In menu 4 of the Ramadan series, Ahram Online provides recipes for a rich meal of broccoli soup and spicy salad alongside a classic okra dish, along with a dessert eaten throughout Ramadan sometimes called 'Arabic pancakes' Soup:Broccoli 500 g broccoli florets 1 green onion (peeled and chopped) 1 head celery 1 litre chicken stock 2 cloves garlic (peeled and minced) 1 tbsp butter Salt, black pepper Directions: Melt butter in medium-sized pot,sauté onion and garlic until tender. Add celery and broccoli and mix together. Add stock and season with salt and pepper. Leave on medium heat for 20 minutes to cook, then use blender to puree until smooth. Pour into clean pot over heat to boil, then serve in bowls.## Salad:Pickled Tomatoes 6 large tomatoes (cut into slices about one centimetre thick) 1 bulb garlic (peeled and crushed) 1 tsp cumin 2 handfuls parsley 1 chilli green pepper (optional) 1 tbsp white vinegar 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp olive oil Salt Directions: Add lemon, olive oil, white vinegar, salt, green pepper, garlic, parsley and cumin to the mincer. Blend the ingredients together. In serving dish, add tomato slices before adding garlic mixture over each slice and serve.## Main Course:Okra with Meat(Bamia) 1 kg meat (lamb meat is preferable) 3/4 kg small-size okra 1 litre tomato sauce 1 small onion (peeled and finely chopped) 1 tbsp butter 1 tsp chopped garlic 1 litre water Salt, black pepper 2 bay leaves Directions: Trim okra stems. Rinse, drain and dry with paper towel, then set aside. In a pot, heat water until boiling then add meat, bay leaves and black pepper. Leave to reach medium cook stage (roughly 30 minutes depending on type of meat used). Remove from stock and set aside. In large pan, melt butter then add onion. Stir until soft then add garlic and stir until turns golden brown. Add tomato sauce and leave to boil. In a casserole tray, add meat, okra and tomato sauce, then season with salt and black pepper and put it in a pre-heated oven to 200C and when cooked, serve immediately.## Side Dish:Rice with Vermicelli 2 cups of short grain rice 1/4 cup vermicelli 2 1/2 cups of hot water or hot chicken broth (according to taste) 1 tbsp of butter or oil (according to taste) Salt Directions: Wash the rice, drain in a large strainer then shake well to remove excess water, and set aside. Heat the butter, add the vermicelli and the salt. Allow the vermicelli to brown, while stirring, being careful not to let the vermicelli burn. Add the rice and stir for around 7 minutes then add the water (or chicken stock). The fluid should just cover the rice; adjust the liquid amounts based on the type of rice you are using. Leave to boil then cover and allow it to cook for 15 minutes on low heat, without stirring. When done, mix with a wooden fork to prevent clumping and serve.## Drink:Iced Hibiscus 1 litre water 1/4 cup hibiscus flowers 1/2 cup sugar (or according to taste) Directions: In a pot add water and hibiscus and leave it to boil on high heat for around 15 minutes the reduce heat to low and leave it for 5 minutes more then remove from heat and stir in sugar until dissolve. Pour the mixture through a strainer into clean container, set to cool and serve over ice cubes.## Dessert:Qatayef with whipped Cream Qatayef is a common dessert often eaten during Ramadan - it is a sweet dumpling filled will cream, syrup and nuts. For dough: 2 tsp dry yeast 1 tsp sugar 350 ml water 200 g all purpose flour Oil to coat the surface of pan For filling: 2 small packets of whipping cream (if it does not contain sugar, add 2 tbsp of icing sugar) 100g pistachio (unsalted and crashed) For syrup: 300 g sugar 150 ml water 3 tbsp lemon juice 1 cinnamon stick (optional) Directions: For the syrup, put water and sugar into a pan on medium heat to dissolve, stirring frequently. Then add the cinnamon and the lemon juice and leave for around 10 minutes before removing from the heat and leaving to cool. For dough, combine the yeast and sugar with very small amount of warmed water, then leave in a warm place for brewing. In another bowl, combine the flour with the remaining amount of water and mix, then add the yeast mixture and mix all together and set aside for minimum of 15 minutes, then knead until the mix becomes elastic. Coat a frying pan with a little oil and place on medium heat then pour largeladle of the dough in the pan, leave to cook till bubbles appear (do not turn, it should be cooked on one side only), then place it in a dish and cover with a clean towel. Repeat until all the dough is fried in this way. For the filling, whisk the whipping cream. Fold the dough to form a cone shape, with the cooked side of the dough on the outside. Fry in a small amount of oil and place in syrup immediately and then remove it. Fill with whipping cream and garnish with crushed pistachios and serve. ## For more Life & Style news and updates, follow us on Twitter:@AhramLifestyleor ourFacebook page) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/48996.aspx
