Egyptian Style Spinach (Sabanek)

cooking in cairo...'s Note:

This is so good, especially on a cold winter day. Its a very hearty and savory dish. You could also add a squeeze of fresh lemon to bowl before serving, gives it a tangy flavor; and if you like heat, add a dash of red pepper hot sauce to bowl before serving as well. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 2 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 bunch fresh spinach (cut into small strips)
• ½ lb stew meat
• 2 large onions , sliced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion , chopped
• 1 garlic clove , chopped fine
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 3 teaspoons tomato paste
• 2 tomatoes (blended in blender or food processor)
• salt
• pepper
• 1 dash coriander
• 1 dash nutmeg (grated from whole nutmeg if you have, if not ground ok)
• 1 dash Arabic seven spice
• 1 dash cumin

Directions:

1. Wash spinach well and cut into small sized strips. I usually take a few leaves, and slice together into strips, leave the stem, not problem. (This does not have to perfect, you just want to get them into longer, smaller strips.) Set aside.
2. Boil stew meat in water with the two sliced onion and two bouillon cubes. Cook until tender approximately 2 hours.
3. Strain out meat and pour broth into a large bowl.
4. In that same pot used for cooking meat, add chopped onion, garlic and butter and sauté until soft.
5. Add tomato paste, all spices, and stir around until well coated.
6. Add pureed tomatoes, ½ cup water and approximately 2-3 cups of broth. (You can add or decrease broth, depending on how thick you'd like it to be, check while cooking and add more or less broth. End result should be thick, but watery enough to be like a thick sauce -- hope that makes sense.).
7. Bring to a boil, add spinach and simmer for 20- 30 minutes on low heat.
8. Serve in bowls next to plates of rice and browned fideo noodles or with pita bread for scooping.

Reviews

[Chef #1173351]

i love vegetable and one of them is spinach. so i must to try this NOW!!!

[ALISSA ROCKS]

This was an excellent dish taste wise. I followed your instructions exactly but found I would have preferred the dish to end up with a thicker consistency. I used the least amount of broth indicated. I was unsure about what kind of stew meat to use so used well trimmed chicken necks. Thanks so much for posting, it was a wonderful dish to have at our Egyptian themed party last night.

[Umm Mazen]

This sabanek was soooooo good. I had some fresh spinach that I needed to use and came across this recipe. My DH who is from Palestine loved it. I cooked it very slow maybe even more than 2 hrs on low heat and since we are huge garlic lovers I did smash with pestle about 3 or 4 cloves. We ate it with fresh pita and it was wonderful. Will definately make this again. Thank you for posting.