The most famous meals of Iraqi cuisine

Iraqi cuisine is famous for many different dishes and recipes from the rest of the Arab and Middle Eastern kitchens in general, and this is due to its originality and being unique in it, many of these foods have been passed down through generations and through the civilizations of ancient Iraq, including the Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian and other civilizations that formed the local Iraqi culture that appears and announces itself in various aspects of life, including, of course, cooking methods, recipes and traditional meals.

In an attempt to collect the most famous dishes of Iraqi cuisine in one article with its history, ingredients and recipe for preparation as well.

Rice Bean (Rice with Beans)

It is one of the famous Iraqi dishes that is characterized by its delicious flavor and the multiplicity of methods of preparation and the meaning of its name is rice with beans (taman means rice and beans means beans)

Beans can be prepared with meat or chicken with the addition of a variety of spices and flavorings, the most important of which is dill, which plays the main role in the taste of this meal. In this article, we will present the ingredients and recipe for preparing this decades-old Iraqi meal.

What are the ingredients of the original Iraqi beans rice recipe?

This is done by preparing and preparing the following ingredients (rice, onions, a fatty substance that can be fat or oil, green dill cut into small pieces - finely chopped - in addition to the protein that will be added to the meal can be meat or chicken as we have already mentioned, and of course beans (beans) peeled and washed, chopped garlic, water or broth and spices with beans.

How to prepare Iraqi bakla rice

At first, the meat is boiled in the usual way, then water is added to the rice, in which it is soaked for some time, then finely chopped both onions and garlic, then stirred with oil in a saucepan over medium heat until the onions are golden and garlic smells. Then add water or meat broth, salt, then add rice and beans until the water boils. Simmer and after some time, add the meat and dill, cover the pot and cook until rice is cooked for twenty minutes, stirring once while cooking.

5. Serve with peas garnished with fresh dill with a side dish of salad or yogurt.

Smech Mesgoff

This meal is considered the most famous and most popular as the first Iraqi national meal, which is fish grilled in the traditional Iraqi way. It is preferable to use newly caught fish than other fish that have been caught for a while, and it is usually preferred to use river fish from the Tigris and Euphrates of carp or brown types in the preparation of this delicious national meal.

How to prepare grilled fish

To prepare the fish for this dish, open from the opposite side of the back instead of the abdomen, and the opening line extends to the head and open on both sides to become clear all in front of the fire when settling.

After opening the fish in this way, it is cleaned well from its entrails and from any dirt or unwanted objects, then it is salted, and then two or three holes are drawn crosswise with a knife to facilitate its suspension when leveling.

It is leveled by grilling as we mentioned and this is done by lighting a fire using willow wood in a circular manner, and stakes of thin wood or iron are placed at a height commensurate with the width of the fish on the outer perimeter of the fire. The fish is attached to the stakes to be grilled by radiant heat, where the fire is far from it.There are usually those who control the fire in terms of intensity, and bring it closer or away from the fish as needed. After the belly of the fish is mature, remove it from the stakes and place it on the coals of the wood to grill its outer skin.

Masgouf is usually served with traditional Iraqi authorities and pickled.

Dolma

It is also one of the famous traditional dishes of vegetables that are stuffed with rice and minced meat that entered Iraq during the Ottoman presence in it, but the Iraqis changed it in addition to reducing and increasing some of its components, making it more fatty and more delicious at the same time.

How to prepare Iraqi dolma

Preparing quantities as desired of vegetables that are used in dolma, such as white and black eggplants, bell peppers in their colors as well, tomatoes, an appropriate amount of Egyptian rice to make stuffing, flavored vegetables such as onions, aromatic leafy vegetables such as parsley and mint, in addition to salt, black pepper, dolma spices, oil to brown onions, and finally sauce, tomato paste, pomegranate molasses and minced meat.

The steps of making dolma are very simple, they only depend on preparing their ingredients together, and the filling mixture is started by browning the onions in oil, then adding spices, tomatoes, aromatic leafy vegetables, then rice and pomegranate molasses, and minced meat is added to the mixture at the end.

After cleaning and organizing the vegetables, which will be filled with eggplant from the middle and cleaning the peppers from the seeds, as well as tomatoes, wash the king and leave wet and inverted for some time, then the filling process begins.

After the completion of the filling, the dolma is stacked in a saucepan in which the pieces of meat that will be eaten with the meal are placed at the bottom and above it is stacked circles dolma until the end of the quantity and the remaining sauce of the filling is added to the broth added to the dolma to settle it and it is possible to add a quantity of pomegranate molasses as desired to the settlement mixture and leave on the fire until full maturity and then serve hot.