of the pot. The strain the peas, carrots, and onions out of the chicken stock and place on top of the ground beef, making a second layer (do not mix them in the pot). Then add the rice on top of the peas and carrots. Add enough of the chicken stock from the first pot to cover the rice, peas and carrots, and ground beef (add slowly, trying not to mix everything up).
• Cover and let cook until the stock is gone and the rice is cooked.
• Squeeze the half of lemon on top of the chicken, just adding a hint of flavor and sprinkle seasoned salt over the chicken. Place under the broiler just until it is golden brown.
• Brown the pine nuts.
• Take a serving tray bigger than the pot used to cook the rice in and place it on top of the pot. With one hand on top of the tray and one on the bottom of the pot, flip the pot upside down on top of the tray. Tap the bottom of the pot making sure all the ingredients came down. Remove the pot and shake the tray a little making everything spread out nicely.
• Arrange the chicken on top of the rice, then sprinkle the pine nuts and parsley for garnish. It is normally eaten with a salad or some laban.
• Enjoy!