00:00For the month of Ramadan, there are particular traditional dishes that people do, and in
00:11my case, there are dishes that remind me of my mom, and one of them is a lentil soup,
00:17which a lot of people break their fast with.
00:21The main course is a chicken fete, which is a traditional Syrian dish, and then we have
00:28the kamaradeen drink, which is a dried apricot smoothie with rose water, again, traditional
00:35ingredients in the Middle East, and particularly during Ramadan.
00:41We're going to start off with the kamaradeen drink. Soak the apricots in boiling water.
00:46Let them soak for about 10-15 minutes, then use a hand blender and puree the apricots
00:53to a smooth consistency. Add some rose water, as much as you'd like. Continue pureeing until
01:00you have a smoothie. Depending on how people like it lighter or thicker, they can add more
01:08water.
01:08The drink is sweet enough on its own, so it doesn't need any sugar, and it's perfect if
01:14you refrigerate it for half an hour, say, before serving it, and it lasts for a couple
01:19of days in the fridge, so it's a perfect drink to break the fast with.
01:22We are going to do a traditional lentil soup, so for that you will need one and a half cups
01:27of lentils, one large or two medium-sized chopped onions, two chopped carrots, or one
01:35large one. We will need vegetable stock, about six cups. Someone can add more or less, depending
01:43on how liquidy they like their soup. Then the seasoning is white pepper, salt, and cumin.
01:50I love cumin, so I put quite a bit in it, but you can put as much as you'd like. Heat
01:55a little bit of olive oil in a sauce pot, and sauté the onions for a couple of minutes.
02:01Once they're slightly browned, you can add the carrots and sauté them together. This
02:07enables the juices to flow of the vegetables, which adds a lot of flavor to the soup. We
02:13then want to add the lentils and sauté them all together. Add the cumin to toast the spice
02:19a little bit, a little pinch of salt, a little pinch of white pepper, and once you've sautéed
02:26all the ingredients for a few minutes, you can add the vegetable stock. Let everything
02:32come to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, bring it down to a simmer and cover the pot, letting
02:40it cook for 30 to 40 minutes, just until the lentils are done. You do not want the lentils
02:46to be overcooked, because once they're overcooked, they will not have as much flavor. Once the
02:53lentils are ready, take a hand blender and puree the soup to a smooth consistency. You
02:59can season with salt and pepper, and add a little bit more cumin if you'd like, and garnish
03:05with fresh chopped parsley leaves, and you're ready to serve your soup. We're going to do
03:13a chicken fete next, which requires two whole chickens cut into pieces. Keep the bones and
03:20the skins on the pieces, because it adds a lot of flavor to the stock. We will need two
03:26cinnamon sticks, a tablespoon or two of cardamom seeds, and a few bay leaves, salt and pepper
03:33for seasoning, Arabic toasted bread, chopped parsley, one fourth of a cup, half a cup of
03:41toasted pine nuts, and toasted almonds actually, so mix them together. Then we will need two
03:47tablespoons of tahini, which is sesame paste, some reduced stock, the stock that you will
03:54be using, cooking the chickens with, a little bit of water, a kilo and a half of low fat
04:00yogurt, and two cloves of finely minced or crushed garlic. Those are the ingredients
04:07you'll need. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, adding the chicken pieces with bones
04:13and skin, cardamom, bay leaves, salt and pepper, and cinnamon. These ingredients will actually
04:22cut the chicken grease, or the zanjha as we call it in Arabic. It will also flavor the
04:29stock and therefore flavor the chicken pieces. Bring everything to a boil, cover the lid
04:36and let it simmer for about an hour. You'll notice when the chicken pieces are done because
04:40once you poke them they will be nice and soft. Remove the chicken pieces, let them cool a
04:45little bit, and then start removing the meat from the chicken, discarding bones and skin.
04:52For the yogurt, you will whisk together the low fat yogurt with some water to lighten
04:58the mixture. Add pepper for seasoning, raw garlic, the sesame paste, and whisk until
05:06you get a nice and smooth consistency. We will then take a baking dish and layer the
05:12yogurt on the bottom of the dish. Add the chicken pieces, add some of the reduced chicken
05:19stock, as much or as little as you'd like, then add some more yogurt, some of the chicken
05:26stock, then top off with the toasted bread, toasted pine nuts, almonds, and the chopped
05:33parsley. You can add some salt or pepper on the top and you are ready to serve.
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