How to Make Yogurt Cheese Balls

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breakfast recipes, dairy food, Homemade yogurt, How to, labne, middle eastern breakfast food, middle eastern food, middle eastern pantry food, milk products, step by step, toast sandwich ideas, كيفية عمل اللبنه بالمنزل, لبنه, لبنه مكوره, لبنه بالبندوره المجففه والنعنع, لبنه بالزعتر, Yogurt, yogurt cheese, yogurt cheese balls, yogurt cheese spreed, yogurt cheese with sun dried tomato and fresh mint, yogurt cheese with zatar spice, yogurt recipes

Yogurt Cheese Balls “Labneh”, makes one of the middle eastern stable breakfast dish and a quick standby for a snack spread on pita bread or crackers.

Preserved in oil, “Labneh Mokawara” yogurt cheese balls, is one of the old and essential middle eastern pantry food. Stored in a special storage room  alongside with other foods like brine cheese, dried legumes and beans, wheat, spices and pickles. That was an old way to store middle eastern food items. Nowadays everything is  available in stores and ready for quick pick up.

Making yogurt cheese at home is very easy, it’s no more than yogurt that has been strained to separate it’s whey component, usually by hanging the yogurt in cloth bags. To make the cheese balls, you need to shape them into pearly little balls, then stack in olive oil. As the natural bacteria present in the yogurt ferment, the flavor is slightly modified.

To make yogurt cheese spread:

Yogurt (homemade recipe here)
salt

Pour the cold yogurt into a cloth or cheese cloth bag, sprinkle with salt and mix. Tie and let hang to drain for 1 day (I found that my kitchen cabinet door knob is a good hanger, you may try that).
Remove yogurt from bag and place in a mixing bowl. Add more salt if need it. refrigerate in a covered container. It’s prefered to spread the top of the yogurt cheese with some olive oil to store for long time and prevent the mold from forming on the top.

To make the yogurt cheese balls:

the same for the cheese spread, but in order to be able to roll the yogurt into a ball you need to let the yogurt hang to drain for more time until it becomes the consistency of cream cheese.
Remove yogurt from the bag and place in a large bowl. Add salt if need it and mix. Make balls the size of a walnut, using a little oil on the palm of your hands to prevent sticking. Place the balls on a clean towel for about 2 more hours to drain more of the moisture.

To make yogurt cheese balls flavored with fresh mint and sun-dried tomato:
chop some sun-dried tomato and some fresh mint leaves, mix together. Roll the yogurt balls into the mixer, then in olive oil. Drop into sterilized Jars, covered with oil and seal.

to make za’tar coated cheese balls:
Roll the yogurt balls into za’tar spice mix, then in olive oil. Arrange the balls into the cleaned jars, add more oil and seal.

To make a humble quick breakfast yogurt cheese sandwich:

This is my favorite breakfast sandwich, just be creative, you may add whatever you want. Love it with some pickle on the side.
1`small cucumber, grated coarsely
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon chopped black or green olives
2-3 tablespoons Labneh (yogurt cheese spread)
olive oil

Mix all, spread on toasted bread slices, and enjoy.
Highly recommended 🙂 : Serve with your choice of pickles on the side.

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Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce: Shakshuka

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authentic food, breakfast, breakfast for dinner ideas, breakfast for lunch ideas, eggs dishes, Eggs in spicy tomato, middle eastern food, Shakshuka, tomato, tunisian food, بيض بالبندوره, شكشوكه

Forget the hassle of what’s for dinner tonight. This middle eastern comfort shakshuka, is very welcomed to be at your dinner table more often than a satisfying breakfast meal.

If you think preparing breakfast dishes for afternoon and evening meals looks oddly indulgent, then you better get out your pajamas and feel comfort to dig in.

Eating breakfast for dinner is a traditional way many middle eastern enjoy all over the levant countries, where the main course meal commonly offered at lunch time, while the dinner is usually the lightest meal.

Lunch is the meal where all the family gather around the table, which is usually consists of a choice portion of meat, chicken or fish, a portion of rice or grain, and a portion of cooked vegetables. In addition to salads and soups that sometimes offered as part of mazzi, and always accompanied with a kind of bread or pastries.

At dinner, a healthy light meals offered, usually egg dishes like shakshuka and eggah, even the basic fried egg (my kids humbled dinner), salads and soups or light appetizers, also dishes like falafel and hummus, shawarma, and light sandwiches are on the top picks.

How often do you like to eat breakfast for dinner? What’s your favorites?

Shakshuka basically is eggs cooked in spicy tomato sauce, a well known middle eastern dish that originally comes from Tunisian, Libyan and Moroccan cuisine. Usually enjoyed at supper time as well as a breakfast meal. There are more versions of shakshuka recipes, this one is the basic, where some other recipes replace the tomato sauce with other vegetables from spinach to cauliflower and fava beans to artichoke, and the potato version is one of my favorites.

Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce: Shakshuka

1/2 cup chopped onion
2 table spoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 large tomato ripened or 6 roma tomato, skin peeled, chopped or sliced
1 medium to high heat green pepper, Anaheim is perfect choice, sliced
1 teaspoon chilli sauce, optional for more heat
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon of each: cumin, cinnamon
3 large eggs

Heat the oil in large deep skillet, sauté the onion for 1 min then add the garlic, lightly fry. Add the tomato and the green pepper, season with salt and pepper, add the cumin and cinnamon, cook for about 15-20 min over low heat, check the seasoning, the sauce should be strong and piquant flavor.

Break the eggs one by one, and slide into the tomato sauce, arrange the yolk around the pan. Continue cook on low heat until the egg whites set about 7 min, you may Partially or completely Cover the skillet to let the eggs cooks very well, and it depends a bone your liking if you want the yolk to be a little watery or hard, and to prevent the sauce from spraying all around the cooking place.

Chickpea Patties “Falafel”(The Daring Cooks’ February Challenge: Flipping Fried Patties!!!)

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arabic salad, chickpea patties, chickpeas, daring cooks, falafel, falafel spices, fried falafel, legumes, middle eastern food, pita bread, pita sandwiches, sandwiches, tahini sauce

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

A Middle Eastern delight: Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas and/or fava beans and they’ve been fast food in the Middle East forever. Falafel is usually served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread. The falafel patties are topped with salads, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, and drizzled with tahini-based sauces. Falafel patties may also be eaten alone as a snack or served as part of a meze. Falafel patties are appealing to children and are a good source of protein.

The origin of falafel is unknown and controversial. A common theory is that the dish originated in Egypt, Where is known as ta’amiya, possibly eaten by Copts as a replacement for meat during Lent. As it generally accepted to have first been made in Egypt, where Alexandria is a port city, it was possible to export the dish and name to other areas in the Middle East. It has also been theorized to a lesser extent that falafel originated during Egypt’s Pharaonic Period or in the Indian subcontinent. The dish later migrated northwards to the Levant, where chickpeas replaced the fava. Falafel has become a dish eaten throughout the Middle East and the fritters are now found around the world as a replacement for meat and as a form of street food. In modern times, falafel has been considered a national dish of Egypt and for the levant countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and specially for Palestine, where also the Israeli’s now claimed it to them selves after occupying the lands of Palestine in the mid 1900’s.

As with the falafel, dried chickpeas are a must for this recipe; the canned version are simply too soft and patties will fall apart.
Don’t use a food processor; it makes the mixture too runny to shape into patties. You can shape the Falafel by hand or use the falafel mold or scoop “Aleb Falafel”, it’s used both commercially and at home to shape the falafel and drop them straight into the hot oil.

1 pound dried chickpeas
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bundle of Parsley, washed and stems trimmed
1 bundle of cilantro, washed and stems trimed
2 slices of stale bread
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground dill seeds
1 tablespoon dried dill weed or chopped fresh dill weed
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes, optional
Salt and pepper, as needed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1\2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
sesame seeds, optional

Make the Falafel:
Rinse and clean the chickpeas, then soak in water for at least overnight or 24 hours. Check if it needs more water, and make sure it’s all covered and the water is 2 inch above the chickpeas.
Drain the chickpeas and place them with the onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and the bread in the bowl, then grind them in the meat grinder. I use the kitchen aid meat grinder, try not to use the food processor because it will make the batter too runny and mushy.
Run the ingredients through the grinder the first time, add the bread after grinding all the other ingredients, as this will help get every bit remaining of chickpeas and parsley from the grinder.
Add the spices and mix it together, then run the mix for second time through the grinder and grind it very fine, I used the smallest size of the grinder disk.
At this step, you can divide the mix into patches and freeze some for a quick and handy prepared falafel mix, just you have to defrost first then continue with the next step.
When you are ready to fry the falafel, add the salt, pepper, baking soda and baking powder. Mix will, and let set for 10 min before frying. If you see the mix too dry add a couple of tablespoon of water and mix.

Heat the oil. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls, or patties shape. you can use the falafel mold to shape it, sprinkle with sesame seed if you wish, and deep-fry or pan-fry in hot oil.
If you want a lighter falafel version, you can bake them, and you will get the healthier and still have the same delicious taste, You will have to arrange the patties in an oiled oven sheet, then spray the patties with oil and bake. But the traditional way is to fry falafel, to me I hardly die for fried ones.

Sandwiches:

to make the sandwiches, it’s a traditional way to serve with pita bread, the pocket pita is the perfect. you can use any size of pita, here I used the mini size “the griddler pita”, it’s the same recipe for pita bread but the only thing is it baked on the griddler.

6 to 8 pita, lightly toasted and warmed (recipe will posted soon in a separate post)
tahini sauce, recipe follow
Arabic simple salad, recipe follow
Hummos (recipe will posted in a separate post)

Make the Sandwiches: Stuff the pita with falafel patties inside, top with salad, and drizzle with the tahini sauce. Serve immediately.

The Arabic simple vegetable salad:

1 cup Shredded lettuce
1\2 cup Tomato, chopped
2 tablespoon red onion, chopped
1\2 cup cucumbers, chopped
1\2 cup parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a large bowl, toss all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper.

Tahini Sauce:

1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Mash the garlic and salt together. Add the tahini, mixing well. The sauce will thicken. Gradually add the water, blending thoroughly. Then add the lemon juice. Blend well.

Note: This can be a thin or thick sauce, depending upon the use and preference. Simply adjust with lemon juice and water. This can be used with vegetables or in combination with other recipes.