Orange Blossom Water

The recipe for this dish is made using “‘Ajineh Mwarraqah“. “‘Esh Al-Bulbul” means “Bulbul’s nest” (Nightingale’s Nest), the shape is similar to the nest of the Nightingale, click here to see the picture of the dish vs the real nest. ‘Esh Al-Bulbul is one of the most important dishes in most celebrations. It is a specialty of Hama and Aleppo.

Let’s make ‘Esh Al-Bulbul:

1. Ingredients for dish are: ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah, ground meat, onion, pomegranate molasses, tahini, lemon salt, salt, pepper and pine nuts.

2. Dough is used fresh or frozen, check the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah for all the details about it. If it is frozen, allow to thaw in the fridge for few hours then at room temperature. Do not leave it a room temperature for long time, otherwise ghee will melt, the dough should hold its shape. The weight of each piece of dough is 50 g.

Filling

3, 4, 5. Finely chop red onion and measure 200 g chopped onion.

6, 7, 8, 9. Rinse chopped onion in several changes of water, and put in a strainer.

10. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to chopped onion.

11, 12, 13. Set chopped onion aside for 10 minutes to drain.

14, 15. Press chopped onion to get rid of excess water.

16, 17. . In a pan, heat 1 teaspoon ghee.

18, 19, 20, 21. Add chopped onion to ghee and stir to soften

22. Transfer onion to a bowl and allow to cool.

23, 24. Put 250 fat free ground lamb meat in a bowl.

25. Add cooled onion to meat.

26, 27, 28, 29. Add 40 g pomegranate molasses to the mixture.

30, 31, 32. Add 15 g tahini to the mixture.

33. Add 1/8 + 1/4 teaspoons lemon salt to the mixture.

35, 36. Add 1/4 + 1/2 teaspoons salt to the mixture.

37. Add 1/8 teaspoons black pepper to the mixture.

38, 39, 40, 41. Mix the ingredients with your hand until well combined.

42. Bring the dough, the filling and the pine nuts.

43. Prepare aluminum baking sheet, no need to grease it.

44, 45, 46, 47. Take one piece of dough and gently press with your hand.

48, 49. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to elongate it into an oval shape about 2 inch (5 cm) wide and 2.7 inch (7 cm) long with 0.2 inch (1/2 cm) thickness.

50, 51. Starting from top middle of the dough, use your fingers and seal two sides together to get one pointy top.

52 to 58. Crimp all the remaining edges.

59. There should be one pointy top only.

60, 61. Gently press the dough inside so the edges will be higher.

62. The nest is ready.

63, 64, 65. Put the nest in the prepared baking sheet.

66, 67, 68. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.

69. Bring the filling and the pine nuts.

70, 71, 72, 73. Each piece of dough will be filled with 30 g of meat filling

74, 75, 76, 77. Put 30 g filling inside the nest.

74, 75, 76, 77. Repeat with other pieces of dough.

74, 75, 76, 77. Use your fingers, press the filling and smooth it.

87, 88, 89. Bring 10 g pine nuts. 4 pine nuts will be added to each nest.

90, 91, 92, 93. Put 4 pine nuts on top of the filling.

94, 95, 96, 97. Press the pine nuts.

98, 99, 100, 101. Preheat the oven to 428°F (220 °C). Place the baking sheet in the oven (rack position the second from bottom), and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown in color on bottom. I baked ‘Esh Al-Bulbul in the oven with the top burner on and bottom burner on, baked for 7 minutes on second rack from bottom then put it on bottom rack for 3 minutes, then returned to second rack with bottom burner off and kept the top burner on for 2 minutes.

102, 103, 104, 105. Take from the oven and keep on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.

106 to 113. Transfer into serving plate and serve it hot.

114. Serve ‘Esh Al-Bulbul hot with salad (salad is prepared from tomato, cucumber, parsley, mint, onion, lemon juice, olive oil and salt), and laban ‘ayran (yogurt diluted with water and seasoned with salt).

‘Esh Al-Bulbul

From: Family Recipe / Servings: 16 Pieces
PDF Text Only / Print With Images

Dough 1 recipe ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah Filling 200 g chopped red onion 1/2 tsp salt, for onion 1 tsp ghee, for onion 250 g fat free ground lamb meat 40 g pomegranate molasses 15 g tahini 1/8 + 1/4 tsp lemon salt (citric acid) 1/4 + 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp black pepper Assembly 10 g pine nuts To Serve Salad Laban ‘ayran (yogurt drink)

Ingredients for dish are: ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah, ground meat, onion, pomegranate molasses, tahini, lemon salt, salt, pepper and pine nuts. Dough is used fresh or frozen, check the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah for all the details about it. If it is frozen, allow to thaw in the fridge for few hours then at room temperature. Do not leave it a room temperature for long time, otherwise ghee will melt, the dough should hold its shape. Filling Finely chop red onion and measure 200 g chopped onion. Rinse chopped onion in several changes of water, and put in a strainer. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to chopped onion. Set chopped onion aside for 10 minutes to drain. Press chopped onion to get rid of excess water. In a pan, heat 1 teaspoon ghee. Add chopped onion to ghee and stir to soften Transfer onion to a bowl and allow to cool. Put 250 fat free ground lamb meat in a bowl. Add cooled onion to meat. Add 40 g pomegranate molasses to the mixture. Add 15 g tahini to the mixture. Add 1/8 + 1/4 teaspoons lemon salt to the mixture. Add 1/4 + 1/2 teaspoons salt to the mixture. Add 1/8 teaspoons black pepper to the mixture. Mix the ingredients with your hand until well combined. Bring the dough, the filling and the pine nuts. Prepare aluminum baking sheet, no need to grease it. Take one piece of dough and gently press with your hand. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to elongate it into an oval shape about 2 inch (5 cm) wide and 2.7 inch (7 cm) long with with 0.2 inch (1/2 cm) thickness. Starting from top middle of the dough, use your fingers and seal two sides together to get one pointy top. Crimp all the remaining edges of the bottom. There should be one pointy top only. Gently press the dough inside so the edges will be higher. Put the nest in the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Bring the filling and the pine nuts. Each piece of dough will be filled with 30 g of meat filling Put 30 g filling inside the nest. Repeat with other pieces of dough. Use your fingers, press the filling and smooth it. Bring 10 g pine nuts. 4 pine nuts will be added to each nest. Put 4 pine nuts on top of the filling Press the pine nuts. Preheat the oven to 428°F (220 °C). Place the baking sheet in the oven (rack position the second from bottom), and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown in color on bottom. I baked ‘Esh Al-Bulbul in the oven with the top burner on and bottom burner on, baked for 7 minutes on second rack from bottom then put it on bottom rack for 3 minutes, then returned to second rack with bottom burner off and kept the top burner on for 2 minutes. Take from the oven and keep on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer into serving plate and serve it hot. Serve ‘Esh Al-Bulbul hot with salad (salad is prepared from tomato, cucumber, parsley, mint, onion, lemon juice, olive oil and salt), and laban ‘ayran (yogurt diluted with water and seasoned with salt).

Notes and Tips

Check the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah for all the details about the dough.

I used 16 pieces of dough. The total amount of filling is enough for 16 pieces.

Size of each piece of dough is 50 g, the filling added is 30 g. Use these measurements as standard. If size of dough is 40 g, so add 24 g of filling. If size of dough is 30 g, so add 18 g of filling.

My oven is gas oven and it has two functions:
The oven upper burner “broiler”.
The oven bottom burner “bake function”.
I can turn on both of them together, and I can turn off one of them and keep the other on.

Leftovers can be reheated or eaten at room temperature.

Check my videos:
Making ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah
Making ‘Esh Al-Bulbul

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 4:44 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.