Dizzy’s been adventurous this week and made her very first m’haancha. It actually turned out pretty well! And it’s completely vegetarian and vegan friendly. 🙂

This recipe is a little more complicated than our usual ones, so Dizzy thought it would be best to provide photos of her doing some of the cooking steps to help. 🙂

Dizzy m’haancha:

dizzythedonkey eating

Ingredients:

  1. 1/2 butternut squash
  2. 1 sweet potato
  3. 70g pearl burley or buckwheat
  4. 2 red onions
  5. 3 cloves of garlic
  6. 1 red pepper
  7. 60g fresh coriander
  8. 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
  9. 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
  10. 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
  11. 100g mixed dates and dried apricots
  12. 1 lemon
  13. Olive oil
  14. 10 sheets of filo pastry

How to make:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
  2. Pop the pearly barley in a saucepan with three times the amount of water. Cook for 40 minutes until the barley is soft and the water has been absorbed. Drain any excess water if there is any, and then leave the pearl barley to stand.

dizzythedonkey cooking

3. Wash the squash and carefully cut it up into little cubes. You don’t need the middle part with the seeds. 🙂

4. Peel the onions and garlic. Then chop the onions and peppers, also into little cubes. Finely chop the garlic with the coriander stalks.

5. Pop the squash, onion, garlic, peppers and coriander stalks into a medium-low heat pan. Also put in 2 tablespoons of oil, chilli flakes, fennel seeds and cumin seeds.

6. Leave these to cook in the pan for 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally throughout. Make sure it is all soft after this amount of time, if not, just leave in for a few more minutes. 🙂

dizzythedonkey msblog

Dizzy took the stirring very seriously. 🙂

7. Remove the stones from the dates and chop them up with the apricots and coriander leaves. Mix these in with the pearl barley and squeeze in half a lemon. Then pour this into your pan with the squash and mix together.

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8. Place two damp tea towels side-by-side, so they make a long rectangle. Lay out 3 of the filo sheets side-by-side, and overlap each one by 3 cm’s.

9. Lightly brush olive oil between the overlaps and over the sheets. Then place 3 sheets directly on top of the ones you already have. Brush these overlaps and sheets with oil aswell, and then repeat once more with 3 more sheets.

10. Then use a spoon to create a line along the edge of the filo pastry nearest to you with your filling. Brush the opposite edge with oil.

dizzythedonkey baking

11. You probably will be a Dizzy for this part to help! 🙂 Or a Dizzy replacement will also do. 🙂 Use the tea towels to help you roll the mixture up and away from you.

12. You should then be left with a long roll with your mixture in the middle. Then roll this into a large wheel. If you have any gaps appear (which is a very likely possibility!) use the left over filo sheet to patch these up with. 🙂

dizzythedonkey (2)

Dizzy was very pleased with herself for her rolling. 🙂

13. Very carefully slide this onto a greased baking tray, brush with oil, and pop into the oven for 45 minutes.

14. Take out of the oven….

dizzythedonkey cooking dinner…and enjoy. 🙂

We hope you like this as much as me and Dizzy did. 🙂 Dizzy’s portion is nearly as big as she is! xx

dizzythedonkey eating

 

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62 Replies to “How to make a Dizzy M’haancha”

        1. That sounds lovely. xx It has been nice and sunny here too but due to get very chilly next week. I’m definitely doing better, still having to rest lots but overall feeling much better and less dizzy. 🙂 Dizzy sends hugs. 🙂 xxx

          Reply

      1. It’s going really well and she has a lot more energy. For dinners she’s been surviving off of vegetable curry and quorn mince in lasagna/Bolognese/Shepards pie so I think she’d be grateful for the new meal choice here! 😂 The only thing she’s been tempted by is Chinese takeaways but surprisingly there are a lot of options that don’t involve meat. It’s very inspiring to see her keeping at it ❤xx

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          1. That looks delicious! I will show it to her, thank you 😄 I’m okay thank you for asking, my physical health is not in a good place at the moment but mentally I’m good. Hope you’re having a lovely day! ❤xx

          2. I’m sorry to hear your physical health is not so good at the moment but glad you’re keeping mentally well. 🙂 Keep positive and hope you have a wonderful weekend. 🙂 Sending hugs. xxx

    1. You can use buckwheat instead of barley as a gluten free option. I don’t know if there’s a filo pastry gluten free alternative you could use? Hope you like it and let us know how it turns out. 🙂 xxx

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        1. I’m sorry to hear you’re signed off work at the moment and hope you start feeling abit better soon. xx Are you able to get lots of rest? xx That’s very impressive about the novel. I learnt French at school but doubt I could read one line! xx

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  19. Looks delicious to me, except I would not add sweet potatoes (make me ill!). Don’t actually cook myself anymore. My husband is in charge of the cooking! I get overheated in the kitchen. Just use the microwave to feed myself when he is not here.

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  20. It looks AMAZING!
    Well done, you amazing pair of chefs 1 and 2!
    Do let me know next time you’re making it …. I’ll jump in the car and come on over! lol.
    Looks incredible and tasty. Brilliant job.
    Squidges from me, to you ~ Cobs. xxx

    Reply

    1. Hehe, it’s mainly down to Dizzy’s cooking skills. I just make sure she’s careful with her chopping and that sort of thing. 🙂 I’ll let you know when she decides she wants to make another one. 🙂 Sending hugs. xxx

      Reply

Let us know your thoughts, they always make for a very happy Dizzy :)