Egyptian Cuisine

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Food Category
Stew
Meat

Key Ingredient
Lamb
Okra

Cuisine Category
Egyptian

Bamya (okra) with lamb

Cuisine: Egyptian Created by Nadia Fawzi

A thick stew of tender lamb and baby okra is a common dish in Egypt and in the Middle East generally. The secret is in the long, slow simmer that brings the flavours together.

Ingredients

500g baby okra, topped and tailed
500g lamb backstrap, cut into chunky strips
1 tbsp ghee
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
2 tins pureed tomatoes (400g)
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup stock (optional)

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Preparation

Melt ghee in a saucepan. Sauté the chopped onion until soft, then add garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes then add the lamb and toss with the onion and garlic until the meat is sealed and lightly browned.

Add the tomato puree, tomato paste and season to taste with salt and pepper. If more liquid is needed, add stock. Simmer for 30 - 35 mins until meat is cooked.

Add the okra, cover and cook for 5-10 mins to bring to the boil. Add lemon juice and remove from heat.

Serve with white rice.

Egyptian Restaurants

Displaying 4 of 4 Egyptian Restaurants.

Restaurant		Suburb
1.	De Bortoli Winery and Restaurant	Dixons Creek
2.	Princess Jasmine	Punchbowl
3.	Made In Africa Ethiopian Restaurant	Moorooka
4.	Cupido	Carlton

14 Sep 2010 10:16 AEST

Michelle

Hallam

Egyptian favourite

I love Bamya! My father is Egyptian and I have been raised eating this dish. Although I must say my family's recipe is different to this one. We use a little bit of curry powder, ground cumin seed and ground corriander seed. Also, we do not use tomato paste or lemon juice. My cheats way is to use about 1/2 jar of plain passata sauce. Try it with chicken, it is delicious!

16 Aug 2010 12:12 AEST

Chrissy

Carlton

Bamya is great!

My Egyptian Grandmother makes this dish, and it's a family favourite. It's sad it hasn't been well received. Try adding the lemon juice in with the okra rather than at the end, as the acid seems to stop some of the sliminess. I remember seeing another variation where you fry the okra in a pan with a little oil, drain it on paper towels, and then add it in so that it stays crunchy. Also, I add at least a tablespoon of sweet paprika in after I've browned the onions.

22 Feb 2010 06:41 AEST

Sue

Hampton Park

nice but!

It would be more tasty with less pureed tomatoes.

30 May 2009 08:59 AEST

Norma

Northbridge

Acquired Taste

There is nothing wrong with this recipe - except that you might need to cook the lamb longer on a very low heat so that it really softens up. I suspect people who didn't like this don't like okra - specifially it has a very mucilaginous texture - it's slimy - and some people don't like that. Only thing I would change is the amount of garlic - I think around 10 cloves is more like it for that amount of lamb. I usually make this using diced beef.

12 Jan 2009 10:08 AEST

naomi

bronte

love it

Love the recipe. Ochra is a required taste however.

10 Jan 2009 07:48 AEST

Buk

Dandenong

What a dish!

DO noot west time and money to make this dish. It's not that good as it looked.

10 Jan 2009 07:43 AEST

Monalisa

Keysy

Disappointed

My husband told me not to cook it again and threw the recipe out.

11 Dec 2008 09:31 AEST

Isabella

Mackay

difference

what is okra? otherwise brillient receipe!!

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