The part I love the most about exploring any cuisine is trying recipes that I would have never tried or would have never associated with that particular cuisine had it not been for this whole blogging adventure.

Today’s recipe is a great example of that.

Some call it Saudi Pizza, others called aysh abu laham (which literally means meat bread,you see, aysh is bread in the Saudi dialect and laham means meat). A recipe popular in the Hijaz area of Saudi Arabia, particularly in Mecca. This recipe was our Arabic flavor assignment for the month of June.

When Salma (this month’s  host ) revealed the recipe, I honestly had my doubts. Pizza and the traditional Saudi cuisine seemed like an odd mix (I expected a rice based main meal or a date based dessert or a cardamom scented drink) But it turns out that there is so much more to the Saudi cuisine than that just like there is so much more than pizza and pasta in the Italian cuisine

 

Going through the recipe I found the combination of meat, tahini and chives intriguing to say the least. Sfeeha uses the meat and tahini combo but the amount of tahini is minimal. Here there was so much more tahini and a lot of chives but I  can’t really call myself a food explorer if I did not give it a go.

The recipe provided by the host yeilds two galettes so I made one as written then tweaked the filling recipe a bit the next day and made the second.

I’m sure you’re wondering what’s the verdict after trying the Saudi Aysh..

The bread base recipe was amazing, I know that I will be using it again and again to make galettes. As for the filling, I felt that the filling as written was a little bland and the tahini was kind of over whelming.  The second time around I reduced the amount of tahini and I added pomegranate molasses to the filling to add a sweet and sour kick. It worked perfectly. The recipe below is my tweaked one with changes highlighted in red.

Saudi Eish Al lahem

This amount is enough for 2 round pans (30 cm in diameter each)

For the dough

5 and ½ cups of patent all purpose flour (see notes)

2 tablespoons instant yeast

4 tablespoons milk powder

½ teaspoon ground mahlab

½ teaspoon ground fennel seeds

½ teaspoon nigella seeds

2 eggs

¾ cups vegetable oil

1 and ¼ cups of water (you may need an additional ¼ cup)

For the filling 

500 grams ground meat (you can use beef,lamb or goat)

3 large onions finely chopped

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

3 tablespoons olive oil

Tahini sauce

1 cup tahini sauce (see notes)

1 tablespoon black vinegar (or 3 tablespoons white vinegar or 3 tablespoons lemon juice)

2 cups chives chopped

½ cup water

2 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

For the topping

2 eggs (1 per pan)

2 teaspoons vinegar

un-toasted sesame seeds

One tomato cut into thin slices

Prepare the filling

1. Place the olive oil and the onions in a pan, stir over medium heat for 3-4 minutes
2. Add the ground meat, salt, all spice,cumin and coriander
3. Break down the meat and cook over medium heat till the meat juices disappear.
4. Turn off the heat and allow the filling to cool down completely
5. Mix the tahini, vinegar or lemon juice and whisk till the tahini thickens and the color becomes lighter
6. Add ½ cup of water to the tahini and whisk
7. Add the tahini sauce, chopped chives and pomegranate molasses (if using) to the meat and stir till the mix is homogenous

To make the dough

1. Sift the flour and mix it with the powdered milk, instant yeast ,the seeds , and spices
2. Add the oil and rub it into the flour mix with your finger tips till the flour completely absorbs the oil and the consistency resembles wet sand (You can also do this in a stand mixer using a paddle attachment)
3. Whisk the 2 eggs with 1 cup of warm water and add them to the flour mixture. Start kneading (If using a stand mixer now is the time to switch to a hook attachment)
4. Add water gradually till you get a smooth dough. (the total amount of water needed is between 1 and ¼ cups to 1 and ½ cups)
5. Divide the dough in half, cover it and allow it to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes
6. Traditionally ghee is used to grease the pan, this gives a wonderful crunch to the underside of the bread. You can use parchment paper or simply spray the pan with oil
7. Roll out each half of the dough into a circle at least 4 to 5 cm larger than the diameter of your pan. Transfer the dough to the pan leaving the excess to hang over the edges.
   
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9. Divide the filling in half between the two pans and spread it to cover the base of the dough
   
   
10. Fold the edges over to cover the periphery of the filling
    
    
11. Arrange the tomato slices in any pattern that you like on top of the filling
12. Whisk one egg with one tablespoon vinegar per pan and brush it over the edges that you folded over
13. Sprinkle with sesame seeds
14. Using a tablespoon, drizzle some of the whisked egg over the meat filling
15. Allow to rest for 15 minutes

Baking

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C, place the rack in the middle

2. Bake the Eish for 30 minutes or until the edges touch the pan become golden brown (it took 45 minutes in my oven but ovens vary)

3. If the top is not golden brown, turn on the broiler for 3-5 minutes till it becomes golden brown

Notes:

• The recipe uses a special type of flour available called Patent all purpose flour
  Patent flour is the purest and highest-quality commercial wheat flour available. Patent flour is made from the center portion of the endosperm.
  You can read more about it here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39784/patent-flour-versus-bread-flour
  If you can’t find it my guess is that bread flour will give you a very similar result
• You can replace part of the tahini sauce with greek yogurt for a lighter sauce (replace 1-3 tablespoons)
• The pomegranate molasses was suggested by one of the members and to be honest I have tried the recipe with and without it and it tastes better with it. (If you like that hint of sweet and sour in pomegranate molasses). It is not that pronounced in the final product but it does add an edge to the filling

عيش باللحم

طبق مكاوي ومشهور لاهل الحجاز سهل وشهي و بيطلقواعليه البيتزا السعودي ..

عبارة عن طبقة عجينة وعليها لحمة معصجة بالطحينة والكرات,,,

المكونات تكفي لعمل صنيتين مقاس 30 وممكن عمل نصف المقدار

الوصفة سهلة ولكني ساشرح بالتفصيل لكي تنجح معكم فلا يغركم طول الشرح

واتمنى ان تنال اعجابكم

1/2 5 كوب دقيق فاخر

2ملعقة طعام خميرة

4 ملعقة طعام حليب بودرة

1/2 ملعقة صغيرة لكل من ( حبة البركة -شمر مجروش – محلب مطحون )

(في توابل خاصة بنكهة العيش ولكن قد لاتتوفر عندالجميع ولذلك يمكن الاستغناء عنها وهي

(1/2 ملعقة صغيرة خميرة الحج – 1/4 ملعقة صغيرة زرنبة مطحونة )

بيضتين

1 معلقة صغيرة ملح

3/4 كوب زيت طبخ عادي

من 1/4 1 كوب الى 1/2 1 كوب ماء دافئ للعجن

اللحمة :

نصف كيلو لحم مفروم

3 بصلات كبار

ملح- فلفل – كمون – كزبرة

3 ملاعق زيت زيتون

الطحينة :

5 ملاعق (غرف ) طحينة (1 كوب)

3 ملعقة طعام خل اسود واذا لم يتوفر نضع خل عادي او عصير ليمون

2 كوب ثوم معمر مفروم

للوجه :

بيضتين (بيضة لكل صينية)

ملعقتين خل

سمسم

بندورة مقطعه شرائح

الطريقة :

ننخل الدقيق ونضع عليه التوابل والخميرة ونخلطهم

ثم نضع الزيت ونبسهم باطراف الاصابع ليصبح مثل الرمل

نخلط البيضتين مع كوب ماء ونضيفهم للدقيق ونعجن ونضيف باقي الماء بالتديج وبحسب حاجة العجينة

بالنسبة لي اضفت كوب وربع ماء فلانضع الماء كله مرة واحدة >>مهمة لاي عجين

تتكون عندنا عجينة مثل البيتزا نقسمها نصفين ونغطيها ونتركها تخمر من نصف ساعة الى 3/4 ساعة

ندهن صينية بالسمن( ليعطيها قرمشة من اسفل ) ونفردالعجينة ونجعل لها جوانب ونتركها تخمر 15 دقيقة ..

نعصج اللحم المفروم ونتبله وندعه يبرد

(والافضل لكي يكون طري نخلط اللحم مع البصل ونضعهم على النار مع التقليب حتى ينضج ويشرب ماءه )

نترك اللحم يبرد ونضع عليه الكرات المفروم

ونخلط الطحينة مع الخل ونصف كوب ماء

نضع الطحينة على اللحم ونقلب الجميع ونظبط الملح والتوابل

نضع اللحم على العجينة ونغلق الحروف

نخلط بيضة وندهن حروف العجينة ونرشها سمسم ونوزع باقي البيضة على اللحم

ندخلها فرن ساخن على 180 لمدة نصف ساعة او حتى تحمر من اسفل والجوانب نحمرها من فوق شوية

وتقدم بالهنا والعافية

ملحوظات :

بالامكان استبدال جزء من الطحينه باللبن للحصول على نتيجه اخف

بالامكان اضافه 2 ملعقه كبيرة من دبس الرمان لاعطاء الحشوه مزيدا من النكهه (الطريقه الاصليه لا تحتوي دبس الرمان..هي اضافه شخصيه مني)

العجينة ليست مثل عجينة البيتزا ولايوضع بها سكر يجب ان تكون كرسبي بسيط من اسفل وطرية من اعلى

لو زاد ماء الطحينة يجعل العيش تحت اللحمة (عجينة) فيجب ان ننتبه لمقدار ماء الطحينة

هنا يباع ابزار جاهز للعيش والبعض يستعمل بهارات المعمول ولكن مايكون بها سكر.