Preparation:
NOTE: The amount of meat quantity, according to budget.
Cut 1 onion into 4 pieces (this goes with the meat when it is boiled). Cut the remaining onions into ring slices and place them in a cooking pot, and keep the other onion for later use.
Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them into thick slices and put in the pot, add water to cover the ingredients and add the tomato paste and salt and pepper to taste.
Boil the mixture for about an hour until the potatoes are cooked. In the mean time cut the beef into 2x2x2cm cubes and put in another pot with the remaing onion and the cardimom. Boil for about 1/2 an hour, then fish the cardimom out.
Preheat the oven.
Layer the potato and onion slices in the oven dish together with the beef cubes.
Pour the beef broth (Bahreez) resulting from boiling the beef in the oven dish, and put the dish in the preheated oven. Cook until the potatoe become red in colour (10-15 mins). You might need to add more broth if all the water is absorbed before that.
Variations and Comments: You can miss out on the meat to end up with a vegeterian dish You can use a layer of uncooked tomatoes as well. You can also add a layer of uncooked onions.
This is a low fat version since there is no fat used in cooking. For a lower fat version use turkey instead of beef. For a fuller fat version with nice distinctive taste use lamb. This is the quick way of cooking this dish and requires less time than cooking everything in the oven from their raw state (using thinly sliced potatoes).
The proper, full taste, full fat method would involve frying some of the ingredients (meat, onions, tomatoes with possibly some garlic) in olive oil rather than boling them, but can result in too heavy a meal. |
