A Yemeniyah's Recipes

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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You can actually make this with any ground meat–beef, lamb, chicken or Turkey.Ground lamb tastes divine in this recipe as it does with Kebabs. I just had some ground turkey left over after i made the turkey kababs so that is what i used.

Boil 1/2 a box of angel hair pasta in salty boiling water while you make the ground turkey sauce. Keep your eye on it as it cooks. When cooked drain of all its water and toss in a little oilive oil (the oilive oil does not let the pasta clump together even if you have some left over for the day after).

For the ground turkey you will need:

1) 1lb ground turkey

2) 1 big whole onion or 2 medium onions finally chopped

3) 3 medium sized patagoes quartered

4) 3 tsp of red chilly powder

5) 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

6) 1 tsp coriander

7)1 tsp ground cumin

8) 2 tsp of tomato paste

9) 2 tbslp Olive Oil

10) Salt to taste

11) 2 cloves of garlic (minced)

12) 2 medium tomatoes (diced)

Okay, what you need to do is sautee the onions in the oilve oil until they are translucent. Then add the patatoes and sautee for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sautee for 1 minute (do not burn) and add the chilly powder and sautee for five minutes. Then add the ground meat and let the water evaporate, and brown the meat. Again be careful that it does not burn or dry out. Do not brown for more than 5 minutes.

Then add the diced tomatoes and the salt and allow the tomatoes to soften. When softened add the tomatoe paste and 2 cups of water and let simmer under low heat unitl the sauce is thickened and the oil rises to the surface. This should take about 10 minutes. Make sure the patatoes are cooked through, if they are then it is ready.

To serve place the angel hair pasta on a platter and pour the sauce on top–garnish with finely chopped cilantro and lemon pieces. You can also sprinkle parmesan cheese instead of the cilantro.

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