Mderbel Badendjel – Algerian Aubergine Tagine with Lamb or Mutton. Lamb and chickpeas stewed with garlic, cumin, cinnamon and caraway, before fried or baked Aubergine slices are adorned on top and allowed to soak up the delicious sauce. It’s full-flavoured and meaty, even if you choose to make it without the meat! simply increase the … Read more
Lham Lahlou ~ Algerian sweet lamb tagine is a traditional North African lamb and fruit stew. Usually reserved for the nights of Ramadan as or part of the Iftar meal to break one’s fast. It can and of course is eaten anytime you get the sweet meat urge. For us that is a cold winter evening. Free from salt to prevent excessive … Read more
Jelbana wa Djaj Tagine ~ A rich and flavourful Algerian green peas (jelabana) and chicken (djaj) tagine recipe. Tagines are a must at every north African’s table, especially during the colder months. Whilst i call this a tagine the sauce is really more soup in consistency but it’s packed full of vegetables and chicken so it’s still … Read more
Recipes Chorba Aadess – Green Lentils Soup Chorba Aadess a hearty green lentils soup. Packed full of veggies and optional Recipes Aadess – Algerian Green Lentil Vegetable Soup I’ve shared an Aadess recipe before, made with meat. Today’s healthy vegan soup recipe Recipes Algerian Berkoukes Soup Algerian berkoukes soup; a rich north african spiced, tomato based soup with … Read more
Chorba Aadess a hearty green lentils soup. Packed full of veggies and optional meat (or chicken). This one pot meal is on every Algerian table on rotation during the colder months and now will hopefully be on yours too. Flavoured with tomato paste and Ras el Hanout ‘head of the shop‘ North African spice mix. Garnished … Read more
As the month of Ramadan approaches and the weather gets warmer what do we make? we make soup, Moroccan Orzo Soup. Warm weather doesn’t exactly make you think of eating soup but you see my family and I eat soup during most Ramadan nights after breaking our fasts, the weather is cooler and soup is a great way to … Read more
As the host for this months MENA cooking club challenge I had to pick 1 savoury and 1 sweet dish for us all to try from my husband’s beloved homeland Algeria. It being Ramadan (the islamic month of fasting) I chose this popular hearty and comforting dolma; a stuffed vegetable stew and for the sweet I chose Ka’ak (Arabic for Cake); a … Read more
Today I’m going back to basics with this simple recipe for how to cook white basmati rice perfectly. I prefer the covered pan / absorption method when cooking rice. I also like my rice just cooked, not al dente but not soft soft either. My favourite brand is Tilda pure basmati rice, but I’ve found whichever brand … Read more
Harira; the traditional soup of Maghreb, North Africa. This week I bring you not one but two soups, what can I say? I’m a soup lover, anytime of year and whilst spring has sprung here in England the winds are still blowing a cold chill which makes me still long for warm comforting meals like this Harira soup. Really though … Read more
Sfinz / Sfenj – North African doughnuts. MENA Cooking Club challenged us this month with 3 dishes from Libya; a soup, a stew/tagine and North African doughnuts / fried bread. I’ve cooked a lot of soups and stews from neighbouring Algeria but that didn’t stop me trying the Libyan lamb, carrot and green olive tagine. I made my recurring tagine mistake of halving … Read more