Spice up your Iftar spread with these 5 Middle Eastern recipes

Iftar feast
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Chello Kebab Koobideh

Preparation 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 – Non-Vegetarian

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Lamb leg (bone less) —150 grams
• Lamb fat – 50 grams
• Onion – 100 grams
• White pepper – 10 grams
• Saffron – a pinch
• Parsley – 20 grams
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Clean the lamb in cold water and set it aside to dry. Once dried, mince the meat.
2. Take the lamb fat in a bowl. Add onion, parsley, saffron and white pepper to the mixture.
3. Then add the minced meat to this mixture. Mix well.
4. Take a Persian flat skewer and spread the mixture onto the skewer evenly.
5. Once the mixture is flattened on the skewer, cook over the charcoal until it becomes well done
6. Serve along with Arabian breads, rice and toum (garlic mayo)

Joojeh Kebab

Serves: 2 | Preparation 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 – Non-Vegetarian

Ingredients

• Baby chicken leg (boneless) – 150 grams
• Onion – 50 grams
• Saffron – a pinch
• White pepper – 10 grams
• Lemon juice – 5 millilitre
• Labneh (strained yogurt) – 20 grams
• Oil – 20 millilitre
• Butter – 5 grams
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Take the boneless chicken and cut into kebab chunks.
2. Take the lamb fat in a bowl. Add onion, parsley, saffron and white pepper to the mixture.
3. Then add the minced meat to this mixture. Mix well.
4. Take a Persian flat skewer and spread the mixture onto the skewer evenly.
5. Once the mixture is flattened on the skewer, cook over the charcoal until it becomes well done
6. Serve along with Arabian breads, rice and toum (garlic mayo)

Burani Espanaaj

Serves: 2 | Preparation 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 – Non-Vegetarian

Ingredients

• Blanched spinach – 150 grams
• Garlic – 5 grams
• Kashk (a mixture of hung curd, sugar and salt) – 10 grams
• White pepper – 5 grams
• Saffron yogurt – 10 grams
• Fried onion – 10 grams
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Thoroughly wash the spinach in cold water.
2. Once rinsed, blanch the spinach and cool off in Ice water. This will help retain the green colour.
3. Keep it in a strainer to drain.
4. Chop the spinach roughly.
5. Add salt, white pepper, Kashk (a mixture of hung curd, sugar and salt) and fried onion to the chopped spinach.
6. Serve along with warm pita bread.

Recipes by Subimon Subhagan, chef, Sheraton Grand Hotel at Brigade Gateway, Bengaluru.

Chicken Korma

Serves: 2 | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Marination time: 30 minutes | Cooking time: 20 minutes

Difficulty level – Intermediate

Cuisine – Mughlai

Type – Main course

Recipe – Café Delhi Heights/Chef Ashish Singh

Dietary Preference – Non-Vegetarian

Ingredients

• Chicken cut pieces – 4 pieces (280 grams)
• Curd – 250 millilitre
• Brown onion – 150 grams
• Coconut Powder – 100 grams
• Magaj (Muskmelon seeds) – 20 grams
• Refined oil – 100 millilitre
• Bay leaves – 2 pieces
• Small cardamom – 2 pieces
• Big cardamom – 2 grams
• Cloves – 4 grams
• Black pepper whole – 5 pieces
• Javitri – 2 grams
• Ginger-garlic paste – 10 grams
• Coriander powder – 20 grams
• Jeera powder – 5 grams
• Deggi mirch powder – 10 grams
• Garam masala – 5 grams
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Cut whole chicken into curry cut pieces and wash well in running water.
2. Marinate the chicken pieces with whisked curd, magaj paste, salt, deggi mirch powder, coriander powder, jeera powder and oil. Mix well, and keep it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Take a saucepan, add refined oil, and add the whole spices mentioned in the ingredients. Let it crackle, add the ginger-garlic paste, and saute for five minutes or till the paste turns golden.
4. Add the marinated chicken to this pan and sautee well for about 5 minutes.
5. Now add the brown onion paste and coconut powder, cook for another 10 minutes.
6. Add garam masala and turn off the flame. Serve hot with roti or rice.

Recipe by Ashish Singh, corporate chef, Café Delhi Heights, Bengaluru.

Haleem

Serves: 8 | Preparation time: 50 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour

Difficulty level – Hard

Cuisine – Middle eastern

Type – Main course

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

Dietary Preference – Non-Vegetarian

Ingredients

• Lamb – 2 kilograms
• Ginger paste – 2 teaspoon
• Urad dal – 5 tablespoon
• Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
• Yoghurt – 2 cups
• Refined oil – 100 millilitre
• Cashews – 1/2 cups
• Peppercorns – 1/2 cup
• Ghee – 1/2 cup
• Mint – 1/2 cup
• Water as required
• Yellow moong dal – 3 tablespoon
• Broken wheat (dalia) – 2 cups
• Garlic paste – 2 teaspoon
• Chana dal – 5 tablespoon
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Onion – 1/2 cup
• Garam masala powder – 1 teaspoon
• Cinnamon stick – 1 inch
• Coriander leaves – 1 cup
• Green chilli – 6 pieces
• Toor dal – 3 tablespoon
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Wash and soak the brown broken wheat for 30 minutes.
2. Take two medium red onions, slice them and fry the sliced onions until golden brown and set aside.
3. Take mutton (lamb) with bones, trim any excess fat, put it in a pressure cooker and add 750 ml of water.
4. Add turmeric powder, ginger and garlic paste, red chilli powder, garam masala to the mutton in the cooker.
5. Cook it till you hear 5 pressure whistles. Let it cool down for 10 minutes and shred the lamb pieces.
6. Boil the broken wheat with urad, chana, toor and yellow moong dal with a tablespoon of ginger garlic paste, two to three green chillies and peppercorns in eight cups of water.
7. Cook the mixture until all dals are well cooked and mushy and blend this mix for a few seconds.
8. Take a deep pan, add oil and bring it to a heating point and add whole spices along with cinnamon stick.
9. To that, add shredded mutton, green chillies, and half a cup of fresh coriander and sauté in the oil for two to three minutes and then add two cups of curd.
10. Sauté the mixture for another 10-15 minutes to add three cups of water and bring it to a boil. Tip: Traditionally this is a slow-cooked dish. Try to cook it in handi over a slow flame.
11. Now combine the boiled lentil and mutton mixture together in a deep pan or a handi.
12. Add a generous quantity of desi ghee and let this mixture get cooked for one hour on a slow flame. In between the cooking process, it’s advisable to stir this mixture with a wooden ladle and mash it on a slow flame.
13. Once it is completely mashed, finish this cooking process by adding the ghee and brown onion on top with some freshly chopped coriander. Tip – Be generous while using ghee in the preparation as it improve the flavour and texture of the dish.
14. Garnish it with fried onions mint leaves, cashew nuts, lemon wedges and the freshly chopped coriander. Serve hot
15. Take a deep pan, add oil and bring it to a heating point and add whole spices along with cinnamon stick.

Recipe by Vinay Kumar, executive chef, Grand Mercure Bengaluru, Goapalan Mall, Bengaluru.