I am back but this time with no bread,,, I am back with my ful & Taameya. I promised before that I'll share the recipes with you. Sorry for being late but I had a lot of work to do. First talking about Ful Medames "Ful medammas also Foul Medammas (Arabic: فول مدمس fūl mudammas) is popular in Egypt , often eaten at breakfast. It consists of brown fava beans, partially or completely mashed, which are slow-cooked and served with olive oil, chopped parsley, onion, garlic, and lemon juice. Ful medames is typically eaten with Egyptian bread ('eish masri).'egyptian pocket bread or flat bread" Though originally a peasant food, ful medames has long been part of the daily Egyptian diet. Some have described it as being "like a stone in the stomach". This has led to it being consumed by many in the Middle East in the early morning meal to prepare for a day of fasting during Ramadan. The dish's name derives from the Egyptian language: ful is the Egyptian word for fava beans, and medames is a Coptic word meaning "buried." The second word hints at the original cooking method, which involved burying a sealed pot of water and beans under hot coals." Thanks to wikipedia ;))) So today I am going to tell you how we cook ful from scratch. Ingredients:- 200gr. Fava beans "the best quality has a lighter color" 50 gr. Of chickpeas "it is not in the original recipe but sometimes I add chickpeas for change, the original recipe contains just fava beans". 50 gr of yellow lentill 50 gr. of wheat seeds A half of small lemon. First wash all these seeds very well then cover it with water for 2- 4 hours. Rinse it again and put it in a pan we use a special pot, it is like a jar, we call it "damassah" The capacity of our pot is 3 litres. Put the seeds and fill the pot with water till the top just leave 1 cm without water. Put it on the stove till boiling then tranfer it on a heater like this one, a lot of people use the stove by putting the ful pot on the smallest and weakest flame, but this heater gives wonderful results because we will leave ful for 7 or 8 hours on the this weak heat. After this period take some with a spoon and test it , if it is done squeeze a half of lemon and pour your ful in a container so after being cooled you should put it in the refrigerator and it can be freezed very well too. If you test it and you find that fava beans still firm and there is no enough liquid in your pot add water but it has to be very hot, just to keep the lovely light color of beans.and let it more time on the heater or on the stove. you'll find all the pics in my blog. It is time now to talk about falafel , in egypt we call it taameya more than falafel it is a little bit different than the lebanese & the syrian one, we use more green herbs and we use just fava beans to make it. Fo me I use to make it with fava beans but sometimes as a change I mix with my fava some chickpeas. "Falafel is a fried ball or patty made from fava beans. Originally from Egypt,[1] falafel is a popular form of fast food in the Middle East, where it is also served as a mezze. Falafel is usually served in a pita-like bread, either inside the bread, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flat bread. In many countries falafel is a popular street food or fast food. The falafel balls, whole or crushed, may be topped with salads, pickled vegetables and hot sauce, and drizzled with tahini-based sauces. Falafel balls may also be eaten alone as a snack or served as part of a mezze. During Ramadan, they are sometimes eaten as part of an iftar, the meal which breaks the daily fast after sunset." o.k thanks again to wikipedia. The ingredients;- 250 gr.skinless and crushed fava beans. Sometimes I put 125 chickpeas and 125 fava beans, but the egyptian original one does not contain chichpeas at all. 1 big onion 2 garlic cloves 125 of green herbs " leeks ,parsley, coriander, and dill Salt & pepper cumin and dried coriander. Wash the beans and rinse it then cover it well with water for 6 hours, if you are using chickpeas you will leave it for 12 hours. Rinse it and strain it very well then add to it the onions and the garlic and the fresh herbs "washed and cut to be ready to go to the food processor" you will mix all and put it in the food processor , it will take from you some time to be a real paste. You can add to it the salt, pepper , cumin and dried coriander or you can wait till you will start to fry it, I usually freeze all the quantity after dividing it into portions. To fry it , we need 250 gr of falafel paste and 1 big egg beat the egg with a fork and gradually add you falafel paste , add 1 tsp of sodium bicarbonate and continue to beat it for 2 mn. Add your salt , pepper , cumin and dried coriander. Apic for the whole meal. please check my blog to watch all the pics, I could not put it all in two places, forgive me !! Start to fry it, I made a videoooo, yes I did it for the first time in my life , my husband and me, were struggling two days to make it, but finally we did it , it is horrible but I hope that it really helps. You can watch it now on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ieAhoOakoI but please no laugh we are the worst editors in the world, next time would be better ;)) Thanks to all of you, this forum is really the best !! Chahira Daoud www.chahirakitchen.blogspot.com www.chahiraelkhabira.blogspot.com There was a fellow here on TFL, he was talking about "David" and how there is a lot of David on the forum...... David , I am a David too, " Daoud" is David but in Arabic, Cheers David ;)))

I am a little bit late but it became my habit now !! Hahaha

We celebrate sham el nessim the day after coptic easter. I would like you to read about it more in my blog here

http://chahirakitchen.blogspot.com/

This time I made some new shapes in sweet bread

, I sold some sweet buns

On my blog there is some pics for this occasion food like salted sardines and of course what I baked for this occasion .

Happy easter for all of you and happy sham elnessim too .

Chahira

http://chahirakitchen.blogspot.com/

Hello dear friends , I really missed you all, but I did not want to show you my face untill I fulfill my promise to Minioven and other fellows, i promised that I will share my recipes for "Falafel & Egyptian beans dish" but till now I did not make it, I was so busy and I do not have any space in my freezer but I am thinking seriously to buy a deep freezer because my freezer is complaining. And I am used to prepare large batch and freeze it to be ready anytime, sorry guys and I will hurry up and make it as soon as possible.

Concerning the title of my blog entry, mmmmmm!!

That was my daughter birthday, I chose a savory dish beside the cake I made for her and her classmates, I baked these little hedgehogs, from 7 cups of flour, I got 69 cute hedgehogs.

I really liked it, I used it as sandwiches or canapes.

and as soon as they are out of my oven , they invaded my kitchen, there was a hedgehogs every where!!!!

There was even a battle.

But there was also a love story !!!

What do you think he is telling her????

My kids and the girls even all the adults like them from the first look.

Are'nt they cuuuute???

Thank you all and missed you all, and i'll be ready sooooon with my Falafel or "Taameea" & egyptian beans blog post.

Ah !! forgot to tell you about the birthday cake ,,, it was a hit!!

To watch it, please visit me on my blog

http://chahirakitchen.blogspot.com/

Bye Bye !! Love you all !!

Hello everybody and missing you all !

Phyl Divine named me on his group on Facebook "artisan bread bakers".He named me "Pharaoh of flat Bread ".

I really was very happy but wondering all the time , why ?? May be phyl knows that Egyptians can not eat without the presence of the flat bread on their meals tables .

So I decided to present something about our daily bread in Egypt , may be to try to prove to myself that I really deserve this great title !!!!

O.k I bought this pan shown in the picture, it is better than my oven cause flat breads really need a very high temp. and it is usually baked in special ovens " with three flames".

The pictures will show you this incredible invention for flat breads , let's go ....

First the bread before being baked,,,ah forgot to tell you that I used 100% wild yeast.

Also about the dough , i made two doughs one contained 50% bread flour +50% whole wheat flour, and that is the traditional ingredients for our egyptian bread.

The other dough "which i invented" contained bread flour +whole wheat flour+grounded oats"i grinded it at home"+barley flour and of course wild yeast and tepid water .

let's go ....

"as seen on T.V" HAHAHAHA!

The harvest !!

sandwiches for me and my husband, i filled it with pastrami and romi cheese.

I wish i had at this time some of our wonderfull home made falafel or foul"beans".

Falafel , I am missing it!!

And here I am....Do I really deserve to be the "pharoah of flat bread"?????

http://chahirakitchen.blogspot.com/

It really was a very successful day to me.... Everything was perfect...you know ,,baking adventures really make my day.

I really need to sleep deeply !!

To all my fellows on TFL,wish you all a very nice day .

Chahira

Alex- Egypt.

http://chahirakitchen.blogspot.com/

One of my friends made those , I liked it so much , and wanted to share with you these pics, her name is Roza , she is really a wonderful woman.Here you are the pics!!!!

الحشوة التانية جبنة مثلثات + زيتون

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الفطيرة الثانية

My first sourdough bread !!!

Yes , I knew that pharoahs were used to make awesome bread using of course wildyeast...but did not try it , till I started to be freshloafer,, I was used to read about sourdough but afraid to begin cause my first experience was painful,,,

Mr.Peter reinhart really helped me , and I did my first loaves, it turned out awesome and really deserve to wait for it all of these days of care and patience.

Here you are the pics...

Chahira

Alex-Egypt

http://chahirakitchen.blogspot.com/ 

My chiken pie !!

Would you like to have the recipe???
One of my fellows on TFL "Azalia" asked me to share the recipe, of course, I had no problem with that , these requests from my friends make me happy , and i promised her to put the recipe next day!! And I did not, bad bad bad girl!!!
Dear fellow here you are the recipe and pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase forgive me !!! I am always tooooooo late. first of all the ingredients:-first for the dough: -3 cups all purpose flour. -2 tbls sugar. -5 tbls of powdered milk. -1and half tspn of instant yeast. -1/3 cup of oil. -pinch of salt. -cup and half of warm water. make the dough and knead it well then leave it till double or triple in volume.at the meanwhile prepare the staffing...
The ingredients:- -half a kilo of chiken fillet"breast meat". -vegetables "onions, potatoes, carrots, green, yellow and red pepper. -salt and pepper. Ah I added to the dough, 2 tbls of dried origano.
for topping :-250 gr. of cream - 4 tbls mayo. -1 tspn of mustard. -5 tbls of cream cheese. I stir fried the chicken after cutting it into strips,in a pan over high heat with a tbls of butter and a little of olive oil. I added gradually the vegetables in this order, carrots, potatoes, I forgot to tell you about green beans, then onions , and the pepper. I adjusted the taste and after finishing I added a good amount of green parsley. Let the staffing cool . After the fermentation of the dough , start working.I divided the dough to 1/3 and 2/3 the 2/3 for the ground of the pie , I used a tart mould with removable bottom, and then pour the staffing, then mixing the topping and spreading it over the staffing..I rolled the remaining dough and shaped it using a special roll and put it on the top of my pie , made an egg wash , let the pie for 20 minutes then baked it!!

I did it twice in one week,

first time:

Second time:-

Finally, I am asking you a favor!!! Enjoy it BUT....do not laugh at me because of my ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!! THANK you for not laughing at me.

Chahira

Alexandria-Egypt.

http://chahirakitchen.blogspot.com/

Hello dear fresh loafers, I really did miss you all!!

I wanted to wish you all a very happy new year!!

I was totally busy,but always in my kitchen , I am always have a recipe for Mr. Peter Reinhart to test , I had also my first "daring bakers" challenge, It was horrible challenge, you can check my blog to read and watch some pics of my final product!!

I want you also to congratulate me, my second attempt for wild yeast started to look sucssesful one , but I have to start using it and bake!!

Yesterday , I made a chicken and vegetables pie, and I want to share the pics with you , it was really delicious!!

Here it is a slice for the first reply on my post!!

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I also made some japanese melon buns, here you are some pics..

But still do not know why it is called " melon buns"???

Anyway it was not really very distinguished, nothing special in it....

I made at the same day some baguettes...

I am also planning to start my first sourdough baguettes...

Wish me good luck!!

Happy new year for all and wish to you all the best !!!

Chahira

www.chahirakitchen.blogspot.com

Hello dear friends,

It is my first time to try bagels, the result was not bad, actually I can not judge because I have never taste it, I'll send you some to tell me how much did my recipe succeed.

Another question please , should bagels be a little bit chewy ,or I did knead too much my dough,,I am confused,anyway, it is not bad to try new recipes.

Thank you all and have a very nice day!!!