Egyptian Kishk .. Milky Cold Sauce

For the last two days it was cloudy, and the sun rarely can be seen. Normally in Kuwait the weather is very hot, so dry and full with chalk dust hanging in the air. This type of weather can be considered as a typical Kuwaiti summer season weather. The Funny and interesting thing, that the summer in Kuwait combines every climate you can imagine. As we call it all in one .. For example, you may wake up in early morning inhaling fresh air, with a flavor of a clear sunny day. In the afternoon this clear sunny day will be something completely different. You will find yourself in you will find yourself in the middle of a dust storm. This storm may reduce the clear vision to 10 meters only.

Just after sunset, you will notice that the street in front of your door step is covered with mud, hello! it is raining .. The end of the day, you are feeling sleepy, and planning to go to bed .. “No .. No its not snowing at least not that bad!” I just wanted to remind you to close the windows tightly; small particles of sand may fill your house with dust.

Well, this is a fact I can’t deny! I wish that the weather here is perfect the whole year but it isn’t .. although the way of living here is much simpler, easier and sometimes better than US and many other countries “it is a fact more than an opinion“ .

At the moment, who are living in Kuwait they are living in the heaven. The weather is so prefect to the point that you will think the spring has just started.  When you look at the sky, you will see one of the most beautiful encaustic in the world. The sun wears a shawl of clouds. The light beams are penetrating the clouds to provide the earth with warm love. The temperature is ideal “between 73.4°F and 80.6°F”. Few raindrops will fall occasionally to celebrate winter’s arriving. The zephyr will kiss your cheeks with pleasure and touch of luxury every morning. I couldn’t resist the feeling so I pictured it in my garden.

Egyptian Kishk is a well known recipe in Egypt. It is a milky cold/hot sauce. You can eat it with rice or bread as a lunch or dinner; depends on what you prefer.

Adapted from my mother.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 litter buttermilk

1 lemon (make it juice)

1 big onion chopped

40 grams of butter (oil is not recommended in this recipe .. the taste will be affected)

2 cups chicken stock or 2 cups of water plus  2 bouillon cubes

3 pieces of Cardamom

3 pieces of Mcetkp (if available .. I didn’t use it although I got the same taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

To start

Whisk the buttermilk and the 4 tablespoons together in medium bowl, till you get homogeneous mixture. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Keep in refrigerator for 12 hours. If you have the chicken stock that’s fine (then one step is done). If not, then Bring to boil the two cups of water, then add the two bouillon cubes. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. After that add the three pieces of cardamom, Mcetkp and the flour-buttermilk mixture. Start to stir and make sure that you adjusted your heat to low. That will prevents your dish from begin spoiled. Keep stirring without stop till your mixture gets thickened. When the sauce become very thick, simmer for another 5 minutes.

For the chopped onions. Heat the butter into medium sized skillet. When the whole butter gets melted add the onion and sauté till brownish color. Then add the melted butter and half of the onions to the milky sauce and whisk. Keep in mind that the sauce should be on heat. So if you feel that it is a lot of work to do within few minutes, you can sauté the onions as first step and keep them aside. Simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes then done.

You can pour the sauce into deep serving dish, sprinkle with remaining onions.

enjoy with love,

Maryam