Orange Blossom Water

Ouzi is a luxury dish from Damascus, Syria. The preparation of Ouzi requires some effort and time, but the end result is truly delicious. Ouzi is one of the most important dishes in Damascus, served at weddings.

To prepare Ouzi, you need the dough which is ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah, and the filling.

Let’s make Ouzi:

1. Prepare ingredients : dough, ground meat, rice, frozen green peas, nuts (almonds halves, pine nuts, pistachios halves), whole spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, black peppercorn), ground spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, black pepper), ghee, salt, and black pepper.

Filling

2. Heat 2 tbsp ghee, and add nuts (you can see the way of adding nuts step by step in Batersh, even if the nuts used in this recipe differs but the method is the same).

3, 4 . Whole spices prepared, as you can see in the picture, use the tea infuser to put the whole spices in.

5. In a pot, melt 2 tbsp ghee and bring to high heat, then fill the pot with 7 1/2 cups water, add salt, then put the tea infuser which contains the whole spices, and let it boil for one hour on medium heat.

6. Heat 2 tbsp ghee, add ground meat.

7. Meat is cooked.

8. Add nuts to meat (make sure that meat is completely cooked), add salt and black pepper.

9. Melt 1 tbsp ghee, add green peas, and keep for about 30 minutes on low heat, then turn off heat.

10. Measure rice.

11. Rinse rice with cold water in several changes.

12. Boil water, and soak rice in boiled water for 10 minutes.

13. Drain rice, and rinse with cold water in several changes.

14. As you can see, after one hour the color of the water changed due to the spices.

15. Add rice.

16. Add ground spices.

17. Check if the water is good for the rice by this method which is called “Al-Samda” (Read more about Al-Samda in the post Maqloubat Al-Bathenjan), and keep the rice for 5 minutes over high heat so it will boil vigorously, then lower heat and cover pot and keep for 15 – 20 minutes till rice is cooked.

18. Gather everything, rice, meat, and green peas (no need to be hot because it will be baked).

Dough

To make the dough, go to the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah.

Assemble

19. Bring the dough (you can see in ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah, the final shape of the dough), the weight of each piece of the dough is 75 g.

20. Press.

21, 22. Spread.

23. Add filling.

24, 25. Shape.

26. Shape (almost like the seam technique in buns).

27, 28, 29. Place on the baking sheet, the seam sides down.

30. Make plenty of them, and put on aluminum baking sheet without greasing.

31. Bake until golden brown.

Serve with (yogurt, add to the yogurt water, then add cucumber chopped into small cubes, dried mint, and salt, and mix).

Ouzi

From: Family Recipe / Servings: 10 Pieces
PDF Text Only / Print With Images

Filling 2 tbsp ghee, for nuts Nuts (almonds halves, pine nuts , pistachios halves) Whole spices (3 cinnamon sticks broken into pieces, 1 nutmeg, 10 cardamom pods, 3 allspice berries, 10 black peppercorns) 2 tbsp ghee, for rice 7 1/2 cups water (you can see in directions where to use) 2 tbsp ghee, for meat 500 g fat free ground lamb meat 1 tbsp ghee, for green peas 700 g frozen green peas 3 cups Egyptian rice Boiling water, for soaking rice Ground spices (1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp black pepper) Salt Black pepper Dough ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah To Serve Yogurt mixed with water, cucumber, dried mint and salt

Prepare ingredients : dough, ground meat, rice,frozen green peas, nuts (almonds halves, pine nuts, pistachios halves), whole spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, peppercorn), ground spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, black pepper), ghee, salt, and black pepper. Filling Heat 2 tbsp ghee, and add nuts (you can see the way of adding nuts step by step in Batersh, even if the nuts used in this recipe differs but the method is the same). Whole spices prepared, as you can see in the picture we use the tea infuser to put the whole spices in. In a pot, melt 2 tbsp ghee and bring to high heat, then fill the pot with 7 1/2 cups water, add salt, then put the tea infuser which contains the whole spices, and let it boil for one hour on medium heat. Heat 2 tbsp ghee, add ground meat. Meat is cooked. Add nuts to meat (make sure that meat is completely cooked), add salt and black pepper. Melt 1 tbsp ghee, add green peas, and keep for about 30 minutes on low heat, then turn off heat. Measure rice. Rinse rice with cold water in several changes. Boil water, and soak rice in boiled water for 10 minutes. Drain rice, and rinse with cold water in several changes. As you can see, after one hour the color of the water changed due to the spices. Add rice. Add ground spices. Check if the water is good for the rice by this method which is called “Al-Samda”, (Read more about Al-Samda in the post Maqloubat Al-Bathenjan), and keep the rice for 5 minutes over high heat so it will boil vigorously, then lower heat and cover pot and keep for 15 – 20 minutes till rice is cooked. Gather everything, rice, meat, and green peas (no need to be hot because it will be baked). Dough To make the dough, go to the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah. Assemble Bring the dough (you can see in ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah, the final shape of the dough),the weight of each piece of the dough is 75 g. Press. Spread. Add filling. Shape. Shape (almost like the seam technique in buns). Place on the baking sheet, the seam sides down. Make plenty of them, and put on aluminum baking sheet without greasing. Bake until golden brown. Serve with (yogurt, add to the yogurt water, and not too thick, then add cucumber chopped into small cubes, dried mint, and salt, and mix )

Notes and Tips

You can make the dough (‘Ajineh Mwarraqah) in the same day of making this dish, and use the dough fresh and make this dish (a fresh dough is always better) , if you made the dough before and stored it in the freezer so the first thing is to remove the dough from the freezer early in the morning and let it defrost, then use it (please don’t defrost using microwave because the dough will not be good to work with it).

We stuffed 10 pieces of the dough, the weight of each dough piece is 75 g. And leftover filling, served as it is (it serves 7 people).

If you like the filling, but you don’t want to make the dough, so you can eat the filling only as a main dish, and serve it with yogurt, it is so delicious

For baking, I used aluminum baking sheet.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 8:23 PM and is filed under Syrian Cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.