I have gone through many a recipe for this, but believe I am settling on my version. Pretty easy and DELISH! The ingredients are for 3-4 servings.
You will need:
1) Half a packet of angel hair pasta [am not a big fan of pasta, so this is just perfect for people like me] half cooked, so al dente.
2) 1 cup of ground beef
3) 2 medium potatoes –cut into thick round slices
4) 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
5) 1/4 tsp of cumin powder
6) Salt to taste
7) 1/2 medium onion finely sliced
8 ) 1 tblsp of tomato paste
9) 1/2 cup of shredded Mozarella cheese
10) Half a ball of fresh Mozarella cheese, sliced into thin rounds
11) 1 tbslp of Olive Oil
12) 2 cloves of minced garlic
For the Bachamel sauce:
1) 3 tblsp of flour
2) 2 cups of milk
3) 1 tblsp of butter [and 1 tsp of ghee optional]
4) Salt to taste
5) Pepper
6) little nutmeg–just a pinch
You will be making 3 separate parts, that you will finally assemble. First make the Bachamel sauce. So in a saucepan melt the butter under medium heat and then add the flour and whisk until it turns into a thick creamy mixture. Then slowly add the milk and continue whisking, and let cook whisking continuously until it turns into a thick mixture–thick that it coats a spoon if dipped inside. Add the pepper and nutmeg and mix in. Take off the heat and leave aside.
Now time for the ground beef and potatoes. In a frying pan, add the olive oil and meat and cook under medium heat, until the water evaporated. Then add the potatoes, and brown the meat with the potatoes. Add the onions, garlic, pepper, cumin and salt. Let cook for about 2 minutes. Then add the tomato paste, and cook for another 2 minutes. Pick out the potatoes and leave aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Time to start assembling. In a small oven dish–like the one in the pic–layer like so:
1) a thin layer of the Bachamel
2) half of the amount of pasta
3) all of the meat
4) layer the potatoes
5) shredded Mozarella cheese
6) rest of the pasta
7) all of the rest of the bachamel sauce
8 ) fresh Mozarella
Cover with foil [don’t let the foil touch the Mozarella], and place in oven. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and let cook and brown on top. If you like you can sprinkle some plain bread crumbs for an extra golden layer on top, and place in oven for a few more minutes. Serve hot. Here’s what it looks like served up [click image to enlarge].
Note: Here’s Umm Ali’s version of the same dish, as I said everyone makes it their own way.
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So thinking of adding potatoes, but don’t think hubby will like it lol. He likes it the Egyptians traditional way :) Most there make it the same way. Some add a little tomato sauce and some use cream instead of milk for the bachamel, but the basics is still the same lol.
I love it with potatoes–not too much–it’s very little. Don’t know if he’s notice it lol ! I am thinking of a chocolate basboosa today as a cooking project–hmm maybe not today– and my husband does not like basboosa and he is not a huge fan of chocolate, so it might not go on very well lol! We will see.
Lamya
How did the chocolate basboosa turn out. My kids love basboosa :)
It turned out great Amira–we had it here at my place and then the following day we had the Circle of Light Sisters Social and Maa sha Allah it was gone in the blink of an eye. I made the regular Basboosa, and the Chocolate one –i was afraid that they wouldn’t like it–but both were gone Maa Sha Allah. You should try it–try both version the light and regular :D