A Lebanese Village Dinner
When I was in college, I spent a year in a mountain village about 25 miles from Beirut and fell in love with Lebanese food. It was as if I’d known those hearty, perfumed flavors all my life. You can get Lebanese food in this country, of course, but our Lebanese restaurants are happiest cooking short orders like shish kebab. What I really miss are the home-style dishes my elderly landlady, Sitt Wadia, cooked for me.
At the time (I never found out why), Sitt Wadia was pluckily raising a frail little granddaughter all by herself. She tended to bustle around muttering under her breath in an amused, sarcastic tone, sometimes translating for my benefit. (“ Yighli , yighli , yighli ,” she’d say as she stirred a pot, and then add, “Boil, boil, boil.”) She was a swell cook, and this is the kind of dinner she made.
Menu
Chicken with Rice and Toasted Nuts (Rizz bi-Djaj)
Cold Eggplant in Oil (Baitinjan bi-Zait)
Mint and Parsley Frittatas (Ijjet il-Na’na’ wal-Baqdunis)
Fruit
Staples
Salt, pepper
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups rice
Butter
Flour
1 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic
2 to 3 teaspoons coriander seeds
4 eggs
Oil for frying
Shopping List
1 (4- to 5-pound) chicken
Granulated chicken stock, optional
1/2 cup blanched or sliced almonds
1/4 cup pine nuts
Yogurt
4 medium-sized round eggplants or 12 small Japanese eggplants
12 walnut-sized white boiling onions
7 tomatoes
1 bunch fresh mint
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 bunch green onions
Game Plan
* Up to 1 day ahead: Cook chicken, cool (reserving cooking liquid) and remove meat from bones. Prepare Cold Eggplant in Oil and refrigerate until ready to serve.
* 1 1/2 hours before dinner: Soak rice in hot water.
* 1 hour before dinner: Begin cooking rice. Remove Cold Eggplant in Oil and let come to room temperature. Chop mint, parsley and green onions for Mint and Parsley Frittatas.
* 45 minutes before dinner: Prepare Mint and Parsley Frittatas and keep warm in oven.
* 20 minutes before dinner: Finish pilaf and prepare dish for serving. Warm chicken meat in sauce.
* Last minute: Unmold pilaf and top with chicken.
CHICKEN WITH RICE AND TOASTED NUTS (Rizz bi-Djaj) CHICKEN
Rizz bi-Djaj is basically a simple chicken pilaf dished up in a somewhat impressive way. The flavor combination of butter, cinnamon and toasted nuts is classically Lebanese. If you don’t want to take the time to boil a chicken, you can saute it while making the rice with stock.
CHICKEN
1 (4- to 5-pound) chicken, cut in pieces and skin removed
Salt, pepper
1 cinnamon stick
Put chicken in pot with water to cover. Bring to boil. Skim foam. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add cinnamon stick. Reduce heat and simmer until meat easily comes off bones, about 1 hour.
Take pot from stove top and use slotted spoon to remove meat to bowl. Reserve cooking liquid. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones. Discard bones. Set meat aside.
PILAF
2 cups rice
5 tablespoons butter
Reserved chicken cooking liquid
1/2 cup blanched or sliced almonds
1/4 cup pine nuts
Granulated chicken stock, optional
2 tablespoons flour
Yogurt, optional
Soak rice in pot of hot water to cover 1/2 hour. Drain and rinse with cold water. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in pan, add rice and fry gently, stirring constantly, until water is gone and grains are coated with butter.
Skim off any fat from chicken cooking liquid. Measure out 4 cups cooking liquid and pour into pot with rice. (Reserve remaining cooking liquid to make gravy.) Bring to boil. Cook until rice is tender and stock is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in pan. Add almonds and pine nuts. Fry over medium heat until golden. Immediately pour nuts into bowl to prevent further cooking.
Measure reserved cooking liquid for gravy. If there is more than 1/2 cup, boil down. If there is less, add water to make 1/2 cup. Taste and add granulated chicken stock if needed. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in pan. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour. Cook until raw flour flavor goes away. Stir in stock and cook until thickened. Add chicken meat and toss to mix.
Arrange nuts in bottom of greased deep round bowl. Fill bowl with rice and press down gently. Place serving platter, upside-down, over bowl and turn bowl and platter upside-down together to unmold. Alternatively, divide nuts and rice into 4 soup bowls and unmold individually on plates. Top rice with chicken pieces and serve. Pass yogurt as garnish.
Makes 6 servings.
Each serving contains about:
714 calories; 240 mg sodium; 121 mg cholesterol; 39 grams fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 33 grams protein; 0.54 gram fiber.
COLD EGGPLANT IN OIL (Baitinjan bi-Zait)
4 medium-sized round eggplants or 12 small Japanese eggplants
1 cup olive oil
12 walnut-sized white boiling onions
6 tomatoes, peeled and sliced
6 cloves garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 to 3 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 tomato, chopped, optional
If using round eggplants, peel and cut into 1-inch slices. If using long eggplants, peel partially, giving striped effect, but leave whole. Do not remove calyx at stem end. Fry sliced or semipeeled eggplants in skillet with oil until tender. Remove eggplants and saute onions in same oil until just softened.
Place onions in bottom of heavy pan or casserole. Alternate layers of fried eggplant and tomato slices on top of onions. Crush garlic with salt. Fry crushed garlic in skillet with bit of olive oil 2 to 3 minutes, then sprinkle over vegetables. Add water, pepper and coriander. Bring to boil over medium heat, then lower heat and simmer until vegetables are very tender and sauce is reduced.
Place large serving platter upside-down over mouth of casserole. Carefully turn casserole and serving dish and casserole upside-down. Remove casserole and let vegetables cool. When cool, set in refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve cold with chopped tomato.
Makes 6 servings.
Each serving contains about:
353 calories; 597 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 36 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 1.04 grams fiber.
MINT AND PARSLEY FRITTATAS (Ijjet il-Nana wal-Baqdunis)
4 eggs
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon flour
Salt, pepper
Oil for frying
Beat eggs well in bowl. Stir in mint, parsley, green onions, flour and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Heat oil in large pan and drop egg mixture by spoonfuls into oil. Cook on 1 side until browned, about 1 minute, then turn over with spatula or slotted spoon and cook until browned on other side. Keep warm in 250-degree oven until ready to serve.
Makes about 20 small flat frittatas.
Each frittata contains about:
27 calories; 28 mg sodium; 42 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.04 gram fiber.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Kitchen Tips
* When making the pilaf, combining the nuts and the rice at the last minute keeps the nuts crisp.
* Cooking the chicken a day ahead gives it plenty of time to cool, making the meat easier to remove from the bone and the fat easier to skim from the stock.