Bites Fil Beit Ramadan: Baba Ghannoug and Rice with curry, chickpeas and chicken

By Iman Adel Abdel-Fattah 



Ramadan offers a whole new challenge to cooking Egyptian food. The breaking of the fast, Iftar, is the main menu of the day and consists of an array of dishes. Traditionally the meal starts with juice, to prepare the stomach for the feast that is to come, and a savoury soup. Appetisers are up next, followed by a main course and a sweet dessert completes the meal.

Iftars are meant to be shared and inviting your close friends and family for a home-cooked dinner-cum-breakfast can be daunting. But not to worry; during the month we will be giving you suggestions for full menus with a complete recipe for one of the dishes.

The menu today is low-fat and low-calory

Menu

• Drink: Mango juice
• Soup: Chicken Soup
• Salad: Baba ghannoug
• Main Course: Rice with curry,chickpeas and chicken
•                              Chicken kofta
• Desert : Fruit salad 

Baba ghannoug
Ingredients

• 1 medium size eggplant – be-tin-gan
• 1 green pepper – fil-fil akh-dar
• 1 yellow pepper – fil-fil as-far
• 1 red pepper – fil-fil ah-mar
• 1 ½ tsp garlic, crushed – toom
• 3 tbsp lemon juice – a-seer li-moon
• 2 tbsp corn oil – zeit dor-a
• 3 tbsp tehina – ta-heen-a
• Salt and pepper – malh and fil-fil
• Black olives (optional) – ze-toon is-wid

Directions

• Grill eggplant on a small metal dish over medium heat. Turn the eggplant frequently to ensure all sides are grilled equally, about 20 minutes. Take off heat and leave to cool.
• Peel the eggplant. Mash the eggplant well with a fork in a medium bowl. Add the tehina and garlic.
• Cut the peppers in small cubes and to the eggplant mixture, mix well. Add lemon juice, dalt and pepper.
• Arrange the baba ghannoug on a large flat dish and drizzle the oil on top. Arrange black olives around the baba ghannoug as a garnish (optional). 

Rice with curry, chickpeas and chicken
Ingredients

• 1 cup rice – roz
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces – so-door fi-rakh
• 1 tsp curry – ka-ry
• 1 cup chickpeas- hom-mos
• 1 small onion, chopped – ba-sal
• 1 green pepper, chopped in small cubes – fil-fil akh-dar
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped in small cubes – fil-fil as-far
• 1 red pepper, chopped in small cubes – fil-fil ah-mar
• 1 tsp garlic, chopped fine – toom
• 1½ cup water – ma-ya
• Corn oil – zeit dor-a
• Salt and pepper – malh and fil-fil

Directions

• In a medium pan bring water to a boil. Add the chickpeas, salt and cumin and leave it boil until the chickpeas are tender. Set aside.
• Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add the chicken and garlic fry, stirring constantly for three minutes. Add onion and peppers and continue to stir for five to seven minutes or until chicken is cooked. Add the curry and set aside.
• Add the rice to the pan with the chickpeas and stir to mix well.
• Add water until it covers the rice and put on high heat. When rice begins to absorb the water cover the pan and reduce the heat and simmer until rice is done. Add the chicken mixture and mix well.
• Serve immediately in a deep serving dish.

Notes

• Additional vegetables can be added to this dish, like zucchini, peas, carrots together with the onions and peppers.

Happy Ramadan!

Source: The Daily News Egypt