Arayes
I work backwards when creating some recipes. I get bored of my usual food and find myself daydreaming about what to make for dinner. (I know I am strange and some people make fun of me but - after all, I am a dietitian).
Then I either do some googling, watch some cooking videos or sift through some cookbooks. Then - it comes to me. I begin building my dish with the obvious things I have around. Then I start looking at all my spices and pantry ingredients.
I see the date syrup and thing sefardi food and deep, rich, sweet flavor (perfect for sefardi meats).
I see the Hawaij for soup which is also a perfect pairing for a sefardic meat meal.
I mix and stuff and grill, and out comes these beyond beautiful and delicious arayes that can be enjoyed with any side dish you like.
Here you see a variation of my cucumber salad. I added pickles because we need pickles when we BBQ. Enjoy outside by the grill!
Arayes Ingredients:
2 lbs Chopped Meat (I used a chicken meat mixture)
1 Onion, minced
1-3 cloves of Garlic, minced
1 tbsp Date syrup
1 tbsp Parsley (dried or fresh)
1/2 tsp of Cumin
1 tsp Hawaij soup seasoning
1 and 1/2 tsp of Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp of Crushed Black Pepper
6 pitas, cut in half
Instructions:
1. Mice the onion and the garlic.
2. PIace the onion and garlic mixture with the kosher salt, black pepper, cumin, parsley, hawaij, and date syrup.
3. Add the meat. Mix to combine. Do not overmix, or your meat will be tough.
4. Open up the pitas and stuff each one with the meat mixture.
5. Brush olive oil on top sides of pita and on top of the meat mixture.
6. Grill the arayes on each side, and top, 5 minutes each (Total 15 minutes).
Enjoy with garlic mayo, my cucumber salad, pickles, hummus, tachina and whatever else you like!
