Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, I make something else for the first time! Read past posts here, and please follow my Instagram, @fivethingsiate.
I am sort of excited about this new structure where I share one thing I made with you a week because it’s already making me try new things. I’m pretty bad at feeding myself. It’s like having the worst Tamogotchi, one’s own body, that I never signed up for, but sharing with you makes it more fun. I hope you try this week’s recipe, and if you do, reply to this email with how it went!
Beef and Cilantro Arayes (Lebanese/Middle Eastern stuffed pita pockets)
Makes: Approx 4-5, or 16-20 quarters. They’re pretty filling so I eat 2-3 quarters for a meal.
Roughly adapted from: Recipe Tin Eats
Please don’t come for me for: The lack of cultural food knowledge. I know this is not traditional, and I’m very open to your recipes!
Okay, so now that I gave you that disclaimer, onto the fun stuff: I’m totally obsessed with this recipe. While burgers are nice, I like ground beef even better when it’s combined with warming spices and fresh herbs and baked right into a crispy, warm, fresh pita. What’s not to like? It’s also extremely easy to make. Easier than making a cheeseburger, which I almost always manage to fuck up.
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef, 80-20 or fattier blend
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 bunch cilantro, diced (use parsley instead or a mix of half and half for a more traditional taste. I’m just Chinese and I freaking love cilantro. For the record I almost put diced scallions in this so you know I really held off on bastardizing it further.)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4-5 fresh pitas, you can get the thin kind but I like the fluffy kind. White flour only pls. (I ended up using an extra half, so 4.5, but if you stuff the beef to the brim, 4 works, and if you’re using smaller pitas, use 5!)
Steps:
Preheat oven to 400F. I use a convection toaster oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mince onion and cilantro. You can use a food processor. You want it finely minced.
Add beef and all spices.
Cut pitas in half and stuff with beef to corners.
Cut once more into quarters.
Brush with olive oil on both sides. (This makes it amazingly crispy, like a fried pita, but you could prob skip if you’re skimping.)
Bake 20 mins, flipping once
Enjoy immediately, while crispy and warm.
Optionally serve with tahini sauce: approx 1 tbs tahini, squeeze of lemon, 2 smashed garlic cloves, add water to thin!
XOXO,
Soph
P.S. If you make this recipe, pls pls let me know how it turned out! And forward this newsletter it to a friend :)
How much ground beef do you use for this?