Summer Soup with Grains & Yoghurt

Yeah, I know it's winter. But there's nothing like a little bit of Summer feeling when it's snowing outside. 

Youghurt soups are popular all over the Middle East and Turkey. This recipe comes from a friend of mine, who lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Originally this kind of soups (and many others) is made with frîka, but this is really hard to get here in Austria. So I tried to use dried unripe spelt grain (German: Grünkern) instead - and it worked perfecty. It does taste different to frîka, but both taste good in this soup.

Serves: 3-4

Prep and cook time: 45 min

• 750 ml vegetable stock
• 125 ml yoghurt
• 1/2 cup frîka or unripe spelt grain
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 2 chopped garlic cloves
• 2 hands full fresh spinach 
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon harissa
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh peppermint 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 

Put the uripe spelt grain in a bowl, cover with hot water and soak for 20 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot, add onion and garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the soaked unripe spelt grain, tomato puree and harissa and fry for another 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add the vegetable stock, peppermint, spinach and ground coriander and cook for 20 minutes.

Switch off the burner and when the soup is not boiling any more, add yoghurt and lemon juce. Stirn the soup and serve it while it's still very hot. 

Enjoy your meal!

Saffron Rice with Beef

 

I found the basis for this recipe in the little cookbook "Cooking of the Gulf" and changed it a little to better suit my taste (more! saffron!!). In Arabic it is called Ruz Buhârî (رز بخاري), which means "Rice from Bukhara". This is a very typical Saudi Arabian dish and a staple for any Saudi. Other versions of this dish are popular everywhere in the middle east. 

I really like Ruz Buhârî, it's easy to prepare and tastes delicious sweet&sour and has a slightly decadent taste because of all the spices and especcialy the saffron.

For 3-4 Servings

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 150 g minced beef
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1/2 teaspoon baharât
• 1 tablespoon rose water
• 4 table spoons almond silvers
• 3 table spoons pistachio
• 2 table spoons butter (for a kosher or lactose free version: use olive oil)
• 3 table spoons raisins
• salt
• black pepper

Place rice in a fine-mesh sieve and rinse under cold water until water is clear. Cook rice in water until "al dente" and drain it. 

In a frying pan over medium heat, heat to butter and fry the meat until browned. Add baharât and rice. Dissolve the saffron seeds in 1/2 cup of water, add it to the rice. Add rose water, 2 table spoons almonds silvers, pistachios and raisins and fry for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, sprinke 2 table spoons almond sivers over it. 

Enjoy! 

Rice Pudding

In Arabic this dish is called aruz bi-halîb (أرز بحليب), which means "rice with milk". In Saudi Arabia this dish is prepared using Basmati rice, but I usually use whole grain brown rice. I think it tastes great with this recipe.

For 4 servings: 

• 1/2 cup whole grain brown rice
• 4 cups skimmed milk
• 5 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp orange blossom water
• 4 tsp chopped pistachios
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 1/2 tsp dried ground orange zest 
• 1 dash salt 

In a non-stick frying pan, add milk, 1 tsp honey, rice, orange blossom water, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and orange zest. Cook and stir on low heat for 40 minutes. If the rice is too dry or sticks to the pan, add some more milk.

Remove cinnamon & cardamom. Serve with honey and chopped pistachios.

Enjoy!