Best Bazella Middle Eastern Style Beef Casserole Recipes

BAZELLA (MIDDLE EASTERN-STYLE BEEF CASSEROLE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• Heat the oil in heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and gently fry until golden.
• Add the braising steak and cinnamon, and fry for a further 3-5 minutes, stirring, until the meat is lightly browned. Transfer the contents of the frying pan to a casserole.
• Deglaze the frying pan with half the wine, and pour this mixture into the casserole.
• Add the tomato paste, water and remaining wine to the casserole. Stir in the bay leaf and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Mix well and season to taste.
• Place the casserole in the oven and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Stir in the beans and cook for a further 10 minutes.
• Stir in the parsley just before serving.
• Ladle into serving dishes and garnish each dish with a parsley sprig.
• Serve with good crusty bread.

LEBANESE/SYRIAN BAZELLA

Steps:

• Cut onion in to small pieces. Do not mince or chop too finely, but at the same time, do not cut or chop too coarsely. Set aside.
• Wash carrots and cut them into 1/4" thick pieces. Basically, you don't want them too thin or they will disintegrate into the broth. You can peel them if you prefer, before cutting. Set aside.
• In a large frying pan, brown the meat with some seasoning salt and pepper. Add the onion and some olive oil from the bottle. Make sure all the meat is brown. Set aside.
• In a stew pan, fry the 3 tbsp of tomato paste in the 1/4 cup olive oil for about 5-8 minutes. If it seems dry-looking, add a small amount of extra oil at a time. It should look chunky in the oil, not runny like soup. Stir constantly, it will burn very fast!
• Reduce the heat, add first 2 cups of water. Stand back, it may spit at you! Keep adding until all 6 cups have been added. Add the soup cubes. Let this boil for 5 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pan, making sure all of the tomato paste mixes in the water.
• Add the meat, carrots and peas. Allow to come to a boil (takes about 5 minutes) then reduce heat to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Cook until meat is tender. Cooking time depends on the quality of meat.
• Serve with Middle Eastern rice.
• Extra water may be added to counter-act any saltiness or if too much evaporated out while cooking.
• Cooking times may vary depending on stove type. Just keep on eye on it and never walk away from cooking food! Stainless steel or a non-stick pan may be used. I prefer non-stick. This may also be transferred to a large crock pot and set on low. Yield depends on how much water is allowed to boil out, but pretty much it makes a lot! Count on leftovers if you're not having people over.

CHICKEN BASTILLA (PIE)

Steps:

• In large skillet or 5-quart dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until golden brown on all sides-about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
• In same large skillet, add onions, garlic, ginger, and remaining 1 tablespoon oil; saute, stirring constantly, just until onions are translucent. Stir in cinnamon, cumin, ground coriander, red pepper, turmeric, and saffron. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until onions are completely coated with spices-about 3 minutes.
• Increase heat to high. Add broth, fresh coriander, and parsley to skillet with onion mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring to combine. Return chicken to skillet, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until chicken is tender, approximately 30 minutes.
• Remove chicken from skillet to plate and set aside to cool. Continue to cook onion mixture, covered, until almost dry, about 15 minutes. Add eggs, salt, and pepper to onion mixture.Cook until soft curds form, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and set onion-egg mixture aside to cool.
• Topping:. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread almonds on ungreased baking sheet and place in oven for 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. In food processor with chopping blade (or by hand), process almonds with sugar and cinnamon until coarsely ground.
• When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin and bones. Tear chicken into 2-inch-long strips.
• To assemble bastilla, place phyllo between 2 sheets of waxed paper, then cover with damp towel. (Phyllo dries out very quickly. Each time you remove a sheet, be sure to cover remaining sheets with damp towel.) Brush 12-inch pizza pan with some melted butter. Remove 1 sheet of Phyllo and place on pan, letting the edges hang over the rim. Brush phyllo sheet with butter. Working quickly, stack and butter 11 more sheets, arranging them in the pan in an overlapping, circular fashion (like a pinwheel).
• On center of phyllo, in even layers, arrange half the Topping, half of onion-egg mixture, all of chicken strips, the remaining onion-egg mixture, and the remaining Topping, Fold overhanging phyllo over top of bastilla and brush top with butter.
• Continue to butter and arrange 12 phyllo sheets in the same pinwheel fashion over top of bastilla (as before). Carefully tuck the overhanging ends underneath it. Brush top and side of bastills with butter. Cover loosely with foil.(At this point, can be refrigerated two hours or up to 2 days before baking).
• Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bastilla 20 minutes or until golden. (If bastilla has been chilled, bake 5 to 10 minutes longer.) Place a baking sheet or another 12-inch pizza pan over the bastilla and invert so that the underside is now on top. Return to oven on the new pan (or slide back onto original pan) and bake 25 minutes longer or until crisp and golden.
• If desired, sprinkle confectioners' sugar and ground cinnamon on top of bastilla.
• Note: Ground saffron is available in specialty shops. If you can't find it, crumble the commonly found saffron threads before measuring.