Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The making of "The King"

One of my all time favorites, I can eat it like there is no tomorrow, Yallangi, is the king of my hors d'œuvre.
I haven't been getting a lot of good news recently; finding a grocery shop that sells grape leaves was one of the very few exceptions.
Called my mom, she e-mailed me the "how" to make, checked Abu-Fare's blog for "how to wrap" and I was ready to rock "n" roll...



What looked like this:





Merged later forming the "king"....


The wrapping was not an easy task, it took me forever. My back was in pain by the end of the operation. I had no other choice but to carry on… the temptations were strong…the image of me nibbling the Yalangi was all over my head. It had haunted me for few months now…

Of course, just like most of my "firsts" I had to video-tape it. I think I had many flows in wrapping the leaves, so if you are a person that can spot my mistakes, please highlight them for me!



Hours later on that day, the table was ready and I was about to start my lustful journey in eating my "treats".




Yallangi, although known to be a local appetizer in Syria and Lebanon, it's considered of Turkish origins. However, my theory says Yallangi is too good to be Turkish, therefore, the recipe was stolen among many other things from Syria during the Ottoman occupation, renamed and re-introduced as a part of the Turkish cuisine. This theory remains un-refutable and un-testable, however it will always be true to me. Ameen!

4 comments:

x said...

sa7tain..
I loved the video!
From seeing my mom roll yalangi and yabra2, the only comments I can make are that the leaves she uses are smaller, and she puts in a small amount of rice, so they're really compact... and I think she folds in the sides first, and then starts to roll..

Either way your meal looks appetizing. :)

Anonymous said...

والله يا زلمة اديك ناعمين كتير ..يعني اديي مو هيك ..دخلك شو الكريم يلي بتستعملو؟؟:D :

أنو برافو عليك ئايم ومحرك رجلك وعامل يلنجي بفرد مرة..والله انا ما عملتا لسا.
عكلن ليك (حسب ما أذكر )شو الغلط الذي ارتكبته بحق اليلنجايياية:
1- الحشو توو متش عم تحط..خود بعين الاعتبار انو الرز وئت بيستوي بيضاعف حجمو .. لزلك نصيحة لوجه الله تعالى يا ابني بكل انواع المحشي كل مائللت الرز كان ازبط.

2- منيح منك انك انتبهت انو في وشين لورقة اليبرئ... هلأ انو مو طالع شكلها متل تبع يلي كنت تشوفون بلشام لأنك ئاعد بتلفون بلمئلوب ... يعني الوش الأملس لازم لبرا والخشن لجوا... وئت بيكون الاملس لبرا بتجي انت بضبون عبعضون بتئوم الورقة بتكمش ... فهمت شي؟اعتقد لآ

3-هلأ ورقة اليبرئ عم تشئشق معك لأنك غاليها 7 دقايق؟؟؟؟
حرام عليك يا زلمة هريت نعمتها للورقة..
انو لازم تغلي المي ...تطفي عنها وبعدين تنزل الورق وتخليون شي خمس دقايق بلمي (والنار مسكرة) وبعدين تصفيون من المي. وفي حال كانت الورقة قديمة مو تازا ما بتستحمل المي السخنة كتير .. بتهتري بزيادة.
كمية الحشوة يلي عم تحطها ما رح تقدر تحملها الورقة يلي هي اولردي مغلية توو متش كمانة.


بلنهاية
:(
شهتني عيلنجي
واااااااااااااع

Abufares said...

Ok Ihsan
You didn't tell us how they came out. I mean how did they taste. You effort is valiant and the video clip is a masterpiece.
Sa77a Wa Hana.

tamatem * said...

yalanji the word.
in turkish it means "liar" or "me7shi el kazzaab" in this case cos it contains no meat, but still looks like "yabra2" which contains meat.
so.. its kazzabeh :D

i got that piece of info from mosalsal el fosol el arba3a so if it's wrong, u know who to go after.. ana ma dakhlni

fia el3afieh :)