Simple Egyptian Recipe

My Caribbean blood is fighting the cold weather and asking me for sun and beach! Winter is here and of course my polar bear of a husband is as happy as ever! Seriously we are the perfect match Habibi absorbs heat like crazy, he is always warm while I am always cold. I love to use my oven in winter it serves as a heater for me. So today I have a very simple but delicious recipe. Is nothing fancy and honestly it can be done in less than an hour.

Hawawshi  is literally a meat sandwich. You get some ground beef and some bread a few spices and voila! You have yourself a meal. I like it because is simple and easy. It's full of flavor and there is no mess after to clean up. I am sorry to say I do not have a picture... I kind of eat it before taking the picture. I am sorry! I was so hungry I eat two sandwiches instead of one. Don't judge me please! I make four sandwiches and well both of us ending up eating two, guess it was good. This is the way I make it. You can of course as any recipe adapt it to your tasting. Bare in mind that is suppose to be a little spicy but I do not use anything spicy because I can't eat it but if you like it you can add some chili powder or some hot chili peppers.

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground beef
salt and pepper ( usually I use about 4 teaspoons of salt and 1 of pepper but is up to you)
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 onion finely chopped you can use two if you like onion
2 small green peppers diced
water
4 Egyptian or Libyan bread ( you can use Pita bread)

Directions:

In a bowl season the meat with salt, pepper and Cumin. Mix in the onion and pepper with the meat. Open the bread from the top so you can stuff the meat inside.Leave the meat with the spices to set for about 15 minutes. There is no need to open up the whole bread just make a cut in the top and start pulling it apart so you have space to fill it. After opening the bread, fill the bread with the meat. Do not over stuff is suppose to be a thin layer of meat.  Is not a burger! After you fill it up with a layer of meat brush the bread on the outside with water, then wrap it up in foil. Heat your oven before putting the sandwiches to 350F. Place the sandwiches in the oven until meat is cooked. Should not be more than 20 minutes. After just unwrap and enjoy!

Directions:

In a bowl season the meat with salt, pepper and Cumin. Mix in the onion and pepper with the meat. Open the bread from the top so you can stuff the meat inside.Leave the meat with the spices to set for about 15 minutes. There is no need to open up the whole bread just make a cut in the top and start pulling it apart so you have space to fill it. After opening the bread, fill the bread with the meat. Do not over stuff is suppose to be a thin layer of meat.  Is not a burger! After you fill it up with a layer of meat brush the bread on the outside with water, then wrap it up in foil. Heat your oven before putting the sandwiches to 350F. Place the sandwiches in the oven until meat is cooked. Should not be more than 20 minutes. After just unwrap and enjoy!

You can make some french fries if you want or a salad. There you have it an easy Egyptian meal. If they ask what it is just say Hawawshi!

I leave you with a picture of my two kids. My cats are like my kids and they sure as hell behave like it! The boy is the gray one and his name is Tuktuk. The girl is the white one and her name is Halawa. I wanted Arabic names and honestly this two words are funny and one of the first I learned in the language so it seem appropriate. This is a TukTuk. (Picture below) and Halawa is a sesame seed sweet spread.

Here is a picture of both of them in their new favorite passtime. Looking out the balcony. Seriously TukTuk seats on that chair the whole day!

 They love to cuddle together. This is one of the many pictures of them sleeping together. You will see Tuktuk in this position a lot, he loves it.

 Thank you for reading and following me until next post!

Eid Al-Adha- Feast of the Sacrifice

As promised last time I will explain a little about the holiday that we had in Egypt from October 14-17. In English is known as The Feast of the Sacrifice. This is a very important holiday for Muslims, it originated when Abraham follow God's command to sacrifice his first born Ismail. Since both Abraham and Ismail were willing to go with the sacrifice and follow God's command, before Abraham could sacrifice his son God stop him and provide it a lamb to be sacrificed instead. Muslims honored this by sacrificing animals and feeding their families as well as the poor during this holiday.

The day before the holiday starts Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, the first day of the Eid Al-Adha they go to Mosque to pray the first prayer. After this everyone goes visit family and of course prepare to eat the animal they bought. Also very important here is that in this time Muslims that can afford to do so go to Pilgrimage (Hajj). The person goes to Mecca and does a series of things like rounding the Ka'baa seven times, drinks from the well of Zamzam and a few other rituals to get closer to God. As my understanding is like going on a quest and forgetting about everything while you try to get close to God.

I have given you a little bit of the holiday as I understand it, if something is missing or wrong please I apologize. Saying that I must explain how things really are in Egypt when this holiday is here! First off weeks and day before this day you can see places were you can buy sheep's and goats. Funny thing is you see the animals in the cars with the people! Some even leave them outside their house and stuff is really funny.

They eat meat all this days! Seriously you wake up and all you smell is meat! Is like a carnivore festival! LOL I know this is weird since I'm a girl and all but I absolutely love meat! My Habibi bought a huge cow shoulder that we eat for like three days. For some it may sound barbaric but is absolutely not is a safe thing and no animals are harmed in any way. Is just like the old times you know, you hunt and kill what you eat. Also you see they sell this little sheep toys that are just so adorable! Even they make e-cards with them saying Happy Feast.

Anyways that is basically what we do during this holiday. Is a very religious and family oriented time. Is a time to get close to God and to give to those who are less fortunate.

Thank you for reading and following me!