Arayes Recipe Paired with De Grendel Rubaiyat

Arayes: Crispy Lebanese Beef Stuffed Pita

This delicious Middle Eastern street food consists of a pita bread stuffed with fragrant, spiced beef mince and is most often served with a tahini-based yoghurt dipping sauce. Arayes’ predominant flavouring is Baharat which directly translated means spice mix in Arabic and consists of black pepper, coriander, paprika, cardamon, nutmeg, cumin, cloves and cinnamon.

Prep time: 10 mins / Cook time: 30 mins / Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 500g beef mince (try to avoid extra lean)
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 50ml flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
• 15ml dried cumin
• 15ml Baharat spice mix
• 15ml chilli powder
• 30ml olive oil plus extra for cooking
• 5ml sea salt
• 3 to 4 pita breads, halved

For the dipping sauce:

• 100ml double thick Greek yoghurt
• 15ml tahini paste, softened
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Half a lemon, juiced
• 30ml fresh dill, finely chopped

Method:

1. For the dipping sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
2. In a large dish, combine the chopped red onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, Baharat, chilli powder, olive oil and salt with the beef mince.
3. Portion the mixture into equal sections and carefully stuff each pita half with the mince.
4. Brush a little olive oil over the meat side of each pita and cook – mince-side down – in a preheated skillet until browned.
5. Turn the arayes on to their sides and cook in a preheated 200°C oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
6. Serve the arayes immediately with the tahini sauce and a few glasses of De Grendel Rubaiyat.