Arabian cultures and AoS, plz feel free to inquire

[Eric/Deamus]

@ kriss,

Aww that's great that you like try new things

and sure Kriss i'll prepare you the list of ingredients and how to prepare it
and if you like i can suggest you one or more recipe very known and famous for Egypt too like the Koushari ;D

[Kriss]

Sure, I'm always open for some new recipes Thank you

[Doubar]

Whoaaaaa... so many sweets!!!!!!!!!!! O.O OMG, awesome. ;D ;D ;D It's amazing to me though that you use that much sugar obviously. But hey, these are sweets aren't they, so that seems rather sensible. ;D

Jul 24, 2012 8:25:33 GMT -5 Eric/Deamus said:

you see you can consider the Arabians really love the sweets or in general the sugar ,,, everything can be taken without sugar you'll find them taken it with sugar

Whoa, I guess after a while you'll have sugar-overlaod though, don't you? xD

AWWW the drinks ,,, they are very important as i said before to compensate the body loss of fluids,,, that why there are many of them,,,, the colors ...... mmm,, may be it's just a coincidance but tell you what it just make you want them more ;D ;D and you can't keep yourself from drinking every kind there ;D ;D ;D

Yeah, I can easily see why they're this important. I mean, if you don't drink during the whole day and consider the temperatures... it's so important then to drink enough after iftar. Oooh, and can well imagine them to taste great. Though it's kinda funny that most of them require sugar also. ^^

Yeahhhh ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D i for one as a kid had always waited it with excitation to say booom with it ;D ;D ;D ;D *look around * < . < > . > hehehe no one heard me ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Haha, I guess that's a bit like waiting for the New Year to begin, and the fireworks that will start just then. ;D

and for this,,, well i guess yeah but i'm not sure as i never travelled out of Egypt before so can't make comparison ,,,
to be honest i don't know,,

Hum, well, a friend of mine has been to Africa before - Tansania though - and he said that the sun sets much quicker there. So though you're up in the north compared to where he went, I guess the effect's still somewhat the same.

well i'm working on it now,,,, but hope you 'll like it as it mostly will be about Eid sweets ,,,,, grrrrrrrr more sweets ;D ;D

Oh, I did like it for sure. And I'd love to try them sweets, too. ;D

well i can simply say no snow,, family and friends reunion,,, Christmas Tree,,, and there are more religious features in the Church of course,,,

Oh right, I almost forgot. There's two different times for Christmas in Egypt. And I guess both festivities do differ in their detail, too. Well, it's fascinating how there's all these various traditions all over the world.
Oh, and so you celebrate the new year, too, as a social festivity? Say, do you have fireworks then, like we do, or do you celebrate differently from us?

Hmmm... and lentil soup... I really rather like that. *yummy* Would be interesting to know what the Egyptian one tastes like, as I only know our version of it.

[Eric/Deamus]

heyyyyyyy guys so you have a version of the lentil soup too
i guess in this case it won't be new for you and the recipe 'll be familiar,, point is this soup and the related recipes are traditional for Egypt ;D
but i saw too that there is no BIG difference betwween it and the Harira of Morocco just in some ingredients and spices,,

but i promised you to tell about so that is it :

**The lentil soup **

Ingredients:

½ kg yellow lentils (Shelled)



-1 onion -2 carrots – 3 tomatoes – 2 cloves of garlic
You may add potatos or any other vegetables you like as peas or green beans (the legumes) and Zucchini,, anything you desire


regardelss the meat balls of course

and also you may need afterward butter,, some fried garlic, noodles or bread,

the noodles


the fried garlic


Method:

After washing/rinsing the lentils, and filter it from the water you put it in the cooker on the stove.
Put on it all the vegetables after cutting them and add enough water to cover the whole content by 1-2 cm.





Let the mixture to boil but without covering it (the cooker should be uncovered) till it start to boil,, then once it boils you lower the heat and let it boil for 15 min.
Then take the mixture and filter it again or you may simply put it in a blender (the later recommended because the first need special filter).
Now you got the basic soup but still need to add salt, black and red pepper, cumin,
Let them boil again,





Now you have 2 choices: either you put a piece of butter while its boiling, or you have additional cloves of garlic in butter on fire until the garlic turns to golden color then put it on the boiling lentil soup.

the fried garlic with butter on fire




Another option if you put simply the butter without the garlic you may prepare a related recipe where you use this soup you just prepare :

If you know that kind of very small and fine noodles ,,, well take 200 or 175 g of those noodles and heat them with a piece of butter till just before become red ,,, I mean don’t let them to be completely red,, don't forget all the time you still turn them in the cooker with the large spoon,
1-


2-


3-


4-this is the critical step if you let it more on fire it'll turn black/dark brown quickly (burnt)




then add water to cover it by 1 cm,



let it boil for 2 min then rinse with water, then add to it the lentil soup you just made,, and return it on fire letting them boil for 10 min (make sure that the noodles are cooked/ripen –sorry I know it’s not the right expression- ) ,, et bon appétit


Well other people like to soak some piece of bread with the soup (the soup with the garlic and butter I mean the first type) it called Fatta Aads (lentil = aads) but it demand you to like the lentil very much to do the later recipe,,,, for me I prefer the soup without garlic nor butter for my diet,,, and I adore the soup with noodles ;D

N.B. you can control the thickness of the soup as you desire,, it’s up to you,,,, some people like it very thick and don’t eat it as a soup,,, for me I like it as a soup


now here is the final results:

the soup only



the soup with noodles (not thick)



soup with noodles (thick)



soup with potato (added from the first step and lead of course to the thickness of soup)





BON APPETIT

now i wanna apologize about the pic have some writings on them,,, sorry those are the best i found,,

and the next post will be about a totally new recipe for you THE KOUSHARI ,,, that one i'm sure you didn't tried it before unless you visited Egypt

[Eric/Deamus]

@ Kriss,
i hope that you'll like that one but i believe the Koushari is VERY NEW one
and honey you're always welcome


@ Doubar,

Jul 25, 2012 14:17:46 GMT -5 Doubar said:

Whoaaaaa... so many sweets!!!!!!!!!!! O.O OMG, awesome. ;D ;D ;D It's amazing to me though that you use that much sugar obviously. But hey, these are sweets aren't they, so that seems rather sensible. ;D

aye there are ;D ;D ;D but still they put a lot of sugar in those sweets really

Whoa, I guess after a while you'll have sugar-overlaod though, don't you? xD

yeahh i'm suffering from that ,,, first i don't like much sugars,,, second i become fatter with time,,, that's bad,, i'm trying now to have some diet and control the type of food i'm eating,,, for the sweets i really like them but can't eat much ,,, when i desire them really i just taste then and take very small pieces,,, i make sure that my drinks with less amount of sugar as possible,, the juices completely without sugar,,, my weakness point is the westren sweets actually as they are not so sugary like ours,, so they are very suitable for me ;D i forget myself while being with them,,, but as you see they still sweets contain a lot of butter, flour cream .....
i'm just very weak in front of them

Though it's kinda funny that most of them require sugar also. ^^

oh that's because most of them have stinging taste without sugar,, but what i'm trying ton convince my family about is that we can add enough sugar to make it acceptable not so much

Haha, I guess that's a bit like waiting for the New Year to begin, and the fireworks that will start just then. ;D

exactly and repeated every day ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hum, well, a friend of mine has been to Africa before - Tansania though - and he said that the sun sets much quicker there. So though you're up in the north compared to where he went, I guess the effect's still somewhat the same.

so may be we are quicker than you in this case but in same time slower than Tansania i think,,, something in between,, i never calculated the time taken by the sun set to be honest,,, but yu know what you make me curious about this,,, i'll make sure to calculate it,, but that needs from me to be in open place like a beach or something to be accurate
you know i may travel after Ramadan to Alexandria,, so may be then

Oh, and so you celebrate the new year, too, as a social festivity? Say, do you have fireworks then, like we do, or do you celebrate differently from us?

Aw yeah i celebrate with my family
as for fireworks,, yeah we have A LOT ;D ;D but in my guess i think that whatever we have is still not like yours,, i mean i imagine that yours are much more and better

Well, it's fascinating how there's all these various traditions all over the world.

Oh yeah,,, actually i had a previous idea of a new thread where we can tell about different traditions all over the world,,, new/old and different celebrations as well

Hmmm... and lentil soup... I really rather like that. *yummy* Would be interesting to know what the Egyptian one tastes like, as I only know our version of it.

wow i didn't know you have a version of it
but you see the origin of anything related to lentils and fava bean is Egypt ,,, they are the essential food along with onion and garlic from the Ancient Egypt (the Pharaonic time) till now,, from that Ancient time till now Egypt is very known and famous by them,,
so i have no idea that now it's also known in other countries -except the Arabians as they were affected by our culture for sure-
and this really good news

[Doubar]

Ooooh, that recipe definitely looks interesting. And I guess I, too, will prefer the soup. I'm not so much for the thick versions. Thanx a lot for sharing this one. And am looking forward to the Koushari. ^^

Aw, and as for the sugar in your sweets: yeah, I can understand this can become troublesome. Truth be spoken, I don't really like the very sweet things either. When I was younger I couldn't have enough sugar added to whatever I ate (well, where it fit at last xP ) but nowadays I rather prefer things not to be too sweet. Oh, but I hear you on the western sweets. Especially those with chocolate... hmmm... many of them aren't terribly sweet in the traditional way. They're just plain yummy, and a great temptation indeed!

Ehi, I can see now though why most of your drinks have so much sugar added to them then. If their original taste is rather stinging or sour, I imagine it's nice to sweeten them. Still, it sounds like a rather good idea to just use as much sugar as is necessary, and not as much as is possible. Hope your family agrees.

exactly and repeated every day ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Whoot. What a joy for the kids. ;D

And yeah, I would think your country to be somewhat in-between when it comes to the time that sunset and sunrise takes. Hihi, but nice to know I made you be curious about it now. ^^ I have to admit I never paid attention to whether there's a difference between the big cities and the smaller ones. But then again I have only spend a couple of days in cities like London and Berlin so maybe that's why. Oooh, and you might go to Alexandria then? Awesome!!! Hope you'll have a fab time if you go.

Aw yeah i celebrate with my family
as for fireworks,, yeah we have A LOT ;D ;D but in my guess i think that whatever we have is still not like yours,, i mean i imagine that yours are much more and better

Great. But well, I don't know actually. I mean, in the bigger cities yeah, they usually have huge and amazing fireworks but in the smaller ones it's mainly the people themselves who launch them. So yeah, dunno, maybe it's quite similar even. ^^

Aw, and what a lovely idea for a thread. I know we have an old Christmas/New Year thread lying around here somewhere, and another one that was dedicated to all the possible kinds of celebrations we have. But neither of the two were elaborate in any way and ended up covering random off-topic chit chat mainly. ;D

Last but not least: our lentil soup. Aye, we have that, too. The version that I like best looks like this:



But there's also thicker versions of it, as can be seen here:



Oh, and the added sausage is quite a common thing over here, though I wouldn't be able to tell if maybe in the Western and Southern regions they prefer to not have it with the soup.

I must admit though that I didn't know that lentils originated in Egypt. That's amazing!!!

[Kriss]

*notes everything in her cooking-notebook*

Jul 26, 2012 6:16:16 GMT -5 Eric/Deamus said:

@ Kriss,
i hope that you'll like that one but i believe the Koushari is VERY NEW one
and honey you're always welcome

Thanks again

[Eric/Deamus]

@ Doubar,,

Jul 26, 2012 13:58:26 GMT -5 Doubar said:

I'm not so much for the thick versions. Thanx a lot for sharing this one. And am looking forward to the Koushari. ^^

hey welcome to the club
and you are always welcome Doubs you know that
as for the Koushari ,, as soon as possible, just searching for suitable photos may need sometime,,, sometimes i need photos for some important may be critical steps to clarify the exact way,,

They're just plain yummy, and a great temptation indeed!

AWWW DOUBAAAAAR ,,,, you have NO IDEA ;D ;D
plz you now know my little weakness plz don't use it against me , plz plz plzzzz

about the drinks,, yup that's exactly what i meant,,, hope that too

Whoot. What a joy for the kids. ;D

and for me ;D ;D

Aw no there is no difference between the big and small cities,,, except the small one being calmer,, not so crowded,, the sky most of the time seems to be clear,,, and there is no so big buildings,,, when you are on the beach specially you can watch the gradual movement of the sun in sun set for example until its complete disappear and even there is some moments where you can see both sun and moon simultaneously in sky during that time,,,, so what i mean you can easily calculate the time and accurately
i love watching the sun set whenever being close to the beach,, or the sun rise if possible,, these are my favorite,, and like to be alone while doing that,,, this last time i watched the clouds movements in one night the sky was cloudy,,, i just stayed there looking to the sky and it was amazing,, they were moving very fast like running and the sky looking from behind them very clear and like shy

Oooh, and you might go to Alexandria then? Awesome!!! Hope you'll have a fab time if you go.

yeah thanks for your wish
actually it's better to go there in winter,, they say it's FORMIDABLE but not in summer, however i'm looking for spending good time with my cousins,, and if possible -hope so- to visit some monuments and historical places

it's mainly the people themselves who launch them. So yeah, dunno, maybe it's quite similar even. ^^

actually that was what i meant,,, it's the people celebrating by lunching them themselves,,, still they lunch so much,, and can't stop doing that,,, that's why i told yours is better (i meant in the big cities)

and another one that was dedicated to all the possible kinds of celebrations we have.

Aw really i thought about that one too as you know i'm really interested in different cultures /traditions and celebration,,, that is awesome,, i'll search for it for sure,,
and oh didn't know about the Christmas one too
actually i have other 2 ideas of threads but won't tell now,,, let's let them as a surprise,, hope you'll like them
and hope to open one of them before my travel,,
just need to gather some photos and info about that one,,,
however the other will take from me long time

And oooh that's your lentil soup it looks delicious i prefer the non-thick one too
i have to admit it's different from ours but still it looks so similar to related recipe of ours,, it just is not soup but still lentil just like that we cook the lentil just like the fava beans and it looks like that without soup and called simply Lentil ,,,
AWW and you add sausage with it hmmm ymmm ymmm,,,
i have to admit this not familiar to us here, but i like it

I must admit though that I didn't know that lentils originated in Egypt. That's amazing!!!

yeah you see, the Ancient Egyptians were depending on it with the fava beans essentially as their only source of proteins,,, it's so rare for them to eat meat,,, definitely they were eating fishes but not cooked but salted and exposed to sun to dry,, their general life was hard because of the desert nature of surrounding,, yes they were cultivating many plants but mainly wheat, cotton, linen/flax,, lentil. fava beans, onion and garlic,, the later two were eaten as they are even without cooking,,, fruits were hard to find too,, they mainly depended on those that arise naturally in desert ,, or on trees just naturally,,, but of course there were some cultivated too i think like palms/dates but i'm not sure now,, those info i learnt from 10 years or so so i forgot the details,, i remember too sometimes they eat some goose that were dried by sun too,,, ducks were not known for them

[Eric/Deamus]

@ kriss

Jul 26, 2012 15:43:24 GMT -5 Kriss said:

*notes everything in her cooking-notebook*

i'm glad you like its idea

Thanks again

aaaaand you're welcome again

[Eric/Deamus]

Ok guys i just found another thread about Recipes,, well i didn't know about, i still discovering till now,, so do you think i should delete the previous recipe from here and put it there,, or should i just leave it as it is ?? and the next recipe too where i suppose to post when i finish it ,, what do you think ? need your opinion......

N.B, actually i was searching another thread when i found it and the celebration thread too
i thought i saw once a thread for HP fans some where in Off-topics from some time,,, but i didn't find it now,, so is it true ,, i mean does it exist or it is just me ?? !!
and if i doesn't exist can i open one or not ?? i just found something that fascinated me and want to share with you, so where can i post it ?

[Doubar]

@teti: Just a quick reply to your current post, I'll reply to the other one later. <3

Well, first off, you certainly don't need to delete that post here, dear. However, yeah, you could well add the recipe to the existing compilation. Maybe together with the one for the Koushari, once that's done, hehe (do take your time with that one though, this ship ain't going anywhere ;D ). ^^

Hum... a HP thread tho... I must confess that this doesn't ring a bell. *ponders* I know we should have one for LotS and PoP but HP... oh, wait, well Kal opened a thread once in the member's area. But that's only remotely dedicated to HP:
distandlands.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=club&action=display&thread=513
Apart from that, no, I don't think such a thread exists. But you are welcome to open one. ;D

[Eric/Deamus]

AWWW i don't what i can do without you Doubieeeee

thanks so much my dear

[Doubar]

Awww, you're most welcome.

[Doubar]

Alrighty, so here we go. ;D

hey welcome to the club

*joins happily* Yay. ;D

And thanx, dear. I know you like to be of help, and that's really so sweet of you.
Aw, but do take your time with the Koushari. I can well imagine it's not the easiest of tasks to find pictures that actually show the process of making something, so no worries there.

Haha, and I think I have a fairly good idea because those chocolatey sweets are something I often cannot resist either. xD But don't you worry, I wouldn't even dream of using it against you. *hugs*

and for me ;D ;D

;D ;D Same here with the fireworks. I still love them and each year I gaze up into the sky, marvel at their colours and lights just as if they were magical. ^^

Aw, and I see what you mean about the bigger and the smaller cities. It's true, the sky usually appears to be much more clear in the smaller ones. There's less light pollution and less smog, too. Also, yeah, I managed to not take the tall buildings into consideration. Indeed those make it rather difficult to assess just how long it takes for the sun to set and rise.
Well then, I hope you'll be able to go to Alexandria then, and if you do: don't forget to calculate the time and share it then. ;D

i love watching the sun set whenever being close to the beach,, or the sun rise if possible,, these are my favorite,, and like to be alone while doing that,,, this last time i watched the clouds movements in one night the sky was cloudy,,, i just stayed there looking to the sky and it was amazing,, they were moving very fast like running and the sky looking from behind them very clear and like shy

That's true though. Sunset and sunrise are most beautiful things to watch. And I, too, love it when I'm able to just enjoy them. Though here in my city, since we're surrounded by hills/small mountains, you can hardly watch them properly. In contrast to that, at home you can easily watch the sun melt into the horizon. Oh, and here, too, you sometimes can see sun and moon both at the same time. Really love it when that happens.

Ooh, but I can well imagine that it's better to go in winter. To be honest, I don't even want to imagine just how high the temps must be now in Egypt. >.<

And as for the launching of rockets: ah, I see now. Yeah, that's true indeed. It's kind of an advantage to be in the bigger cities then where they have the official and professional fireworks. Still it's quite a sight as well when the whole neighbourhood gathers to shoot numerous of these thingies into the sky. ^.^

Aha, and great to know you found the threads. Whoa, and you got the idea for two other new ones even. Awesome. Am looking forward to finding out what they're about. ;D Don't you worry though if you can't tend to them before your travels. Just take your time with that.

And oooh that's your lentil soup it looks delicious i prefer the non-thick one too

Yay for non-thick soups then, eh? ;D Aw, but it is indeed delicious. Though true, it's quite different simply because we leave them lentils as they are (well, we cook 'em of course xD ). Yep, yep, yep though, there's usually a sausage with it. Though you can as well have it without that one of course.

yeah you see, the Ancient Egyptians were depending on it with the fava beans essentially as their only source of proteins,,, it's so rare for them to eat meat,,,

Yeah, it makes a whole lot of sense indeed. And I guess there were only few animals for them to hunt, like the geese. So having beans and wheet be the main ingredient sounds very reasonable. Thanx for sharing that info!

[MJ]

Tetisheri, thanks so much, this info is great! It did make me wonder though, I know that there are some exceptions in Ramadan (small children, pregnant women, the sick, the elderly etc) but what about old timey sailors who have to work all day in the hot sun? I can just imagion a hungry and thirsty sailor climbing up in the rigging and getting overcome by dehydration and falling down breaking his neck on the deck. And I guess if I can imagine it, someone else will have as well and thought of something to prevent it.
So could sailors postpone their fasting? Or do it in bits and bobs? Can you tell me how that works?

Also: I've been reading a lot of 1001 nights recently (I made it to night 101, page 600-something, no Sinbad yet) and as you may have read in my fic where I shamelessly stole it I read about a lot of young people, male and female, described as 'as beautiful as the moon'

OK ONE more thing, then I'll leave off, I promise: Again in 1001 nights it seems that a big part of what makes a beautiful girl incredibly attractive is her higher education. Like, she has to be able to keep up with the best scholars to be really worthy of a good man's praise. So how were these women educated? Was it solely a private, at home thing? Could you hire scholars? Were there schools?

I would love it if you could answer my questions; if I can do something in return, just say the word