Mfarakeh ( ar, مفركة, also spelled ''mofarakah'' or ''mufaraqah'' also known as Batata Wa Bayd ( ar, بطاطا وبيض) is an
Arab dish made of potato,
egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
,
ghee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals.
Description
Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...
,
cumin powder,
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
and
pepper
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
, in addition chopped
leaf for
garnish. This dish is very simple to make for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is eaten with
Arabic bread (Pita) and
Arabic tea
Arabic tea (, (pronounced ''shay'' , is a variety of hot teas popular throughout the Arab world. It is commonly served to guests and business partners at meetings and social events, and has been drunk by Arab people for centuries. It is conside ...
.
Mfarakeh is traditionally served as part of a
mezze in the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
, especially in
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
(
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
).
Etymology
The word "mfarakeh" ( ar, مفركة) is derived from the
Arabic verb, ar, فرك, farak, meaning "the rubbed". The root is also used to describe the crumbling apart of fully ripe wheat when rubbed in one's hand or even a wooden whisk used to break up food.
[Badawi, El-Said; Hinds, Martin (1986), “ف ر ك”, i]
A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic: Arabic - English
Beirut: Librairie du Liban; page 653 This renders the meaning closer to "that which is crumbled or broken apart into bits"; descriptive of the way the egg falls in crumbles around the potatoes.
Preparation
Cut the onions and put in a saucepan with olive oil on medium to light heat until well wilted. Then add the potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes, season with salt, pepper and cumin, and add a quarter cup of boiled water. Cook on low heat until the potatoes are tender, but have not lost their shape. Whisked eggs are then poured over the potatoes and gently stirred until all the egg is cooked; garnishes like coriander leaves are spread about just before serving.
See also
*
Arab cuisine
References
{{cuisine
Arab cuisine
Levantine cuisine
Syrian cuisine
Lebanese cuisine
Palestinian cuisine
Jordanian cuisine