Chebeh Rubyan

I found another global cookbook that happened to have Bharani recipes in it called,  “The World Cook Book, the greatest recipes from around the world.”  There is a recipe for Chebeh Rubyan, which is shrimp balls.  This is served as an appetizer.  They sound interesting, so why not.

I decided to use my meat grinder and grind the shrimp and cilantro

Mix in the spices and a lot of it sticks on my fingers.

 

 

 

Then fry onions and split in half, one part for the sauce and the other for the shrimp ball filling.  The shrimp ball filling calls for a spice mix called Baharat.  It is a common spice blend of pepper, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, and paprika.

Take a handful of the shrimp mixture.  Flatten it out.  Then add the onion mixture to the center.

Then take the fold the shrimp mixture over to create a ball.

Then you make a tomato based sauce.  One of the ingredients for the sauce is Tamarind.  I went to 3 grocery stores and could only find Tamarind chutney.  It will have to do.

Then you cook the shrimp balls in the tomato sauce.

They are ready!

 

They are delicious!  They are not spicy, but have a very complex flavor from all of the seasoning.  I love them!  Definitely worth making again.

Okay now that we have talked about yummy food here is something much less appetizing. When you get plastic surgery they sometime have to drain fluid from you. T o do this they have tubes that are in your body and they come out in my case from my under arms and then there is a drainage ball at the end to catch the fluids.  This to me looks like a grenade and they are totally uncomfortable.  Twice a day I need to drain them and measure the fluid.  You have to drain and then press the tube to create suction.  Doing this usually pulls on them a bit and hurts.  When the fluid is low enough the doctor will remove them.  I have 4 of them 2 on each side.  The nurse showed me a trick to wrap a scarf around my neck and then attach them with a safety pin.  This hides them and helps with the weight of the fluid.  Also when I take a bath I can have the scarf wrapped around my neck so it doesn’t get wet.  Two weeks after my surgery the surgeon thought they would be ready to be removed!!!   Well unfortunately for me there was too much liquid so he was only able to remove 2.  3 weeks later I got the rest removed, even though I had a lot of healing left to do.  Having the grenades removed feels freeing and I am closer to recovery.  The bad news of all of this is that when I get my implant surgery they will likely have the grenades in again.  Oh well at least I have yummy shrimp balls to eat!

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Recipes

Chebeh Rubyan

Original recipe can be found here

• 2 lbs uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, and drained
• 1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
• 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 4 tbsp Ghee
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp Baharat
• 2 tbsp tamarind chutney
• Juice of half of lemon and lemon rind
• 1 canned drained diced tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar

1. In a meat grinder, shrimp, garlic, and cilantro together.
2. Then mix in turmeric, salt, and rice flour.
3. Transfer to a covered dish and refrigerate until needed.
4. Halve the Ghee and saute onion until translucent.  Reserve one half of the onions for later us in the sauce.
5. The remaining half of onions stir in one tsp of Baharat and lemon rind.  Cook for one minute.  Remove from heat and reserve for the onion filling.
6. In a sauce pan add the reserved onions.
7. Stir in tamarind chutney, 1 cup warm water, 1 tsp baharat, tomatoes, chili powder, and sugar.
8. Cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
9. To prepare the shrimp balls, moisten your hands with water.
10. Take 1 tbs of the shrimp mixture and form into a ball then flatten.
11. In the center add 1 tsp of the spiced onion filling.
12.  Reshape into a ball.
13. Add the balls to the sauce and cook for 20 minutes on low heat.

 

Gulf Baharat

Original recipe can be found here 

• 1 tbsp red pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ground lemon omani (dried black lime)
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads

1. Mix all the spices together