Manila, Philippines, 5 May 2020 – With Mothers’ Day just around the corner, many people are looking for some ideas on how they can give their moms a treat on this very special occasion. One of the best ways to do this is prepare a special breakfast in bed or brunch meal that they will never forget.
To help with this, Emirates has shared recipes for three special dishes that are part of the airline’s award-winning cuisine: Arabic lentil soup, prawn machbous, and apple raisin crepes.
These three dishes are some of the most popular and highly requested food items on board Emirates flights and will surely give the special ladies in your life a memorable gastronomic experience. What’s better is that they’re easy to make and all ingredients that are needed for them are readily available at major supermarkets.
You can also include in the meal a serving of mimosa for a refreshing citrus drink!
Arabic lentil soup
To make this simple but satisfying soup, you will need:
- Celery (80 g, chopped)
- Carrots (120 g, julienned)
- Yellow lentil (300 g)
- Vegetable stock (1.5 liters)
- Onion (100 g, sliced)
- Potato (250 g, cubed)
- White pepper powder (1 g)
- Cumin powder (2 g)
- Corn oil (40 g)
- Salt (12 g)
- Pita bread (optional)
- Lemon wedges (optional)
Start by rinsing and draining the lentils. Next, heat the corn oil and sauté the onion, celery, potatoes, and carrots for three minutes until softened. Add the lentils and stir for five minutes, and then the salt, pepper, and cumin and stir for a minute. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 35 minutes or until the lentils are cooked. Blend the lentils into a smooth mixture with a hand blender, and then season to taste. Serve with fried or toasted pita bread pieces and lemon wedges.
For a video tutorial and a bulleted list of the procedures on how to make Emirates’ Arabic lentil soup, please visit this page.
Prawn machbous
For this very popular Emirates dish, the ingredients that you will need are:
- Fresh prawns (1.3 kg, peeled and tail removed)
- Basmati rice (1.2 kg)
- Loomi dried lime (1 pc. whole), can be substituted with lemon juice
- Tomato paste (75 g)
- Red onion (60 g, chopped)
- Tomatoes (150 g, chopped)
- Coriander (15 g, chopped)
- Vegetable oil (50 ml, for cooking)
- Water (1 l)
- Butter (45 g, clarified)
- Salt (30 g)
- Garlic (30 g, chopped)
- Vegetable oil (30 ml, for marinade)
- Coriander seeds (45 g, ground)
- Allspice powder (25 g)
- White pepper powder (10 g)
- Red chili powder (6 g)
- Cumin powder (62 g)
- Loomi powder (10 g), can be substituted with lemon zest or lemon peel powder
- Cinnamon powder (45 g)
- Cardamom powder (20 g)
- Nutmeg powder (10 g)
- Turmeric powder (250 g)
First, prepare the signature machbous spice mix by combining all the powdered spices: coriander, allspice, white pepper, red chili, cumin, loomi, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and turmeric. Set aside 50 grams of the spice mix for the recipe and pack the rest in an airtight container for future use. Marinate the prawns in the machbous spice mix, salt, and oil for 30 minutes. Wash and rinse the rice three times, soak for 45 minutes, and strain.
For the prawns, heat the oil in a large cooking pot and sauté the garlic and onion, and then crush the dried whole loomi and add to the garlic-onion mix. Sauté until onions are soft and translucent. Add butter and prawns and stir thoroughly. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute, and then add the chopped coriander, diced tomatoes and salt.
Finally, add the washed rice and the rest of the spices and stir. Add hot water and bring to boil. Cover the pot and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Serve with a garnish of fresh coriander.
Here is a video on how to make Emirates’ prawn machbous, and a bulleted list of the procedures.
Apple raisin crepes
And now, for the dessert! For this, you will need:
- Cream cheese (150 g)
- Sour cream (50 g)
- Lemon juice (20 ml)
- Vanilla extract (6 ml)
- Sugar (120 g)
- Cinnamon stick (1 stick)
- Water (100 ml)
- Granny Smith apples (250 g)
- Raisins (70 g)
- Vanilla bean (2 pods)
- Butter (40 g, unsalted)
- Flour (150 g)
- Milk (300 ml)
- Eggs (4 pieces)
- Salt
Start with the apple raisin compote. Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in 60 g of sugar. Add water, cinnamon stick and one vanilla pod to the pot. Bring mixture to a boil and add apples. Cook over low heat, occasionally stirring until the apples are tender. Add more water if too much evaporates. Stir in raisins before removing the saucepan from heat. Remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla pods from the mixture.
For the cream cheese filling, dissolve 40 g of sugar in lemon juice, add vanilla extract. Mix cream cheese and sour cream. Stir in the lemon juice mixture into the cream cheese and sour cream mix.
For the crepes, combine eggs, 20 g of sugar, salt, melted butter, and flour. Slowly add milk while stirring the batter to ensure no lumps. Slice vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape off the seeds and stir into the batter. Let the batter sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and coat with butter or oil. Pour batter and spread with a crepe spreader. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until underside of crepe is golden brown. Loosen the edges with a spatula, flip and cook for 1 minute. Slide crepe off the skillet.
Finally, lay the crepe on a clean flat plate. Spread or pipe some cream cheese filling on the crepe. Spoon in the apple and raisin compote on one quarter of the crepe and fold to half. Folding one more time into a triangle. Repeat with the rest of the crepes.
A video of how to make Emirates’ apple raisin crepes as well as a bulleted list of the procedures are available here.
Mimosa
A mimosa is a popular cocktail that provides a refreshing perk-up to any brunch meal. For this simple cocktail, all you need is freshly squeezed orange juice and brut champagne. The latter can also be substituted with sparkling water for a mocktail that still hits the spot!
First, make sure the orange juice and champagne are well-chilled. To make the cocktail, fill about a third of a champagne flute (or any glass of choice) with the orange juice, and then add the champagne. Garnish with orange wheels or top with cherries.
By preparing these sumptuous dishes, not only will you be able to make your mom a delicious meal on her special day, you will also be able to learn three new dishes that you can make again anytime! And to ensure a hassle-free cooking experience on the day itself, make sure that you have all the ingredients with you beforehand.
On this very special day, Emirates would like to honor all mothers for giving us their guidance, nurturing, and unconditional love. So, to all moms in the Philippines and around the world, Happy Mothers’ Day!
