Dimlyama

This is a great and versatile one-pot dish, made with meat and large cuts of layered vegetables. Dimlyama has it origins in Uzbekistan. My friend, who used to live there, gave me this recipe, and I tweaked it a bit. But the beauty of dimlyama is that you can tweak it endlessly, and it would still work great.

To make dimlyama, you'd need a cast iron dutch oven with a lid, meat and vegetables. In Uzbekistan, lamb is considered the only "real" meat, but you can use chicken thighs, as I did, or even fish (never tried that). As for the vegetables, potatoes and carrots are the staples; bell peppers, cabbage, eggplant, yam all work beautifully, too. If you have fresh dill, use as much as you can. If you have Italian parsley on hand, use it, too. You can use almost everything, doubling the ingredients you like more and leaving out something you don't care about.

The original recipe suggests topping the dish with tomatoes for their juice and flavor, but since there is a belief that cast iron doesn't agree with tomatoes, I skipped them and never regretted it.

Ingredients (make 4 big servings in a 5-quart dutch oven):

1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 lb chicken thighs, cut into pieces
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, chopped
1 big potatoe, cut into wedges
1 big yam, cut into wedges
1/2 small cabbage head, cut into stripes
3 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 sprugs of fresh dill, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Salt

Spices:

Ground black pepper
Ground cumin
Freshly ground coriander
Herbes de Provence

Method:

Prepare the vegetables.
Using high heat setting, preheat vegetable oil in the dutch oven. Add meat and cook for couple of minutes, stirring constantly, then add onion and spices. Cook, stirring, until the chicken is no longer pink. Reduce heat to low, and add the vegetables - layer upon layer. Every two layers, add salt, spices, and dill. Mince garlic clove between some of the layers.
Bell peppers, as the juiciest of them all, go on top. Again, add salt and spices, pour lemon juice, put the last sprug of dill. Cover, and cook for at least an hour. The exact cooking time depends on the stove: it took an hour and 20 minutes on mine. Use chopstick to check vegetables for doneness; don't stir.

To serve, lay out on a big plate. Let everyone take their share and appreciate this fragrant and flavorful food.

Split Pea and Swiss Chard Soup

I first came upon this recipe from Melissa when I had to find the way to use up a bunch of swiss chard. She recommends using green lentils for the recipe, but split peas work as well, and that's what I use.

Ingredients:

1 cup split peas
1 bunch of swiss chard, washed, stemmed, and chopped into stripes
7 cups water
10 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Put the split peas and water in a large pot and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, add the chopped chard. Do not stir. Reduce the heat to medium.
Cover the pot and let boil for 15 minutes.
Mix the softened chard and the lentils well and cook uncovered for another 45 minutes.
While it cooks, combine the pressed garlic, lemon juice, and a generous pinch of salt in a small bowl. Mix well. Stir in the olive oil.
Add this mixture to the soup.
Season with salt and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Verdict:

This Lebanese soup is delicious, and I like the way it is both filling and refreshing. I couldn't wait until it cooled to make a photo, and then it was too late.