Saturday, July 27, 2013

Recipe for Egyptian Kabab Hala

Hello everyone.  Lilly thanks you for all your comments and reading her blog post last week.  I hope you have had a good week?  I thought I was going to share with you a new crochet pattern that I had discovered.  I wanted to crochet an afghan for my daughter and ordered the yarn from England to make it.  Well, after crocheting almost the complete 400 gram skein, I found out that the pattern wasn't going to work.  So, I unraveled it and now I am knitting an afghan for her.  I don't know when I will ever learn to stay away from bad patterns!!

I could easily be a vegetarian but now and then I do like very "lean" beef like filet mignon or boneless chicken breast.  My husband is the complete opposite.  He wants the bones in his chicken or meat.  Anyway, "we" went grocery shopping at my favorite Persian market yesterday and they had lovely "boneless" beef stew meat on sale.  I thought of this recipe and bought some to make it.  So, here's a recipe I want to share with you for Egyptian Kabab Hala.  It's basically a wonderful beef dish that is slow cooked and makes it's own gravy.  Here is what you will need:



2 pounds lean beef stew meat cut in 1" cubes
1 large onion - chopped fine
2+ cloves of garlic - minced
2 T flour
1 beef buillion cube dissolved in 2 cups boiling water
salt and pepper
1/4 cup butter
dash cinnamon - optional

Wash, cut and dry meat cubes.  Salt and pepper the meat (take it easy on the salt as the buillion has salt in it) and sprinkle meat cubes with the flour.  In large pot (I use non stick) melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter.


When butter is melted, add half of the floured beef cubes.


Cook beef cubes until nicely browned on all sides and remove from pan and put in slow cooker.  Repeat for second half of beef cubes using the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.


After browning the beef cubes, they should like the picture above.  When all cubes have been browned and put in the slow cooker, you will brown the onions, followed by the garlic in the leftover butter.





Cook the onioins for about three to four minutes and add in the garlic at the last.  Cook just until colored and onions have absorbed the juices from the pan.  Place onions on top of the browned beef cubes in the slow cooker.


Turn the slow cooker onto the "high" heat setting and cook for one hour.  After one hour, turn setting to "low" and add a little bit of the beef buillion - approximately 1/2 cup to 1 cup.


 Continue to cook on low for approximately five to six hours, stirring frequently and adding a little more buillion if needed.  As the dish cooks the onions and juices with combine with the flour and make a wonderful gravy for the meat.  But, you need to be patient as this takes a long time to simmer.  You can add a dash of cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon) if you wish a little more flavor.


Here's a  picture of the finished dish.  It's a great meal served with a side of rice and a chopped salad.



The meat is fork tender and the flavors are wonderful.  I usually serve this dish with a side of rice and fresh green salad.



Note:  If you don't have a slow cooker,  you can cook it on top of the stove in a covered pan.  But, in that case you may need to use the whole 2 cups of the broth.  I have a gas stove and it cooks very hot.  I only used a little over 1 cup of the broth using my slow cooker.   Just add enough broth to keep the sauce "gravy" consistency.  I hope this helps.  Any questions, please comment and I will respond. 


I wish each of you a fun filled week.  I hope to be back next week with something new to share with you.  Please remember to stop by  Handmade Harbour where you will find lots of creative ideas.  Until next week,
take care,

Pat & Lilly :)

12 comments:

  1. I bet it tastes as good as it looks. thank you for sharing your recipe. Like you I prefer my meat lean, and my husband also prefers his meat on the bone. Look forward to seeing the Afghan. Hope you have a good week.

    Jill (Christmas Pie Crafts)

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    1. Hi Jill I hope your week is going well. I am working on a new afghan pattern that is fun to knit and will hopefully turn out right. Many thanks for visiting!

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  2. That looks delicious, thank you for sharing the recipe

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    1. Thank you - you are welcome. It's an easy dish to make. Have a wonderful day.

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  3. I've had projects like your crocheted afghan. It'shard to unravel something yoyou've spent so much time on. You just have to tell yourself it was a learning experience and it it's better to re-use the yarn.
    Your beef stew looks delicious.
    Have a lovely week.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I do get frustrated with my projects but finally I got a pattern to work out. I didn't realize that crocheting vs knitting takes so much yarn. Have a great day!

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  4. How annoying that the pattern was wrong. I hope your daughter's will be pleased with her knitted afghan. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It will be great for my slow cooker especially when the weather turns cooler. Have a lovely week.
    Ali x

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    1. Hi Ali, I hope you have a chance to try the recipe. It's so easy since it's cooked in the slow cooker. My afghan pattern is coming along fine so far - keep your fingers crossed! I hope to share it when it's finished. Have a wonderful day.

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  5. That's what a love about yarn. When things go wrong (like a duff pattern.....) you can simply unravel and start something else.

    Have you come across these two websites as they have loads of crochet afghan patterns:
    http://www.allfreecrochetafghanpatterns.com/ http://www.allfreecrochet.com/

    The beef stew looks yummy. I might make a note of the recipe and give it a try when the weather gets a little chillier xx

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    1. Hello, thank you so much for the afghan pattern websites. I will be sure to check them out.

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  6. I bet that cinnamon adds a unique taste to the dish. It looks really yummy.

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    1. Many thanks. Yes, the cinnamon adds a little flavor but be sure to not add too much!

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