Kebab - by Special Request

My dad is quite the cook.  Even at 80 years old he can be found in the kitchen.  I remember him making these kebabs for us.  Over the years I have made them over and over again, each time tweaking the recipe to suite my family's taste.  The main thing is to find fresh chop meat and to buy it with at least 20% fat. It's the fat content that makes the kebab moist and juicy, it does melt in the heat of cooking too.  A good tip for handling chop meat is to keep your hands wet when forming the kebabs...you can also keep your hands slightly oily with a drop of olive oil.  You should be able to make at least 8 kebabs and you can certainly make them any shape or size you like.  We love these kebabs over Persian white rice with Israeli salad, pita with Humus and yummy Israeli pickles....my mouth waters just thinking of this meal.

Aba's Kebabs
1 1/2 pounds of chop beef
1 large onion grated fine, keep the juice too
1 tbsp marak-off
1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
Juice of 1 lemon and pulp would be nice too
Chopped fresh parsley is optional

1. Mix the meat, by hand, with the grated onion, salt, pepper, marak-off and lemon juice
2. Once everything is really well mixed form the meat into a bunch of small balls ready to be formed
    into the shape of a kebab
3. Grill on med high for 5-7 minutes on each side.  Meat should be dripping and grill lines forming
4. On cold days you could make these in the oven too.  Cook on 400 allowing the meat to drip



Hagit's babysitter in Israel is called Esti.  She was a dependable babysitter who became part of Hagit's extended family.  Anytime Hagit and her family were invited to dinner Esti always had semolina cake for dessert.  Since everyone loved these cakes so much Esti gave Hagit the recipes to make at home for the boys and she still does.  Hagit will share many more of Esti's recipes.  Look out for Esti's cous cous...she is the self proclaimed Queen of cous cous, making it from scratch.

Esti's Semolina Cake
3 1/2 pounds of semolina
8 oz container of sour cream (light is ok)
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup veg oil
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp baking powder

Syrup
3 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla

1. Mix cake ingredients together and bake on 335 until the top is brown, 45-55 minutes
2. Meanwhile, cook the syrup
3. When cake comes out of the oven, pour the syrup over the cake and leave it alone for
    1-2 hours before serving.  This allows the syrup to get soaked up by the cake
4. You can make this cake the day before you need it, just make sure it is covered very well
    so it does not dry out

Semolina Cake with coconut
1 cup of semolina
1 1/2 cups of coconut (sweetened)
2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of veg oil
5 eggs
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
2  8oz containers of sour cream
1 cup of white sugar

Syrup
2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups of water
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix all the cake ingredients and pour into a large Pyrex
2. Bake in a preheated 335 oven for about 45-55 minutes until cake is golden and a toothpick
    comes out dry
3. Turn off the oven but keep the cake inside to cool off together
4. Make the syrup on stove top, stir to make sure everything is dissolved
5. Take the cake out of the oven, put the coconut over the top and pour the syrup on
    top of the cake, including the sides
6. The idea is to drown the cake in the syrup.  It will absorb all the liquid within 20-30 minutes
7. Keep the cake well covered. Do not put into the fridge

Please give us your feedback on these recipes and we'd love to hear your cooking adventures too.

Hagit and Dafna