Fruit Dartoi with home made Marzipan

Pear Dartoi with home made marzipan

I don't have a real recipe for Dartoi, it consist of puff pastry , marzipan and fresh fruits.

Ingredients I use for the recipe

1 pound either home made puff pastry or store bought

5-8 oz of marzipan ( I prepare my own)

4 large rip peaches or 4 sweet pears or 2 of each(it will be perfect with sweet apricots)

Demamara sugar for sprinkling

egg wash

Preparation:

take the puff pastry from the freezer and leave it in the fridge for couple of hours, the pastry should be cold , if it starts getting warm return it to the freezer for couple of minutes, the butter cannot melt when you are working with it. you will have hard time shaping it.

Cut each sheet of puff pastry into four equal pieces or you can cut them in half to make two rectangular, the design is up to you. divide the marzipan into four equal pieces, put one piece in the center of each dough (if you are making two large rectangular cut them in half)

make sure the marzipan sits in the centre of the dough and at least 1/2 inch away from the border, peel the fruit and cut in half, you can slice the fruit into section or keep it whole. Lay the fruit on top of the marzipan , brush the sides with egg wash. take the second piece of dough, fold it in half, and using the back of a knife make lines from the folded centre leaving a thick border

(this will enable the dough to breath and gives a nice design)

see the picture. cover the first dough with the second piece. Again using the back of the knife press the edges together to seal, and at the same time makes a border, brush with egg wash.

sprinkle with the sugar and bake in a warm oven (425F) until golden brown. Serve warm

Fruit Dartoi are getting egg wash

Peach & Pear Dartoi

Note: if you are trying another kind of fruit please let me know...

I love apricots but not lucky to have ripe sweet apricots in North Bay....

Eggplant goes all the way to the sweet aisle

Do you know that we turn the eggplants to Candy ??????????
I bet you did not know!!!!!

In Lebanon we do make nice dessert out of small light purple eggplants.

I was not lucky to find the right eggplant at the stores here in North Bay What I found a small dark baby eggplants they call them Indian eggplants , I used in my recipe , they have a sharp taste, but turned very nice and cute when they cooked in syrup.

Ingredients:

1 kilo of small purple eggplants
½ cup of lime powder (can be purchased from building supply stores)
8 cups of sugar
4 ½ cups of water
Juice of 1 lemon
20 whole cloves
Blanched almonds

Preparation:

Dilute the lime powder in a big pot of water, stirring till dissolved, then leave it to for 30-40 minutes to rest and the lime sink to the bottom of the pot.
Very carefully carry the pot and empty the water in another large bowl and without shaking the pot to stir the bottom. If you have half a cup of water or more left in the bottom with the lime just get rid of them, but don’t throw them in your sink, with paper towel collect the lime water, and put it in a bag full of papers or old magazines and throw in your cabbage, the lime powder if it dries will block your sink and then you will end up with a big headache and need to change the sink and pipes.

Peel your eggplants and soak them in the diluted lime water overnight.
The second day wash the eggplants several times in clean water , till it runs clear, and then dry them on a towel. Using a sharp knife open a small slit on one side and stuff with a blanched almond. Continue with the rest.
In a heavy stainless steel pot, dissolve the sugar and the water and cloves. When the syrup boils for 7 minutes add the eggplants and cook for 30 -35 minutes stirring regularly so they don’t stick, add the lemon juice and keep stirring, till the eggplants soak almost all the syrup and they become translucent and crunchy.

Note: some recipes ask for 8 cups of sugar and 8 cups of water and one kilo of glucose. After you boil the sugar and water for 7 minutes and you add the fruit and you cook for 30-35 minutes you add the lemon juice, stir and add the glucose and continue cooking for another 30-35 minutes till the fruit soaks the syrup and become translucent.

MSA-KA-AAH - Eggplant with onions and Tomatoes, Imam Bayildi

Msakaah - Imam Bayildi

a simple tasty meal, can be prepared in less than 30 minutes .


INGREDIENTS:
1 kg (32 oz) eggplants,(if they are big half peeled and thickly cut lengthwise if they are long a thin, peeled leaving some skin on for color -soak eggplant in salt water)
1 kg (32 oz) tomatoes, peeled and sliced
1 cup of dried chickpeas, cooked or canned , washed and drained
2 big onions quartered and sliced into rings
10 cloves garlic,
1 fresh red or green chili (optional) or
dash or chili powder
vegetable oil for frying (optional to fry eggplants) or
2 tablespoons of olive oil as a healthy option


PREPARATION:
Sprinkle salt over eggplant slices. soak in water , then squeeze well and dry on a paper towel. Fry eggplants in vegetable oil till golden brown and drain on paper towels.Fry onion rings until soft.
for healthy option brush your eggplants with on tablespoon of olive oil and bake in a hot oven at 425 F till golden brown, they take around 15-20 minutes.

in a thick pot, add the other tbsp of o.oil and the onions and cook on low to caramelize, and when the color starts to change add the whole garlic and just stir together.

Add tomatoes, chickpeas, chili, salt . Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, add fried eggplants. Cover pot, cook on moderate heat for 15-20 minutes.
This can be served at room temperature as a side dish, or a vegan main course .
in Lebanon we serve it with fresh pita bread, and fresh sliced onions

KABAB BATINJAN - GRILLED KABAB WITH EGGPLANT

Tfadalou - Come join us................

Indoor BBQ Kabab Batinjan

Couple of days ago we were craving a BBQ meal; the weather was stormy with 80 km strong winds and heavy snow. It was not convenient at all to do outdoor BBQ.

I prepared my ground pounded beef (usually we use ground lamb) added salt, black pepper, and a dash of Allepo red pepper chili which is powerful (usually the meat turns red from the Allepo pepper they add) I added a tsp of paprika instead and let the meat marinate with the spice for an hour to get a good flavour.

Prepare your grill, cut your vegetables, you can quarter the onions, cube some green peppers, quarter some fresh tomatoes, in advance you slice your Italian eggplant and soak it in salted water, then drain and squeeze any juice, and this will discard any bitter taste.
Take a small piece of the meat turn it into a ball and skewer between a piece of eggplant and onion and continue, with the rest.
If you are stuck with a bad weather like me and you need to BBQ indoors make sure the fan is on and a slight opening of a window is needed to circulate the air.
When the skewers are well cooked I empty them in a Pyrex casserole and put them in a warm oven to keep them hot, after I finish the meat and veggies I add my tomatoes as they don’t take more than couple of minutes, then I add the tomatoes on top and leave them in the oven for 10-15 minutes so everything is tender and cooked all the way through, serve on pita with tahini sauce or garlic sauce.

MTABAL BATINJAN - BABA GHANOUJ

Lebanese Eggplant Dip - Mtabal Batinjan (Baba Ghanouj)