Grilled Lamb Kofte & Safran Pilaf

Last weekend was three days weekend for Independence day. We did lots of fun activities but one of the thing we have to do during Independence weekend is BBQ.  Instead of regular hamburger and hot dog, we decided to have Middle Eastern BBQ with Lamb Kofte (Ground Lamb kebab). I mixed lots of cilantro, mint, garlic, onion and ginger with ground lamb and add some kebab spice mix. Also, corn is cheap in summer so we grilled corn. 

I love this ground lamb kebab. Ever time I go to Middle Eastern restaurant, I order this dish. I thought I didn't like lamb too much but with herbs and spices, I realized that I love Lamb. I think normally, you add parsley instead of cilantro but I had a bunch of cilantro in my fridge so I used that. It came out really good. The only thing is that it is quite difficult to grill. When we try to flip it over, some of the meat fall off the skewers. I wonder if there is any good way to avoid this. 

When it is done grilling, I sprinkle more cilantro on top with some sumac. I love sprinkle sumac on some meat. It has some lemony taste to it. 

I also made some rice to eat with. This is called "Zarda Pulao" from India. I made this rice before and loved it so I decided to make it again. (Click here for the previous post about Zarda Pulao.)

This pilaf has nuts, dried currant, Cinnamon, cardamon, saffron and some other spices and it is very very tasty. It was supposed to be really sweet but I didn't want to make it too sweet so I cut the sugar amount to 1/3 of what it required in the recipe. 

I made Lamb Kofte a bit spicy so this sweet rice was perfect with the spicy Lamb. Also, the corn was really sweet and crisp. The meal was so good, it was so difficult to stop eating.

After the dinner, we went to our neighbour's place and watched Independence day fireworks on TV. There are some people doing fireworks in neighborhood also. I thought fireworks are illegal here in NY. I wonder how people get fireworks. Do they go all the way to different state to buy them? Anyway, fireworks on TV was beautiful and we had a great time. 

By the way, did anyone watched World Cup on Saturday? Germany did pretty well on that game. My husband and I went to a local pub to cheer Germany with some other Germans. It was very exciting and lot of fun! I hope they will do well again on Wednesday.

Falafel Sandwich with homemade pita bread

It is vegetarian dinner again! Do you know what Falafel is? It is a popular food in Middle East and pretty popular here in the U.S. also. It is made from grind garbanzo beans with some herbs and spices. You made a small ball with it and fry them and eat with some vegetables and tahini sauce with pita bread.

My husband and I love falafel and every time we go to Middle Eastern restaurants, we have to order falafel. (Even though I don't like beans in general, I love Falafel)

I have been wanting to make this but somehow it seemed difficult to make it so I had never tried to make it myself until now. But, I found this falafel mix the other day and it seemed pretty easy so I decided to make it using this falafel mix.

Since I used the falafel mix to make my life easy, for the pita bread, I made it from scratch. It was also the first time for me to make pita bread so I searched the internet and found this wonderful website called "DedeMed". She has lots of recipes for Mediterranean food and her recipe and video was easy to follow and great explanation. Here is the link for the pita bread recipe and video on DedeMed.

So here is the pita bread I made. This is after the first rise. 

Made small balls and let it rise again. 

Rolled them out 

Bake it in the oven and here it how it came out.  

For Falafel, I just mixed the falafel mix and water. I looks like this. 

Then I made  small balls with it. I made it flat so it is easier to fry with small amount of oil. 

It is how it came out. 

For the topping, I used tomato, cucumber, red onion, salad leaves and Tahini sauce. 

I think Tahini sauce is very imprtant ingredients for falafel sandwich. I used this Tahini paste and followed recipe on "DedeMed" 

I really enjoyed this falafel with freshly baked pita bread. Tahini sauce was great also. This is an vegetarian dish but it is very satisfying dish. I only had three falafel and one and half pita bread and I was already full. I really like this falafel sandwich I made. I am very happy that I was able to make this. Maybe next time, I will try to make falafel from scratch :-) 

This is a wonderful vegetarian meal which I want everyone to try. It is healthy but very filling and tasty!

If you can not find falafel mix and Tahini sauce in your grocery store near you, you can purchase them from Amazon. Click the link below to go to Amazon site. 

    

Spring has come! First BBQ of this year!!

I have been waiting for this! After a long cold winter, it seems like spring is finally here! The weather was so nice on Sunday and also yesterday, it made me feel so happy! I can smell the spring in the air. Everybody looked so happy and walking around everywhere. It was like "Where were all there people during the winter? " On such a wonderful day, I really appreciate that I am alive and healthy.

I think there is a strong correlation between the weather ( also temperature) and people's mood. At least, it affect me a lot. Just smelling the spring in the air makes my body and soul jumpy :-)

When the weather is nice and warm, what would you do? Yes, you guessed it. "BBQ!!!" Since we bought a new propane the other day, we decided to enjoy the first BBQ of the year.

BBQ is something very luxurious for me because I did not get to do BBQ much when I was in Japan. In Japan, many people lives in a tiny apartment (especially Tokyo) so many people don't have back yard or BBQ set. If you want to BBQ, you have to go the rivers or mountains which has space. As much as it is nice to have BBQ by the river or in the mountain, it is also great to have the convenience of doing BBQ right at your home. I think many people take BBQ for granted because they grew up with it but for me, this is great luxury to have.

Anyway, so BBQ make me very happy. Normally, we BBQ hotdog and hamburger and stuff like that but this time we had Chicken Kebab and Ground Beef Kebab since I am into Middle Eastern Food lately. I made Chicken Kebab using this recipe book which I borrowed from a library.




It seems like Chicken Kebab is called Shish Taouk. It was simple marinade with lemon, garlic and olive oil but it was really delicious!

I think this will be a regular for our BBQ from now on.







For Ground Beef Kebab, I used this Kabab mix which I had at home.

It got lots of different kind of spices in this mix. As directed, I added some chopped onion and green chilies.

Then I shaped small meat balls.

The other day, I have purchased this kebab skewers so I gave it a try. These are huge skewers and it looks almost like a sword. It is flat so that makes easy to stick meat around.

Put the meat around the skewers like this and ready to BBQ!

The photo is a big blur but it looks very good with flames and all.

BBQ completed.

I sprinkled something called "smack" on half of the chicken. This is something I bought in a Middle Eastern grocery store. It has some lemony flavor and it goes great with chicken. I am not sure what kind of plant this was made of...

I also made Basmati rice. I added some saffron but I think it was too little so the color did not come out well.

Pita bread is store bought.

My husband made his favorite cilantro sauce. This time, it tasted a bit too green but it was good. We make it differently every time so you never know how it will come out.

Our Arabian night was a success. I love making these flavorful BBQ. Well, the ground beef kebab kind of fall off the grill (some of them) and it was a bit dry so I need to improve this. Probably because I forgot to add Ghee and did not rest it for three hours as directions suggested. I will make it right next time. The weather will be better and better from now on and I have a whole spring and summer to make it right!

I think it will be nice to invite some friends over and have this kind of BBQ again. I would love to try making some Falafel and Hummus when we have get together :-) Oh, I love summer! (/spring)