The 4 Year Update...

Has it really been 4 years since I last posted here? A rather enticing biryani recipe to boot, if I don't say so myself. For any long term readers and lurkers who've followed me on social media, you may have been keeping up with more up to date recipes on my official website www.theredlychee.com Click the link though and you'll see the site is down, some problem with the hosting or domain. I was going to resurrect the site when I was suddenly bit by the blogging bug again (it's been over a year since my last post), but quite honestly, time is always a tight squeeze these days and being stuck in a constant state of baby brain doesn't really allow mw to engage such technical intricacies. So, I thought, I know, why don't I return to my old familiar blogger site? I was surprised it still existed to be quite honest, but in a few minutes, I've managed to log in and open a new draft, and my fingers have been dancing over the keyboard, just like the old days...

North African Style Chicken Stew

I've been on a bit of a Middle Eastern/North African mood with my cooking recently. After my mujadarra recipe, I have got a North African style chicken stew for you guys today. The ingredients used are inspired by the Berber tagines dishes that you might find in Morocco, however I don't own a tagine so I'm not sure how authentically Moroccan this recipe really is. 

I decided to add in some vegetables I had in my fridge like broccoli, and instead of the traditional couscous, I decided to make the dish a bit lighter and serve the stew over quinoa instead. However, you could just as easily serve it with some bread or rice if you prefer.

I used chicken thighs from Aafiyah's frozen range for this recipe. I braised the chicken thighs separately first before adding it to the pot with all of the vegetables. You can pretty much adapt it with whatever vegetables you have on hand at home, so it's a great simple dish that you can quickly whip up for dinner or iftar. 

North African Style Breakfast Hash

All good things come to an end at some point, try as we might to hold on to them. I have thoroughly enjoyed my break from work (it was 17 whole days, guys), but sadly I must return to the grind from tomorrow. I know that some people in the working world grumble about the seemingly long holidays teachers get, but a quick glance at any teacher at the end of an academic term would explain it all (frazzled, sleep deprived and up to the ears in deadlines). I now feel refreshed and ready to tackle any challenges in the new term. We shall just have to wait and see how long that lasts for...

But before the Monday blues kick in, why not make the most of your Sunday by enjoying this North African influenced dish for brunch? This dish is inspired by Shakshouka, a spicy tomato and eggs dish that is popular in Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco. I'd call it an interpretation because it does not have quite as much liquid as more traditional versions, and also uses sweet potato. I guess you could say it's somewhere between Shakshuka and a breakfast hash, so the best of both worlds.

Spiced with cumin and smoked paprika, it's packed with flavour. The sweet potato provides, as the name states, a sweet contrast to the heat and a lift of freshness comes from spoonfuls of yoghurt and corriander. I also added some Merguez sausages, having been inspired to try them out by an instagram post from Umm Hamza of Halal Home Cooking. They're not always the easiest thing to find, but I was out one day and spotted a North African butchers who made and sold their own. I bought chicken as they were sold out of the lamb. I was actually surprised by how spicy there were, not overpoweringly so, but there was a definite kick from the addition of harissa and garlic. If you can't get your hands on Merguez, any other sausage is fine, or you can just omit it for a vegetarian (vegan without the yoghurt) friendly version. 

If you serve this with some nice, crusty bread, it should be enough to serve 2-3 people. If you're watching the carbs and omitting the bread, it will serve 1-2. 

Meloui

Good morning, readers! This post comes to you from one bright eyed and bushy tailed blogger on a Monday morning, no less. I all but skipped home on Thursday afternoon, delighting in the prospect of the upcoming Easter break. So far, I haven't really been doing too much aside from catching up with some reading, but man, it felt good to luxuriate in a little bit of leisure time.

After my last Lebanese inspired post, I come to you today with a Moroccan flatbread recipe. Meloui, is a derivative of rghaif, but unlike msemen is round rather than square. It is a layered flat bread made from semolina and generous amounts of butter. The end result is a buttery and soft bread that is pretty similar to the Indian lacha paratha, but made with semonlina instead of wheat.

I'd never tried meloui before I made them, so as you can imagine there was lots of googling and youtubing beforehand. It didn't seem too difficult, but as I realised shortly thereafter, not having a mixer with a dough hook made a bit of a difference. I am not really one for kneading (my upper body strength really isn't anything to brag about), so I was on the floor with my bowl trying to knead with as much vigour as I could muster. I probably should have kneaded on a flourerd surface to make it easier for myself, but the thought only occured to me after.

 The recipe I followed used yeast but I am unsure how authentic of an ingredient yeast is.  I did find the mix slightly more resilient than the usual dough used to make roti, which I again wondered if it was down to the yeast. Perhaps I could have added more water, but I didn't want to make it too runny. It's all good and well to watch videos and read recipes but finding the right consistency is something that will probably come with more experience of making meloui.

However, despite all these setbacks, I was pretty pleased with the final result as they tasted pretty good. There is something also quite timeless about making your own bread. When you're in that arduous process of kneading with your own hands, you do kind of get a sense of the generations of cultures and women before you who had been in the exact same position. So even though it took a little work, I will definitely be making these again!