Bean Salad سلطة فاصولياء Salatat Faso-ley-a

I had originally planned to write about making Fata but instead one of my most spectacular failures occurred while making one of the simplest dishes.  

Fat - ta فتة Făta  

Fata is a dish that combines dried bread (easy), cooked rice (easy) and stock (easy enough), fried garlic and vinegar.  I made this tonight for dinner and thought it was a great idea because I could make the rice earlier in the day along with the stock which I could put on and could just leave to simmer while I played and entertained the boys. 

I was careful with my quantities and followed the recipe I had written then fed it to the boys for dinner.  Gee what a flop!  Samuel took a taste and then screwed up his face at me while spitting out his mouthful of food.  He followed this by shoving his little fist in his mouth to make sure he had done the job properly and removing every last grain of rice.  Alexander screwed up his face and said “it's not nice mum, can I have something else.”  I had a taste too and was very sympathetic indeed.  (I made Jamie try it when he got home to see if he would give me an honest appraisal.  He said, very politely and carefully, “I think it is missing something…it doesn't have much flavour”.  

I said “Are you kidding?  It’s tasteless”

We ate the chicken, which thankfully tasted nice, with leftovers and the meal was approved by all. 

The next opportunity to talk to dad I mentioned how bad this turned out to see if I had actually missed something.  From what he said I just added too much stock and needed to season it more.  Will try again sometime and write the recipe.  I think the key is the stock.  Good stock makes good Fata.  Yes, I think I should work on the stock first.

In the meantime I thought I would put up a very easy bean salad recipe since I got a request today from someone who would like to be able to make a meal quickly.  So Jacquelyn this one is for you.  If you would also like to make a request for a recipe or like Damien who wanted to know what to do with a pigeon then you can send me a message via Facebook or email me at dynaeldaief@gmail.com.

Bean Salad سلطة فاصولياء Salatat Faso-ley-a

This is a great vegetarian dish with plenty of protein and is a wonderfully simple salad to boot.  Very easy and quick midweek if you take up the option to use a a can of beans from the pantry but would be great served alongside a quiche or grilled fish.

Dried beans can be toxic, particularly red kidney beans which contain natural toxins called Lectins that can cause stomach aches and vomiting. These are destroyed if you soak the dried beans for at least 12 hours and then boil them vigorously for 10 or more minutes in fresh water.  Tinned or canned kidney beans have already gone through this process and so can be used without further treatment. 

Dried beans may take up to 3 hours to cook using the conventional method, but are cooked in about a third to a quarter of the time if cooked in a pressure cooker, making a pressure cooker ideal. 

Using the canned varieties is just as good and means that you can throw this together very quickly and easily.

Use whatever beans you like but if cooking them yourself then the cooking times will depend on the type of beans you use.

Bean Cooking Chart Dried Beans (1 cup) Soaking time Cooking time (approximate) Pressure Cooking time (approximate) Black eye peas Overnight 50-60 minutes (1h) 10-12 minutes  Broad (Fava) Overnight 60-75 minutes (1h+) Not recommended Chick pea Overnight 120-150 minutes(2h+) 15-20 minutes Great Northern Overnight 50-60 minutes (1h) 5-8 minutes Kidney Overnight 75-90 minutes(1 ½ h) 10-15 minutes Lentil (Red) None 25-30 minutes (½ h) 5-7 minutes Lentil (Green) None 35-45minutes (¾h) 6-8 minutes Lima Overnight 75-90 minutes(1 ½ h) Not recommended Mung Overnight 75-90 minutes(1 ½ h) 8-10 minutes Pinto Overnight 75 -90 minutes(1 ½ h) 8-10 minutes Soybean Overnight 180 minutes (3 h) 15-20 minutes

Bean Salad سلطة فاصولياء Salatat Faso-ley-a

Serves: 4

1 cup dried beans (black eye beans, Great northern beans, red kidney beans, or canellini beans)

or

440g can of mixed beans.

2 - 3 tablespoons chopped parsley

½ onion, very finely chopped

1 tomato, finely diced

½ lemon, juiced

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of salt or to taste

Combine olive oil, lemon juice and salt together. 

Place beans in a bowl and add remaining ingredients, mix together and pour the dressing over just before serving.

Bean Salad سلطة فاصولياء Salatat Faso-ley-a

Basbousa with Yoghurt بسبوسة بالزبادى Basbousa bil Laban Zabadi, Semolina Cake

My husband recently had a family reunion.  His aunt kindly organised a weekend at her farm so all the extended family could attend. We decided that we would go for a night and Alexander could camp outside with daddy and I would stay indoors with Mr Goo (Alexander’s affectionate name for his little brother).

What to make, what to take?  Aunty Judy thought we could bring along some biscuits.  Jamie thought that meant Tim tams and I of course thought that meant anything to have with tea and coffee.  I decided to make Basboussa with yoghurt.  Another opportunity to make something I could photograph but not have to eat it all. 

This recipe is one that my sister-in-laws' mother shared with me.  My mum never made it with yoghurt but after my brother married an Egyptian I was introduced to variations to the recipes that I grew up with.  This is one of them.

2 cups semolina, (1 cup coarse and 1 cup fine semolina if you can get it)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup plain yoghurt

125g unsalted butter, melted

Syrup :

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

juice of half a lemon

a few drops of vanilla essence.

To make syrup:  Combine sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes until syrup thickens.  Add vanilla and leave to cool.

For the Basboussa, combine semolina, sugar, baking powder, and yoghurt in a large bowl.

Add melted butter and mix. Transfer mixture into a greased tray, 30cm x 25cm, and press firmly.  Cut into squares. 

Bake at 180°C (350°F/Gas mark 4) for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove Basboussa from oven and pour cooled syrup over hot Basboussa.

This turns out to be a big hit but after all the packing required to go anywhere, let alone away for the night, there was no time for photos before we left so I will have to make it again after all to get a photo...

Well, it has been quite a while since the family reunion but I have finally got a photo to attach to the blog.