Apples in Arabic cuisine - recipes by Egyptian blogger Amar Araby
Apples have played an important role in Arabic cuisine for centuries, adding their sweetness and crunch to many delicious meals. Apples are not only a popular fruit consumed every day, but also an important ingredient in many traditional and modern dishes. Arabic cuisine is rich in a variety of flavours and aromas, and apples play a significant role in it. Their juicy and sweet taste goes perfectly with spices and other ingredients typical of Arabic cuisine. In Arabic cuisine, apples are often added to salads, dips, casseroles, and even stewed in meat dishes. In some regions, apples are used to prepare sweet desserts, such as baklava with apples or compote.
All this makes apples an important element of Arabic cuisine, enriching it with their unique taste and nutritional values. Thanks to their various uses, apples are appreciated in Arabic cuisine by both professional chefs and culinary enthusiasts, and their presence adds character and elegance to many dishes served on Middle Eastern tables.
Here are some recipes for dishes using apples in Arabic cuisine created by Egyptian blogger Amar Araby.
Salads – apple fattoush
In Arabic cuisine, apples are widely used in various contexts. They can be added to salads, where, thanks to their juiciness and sweet taste, they add freshness and contrast other ingredients. One of the popular dishes with fresh apples is apple fattoush.
https://www.omararaby.com/recipe-apple-fattoush
Ingredients:
• 1 red apple
• 1 medium cucumber
• 3 leaves of lettuce
• a quarter of a bunch of parsley
• a quarter of a bunch of mint
• 1 tomato
• 2 onions with chives
• a loaf of Lebanese bread
Dressing:
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons of pomegranate molasses
Method:
1. Cut the bread into small pieces and toast them in a fryer or fry them in oil.
2. Mix olive oil, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses and salt to prepare the dressing.
3. Cut all the salad ingredients into small pieces.
4. Add the dressing to the chopped salad ingredients and mix well.
5. Add toast and apple slices for decoration.
Meat dishes – creamy chicken with apples
In Arabic cuisine, apples are also often used to add sweetness and freshness to meat dishes. Meat and apple casseroles are popular in some regions, where the sweetness of the fruit balances the flavour of the meat, creating a surprisingly tasty dish. Creamy chicken with apples is a popular recipe.
https://www.omararaby.com/recipe-apple-chicken
Ingredients:
• 0.5 kilogram of chicken
• 1 teaspoon of salt + 0.5 teaspoon for the sauce
• 0.5 teaspoon of black pepper + a quarter of a teaspoon for the sauce
• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 large red apple (sliced)
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
• 1 stock cube
• 0.5 cup of milk
• a cup of cooking cream
• olive oil for frying
• 0.3 kilogram of pasta
Method:
1. Pound the chicken breasts so that they are even, then sprinkle them with salt and black pepper on both sides.
2. Fry the whole breasts in a small amount of olive oil over medium heat, then set aside.
3. Place the chopped onion and apple slices in a bowl and stir them for two minutes until the onion becomes translucent, then add the crushed garlic and
stir for half a minute.
4. Add the herbs, milk, cooking cream, stock cube, salt and black pepper and stir until the sauce has the consistency of a light béchamel sauce.
5. Add previously fried chicken breasts to the sauce and simmer for two minutes.
6. Turn off the heat, add the pasta and mix with the sauce.
Desserts – apple crumble
Apples often appear in sweet desserts in Arabic cuisine. They can be added to baklava, cakes or compotes, giving them natural sweetness and apple aroma. One of the popular recipes is apple crumble (https://www.omararaby.com/recipe-apple-crumble).
Crumble ingredients:
• one and a quarter cup of oatmeal
• three quarters of a cup of flour
• 0.5 cup of brown sugar
• 200 g of cold butter from the fridge
• a small teaspoon of cinnamon
• pinch of salt
Apple layer:
• 1 kilogram of European green apples
• 0.5 cup of brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 5 cloves
• 3 tablespoons of starch
• 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
Method:
1. Core and cut the apples into small cubes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients for the apple layer, mix well and then set aside.
3. Mix the dry ingredients for the crumble.
4. Cut the cold butter into small cubes.
5. Mix the butter and dry ingredients to form a crumble, not a uniform mass.
6. Transfer the apples to an ovenproof casserole dish and cover them completely with the crumble.
7. Place the casserole on a baking tray and put in the oven preheated to 180 degrees for an hour.
8. Remove from the oven when the crumble is golden brown and set aside for a full hour.
9. Serve with apple slices, ice cream and caramel sauce.
We encourage you to visit Amar Araby’s website (https://www.omarscooking.com/home) to discover more inspiring recipes using apples in Arabic cuisine! Enjoy!