Mloukhieh with Lam and Rice

Cultural background

Radwan Deyar got his fascination for cooking from his mother. He would like to start a restaurant. But he has two problems: the Dutch language and financial means. Now he cooks at home together with his wife Enas in their little kitchen in Rhenen, in The Netherlands.

Culinary information

The main ingredient is Mloukhieh (also known as Mulukhiya) a leafy vegetable which is often used in the North African and Middle East kitchen. It can be used as a stew, but also as a vegetable. This vegetable can be found in a Turkish shop, in a dried form in a box with 400 grams. During the preparation it smells like kale. Some people even call it “superfood”.

Ingredients

200 grams Mloukhieh (dried)
500 grams Lams meat in little pieces
1 onion
½ teaspoon of ginger powder
½ teaspoon of cardemon powder
Pinch of cinnamon
Cleared butter (ghee)
1 complete bulb of garlic
Salt
Fresh coriander
500 grams of rice
2 spoons of vermicelli

For this meal, standard kitchen equipment is sufficient.

Preparation

Preparation in steps.
Indication how much time it will cost

Remove the hard nerves from the leaves and let it soak for 15 minutes in cold water.

Put the lams meat on fire in a pan with cold water and let it cook. Remove the foam with a skimmer. Add an onion in two pieces, the ginger powder, the cardemon powder and cinnamon. Cook it gently and add after 2 hours to spoons of salt.

Heat the squeezed mloukhieh in a second pan and add 2 ½ spoon of cleared butter. The little nerves in the vegetables slowly change from colour. Add 200 milliliter of the lambs broth till thy have a golden colour. Put the fire low and close the pan. After 10 minutes, add two pieces of grated garlic and two spoons of salt. Stir the vegetables now and then during 45 minutes. Add the rest of the garlic bulb and half of the fine cut coriander. Stop the heating after 5 minutes.

Fry the vermicelli in one spoon of cleared butter to a golden colour. Add two glasses hot water and two tea spoons of salt. Add the rice and heat it till cooking. As soon as the rice has absorbed the water, turn the heating low. After 10 minutes, stir the rice and take off from the fire.

Serve the Mloukhieh with rice, the meat and a salad of cucumber, tomato, iceberg salad, fresh mint, fresh coriander (decoration) and small pieces of dried Arab/Turkish bread. Make a dressing from apple vinegar, olive oil, 1 piece of garlic, salt and dried mint. Fry some almonds in some cleared butter. Use some lams broth to make the rice a bit more juicy. The total time for preparation is about 2,5 hours.