Family Chef: A taste of home Ouzi

Family Chef: A taste of home
Ouzi
by Wahideh, Karkamış camp,
Turkey
50 g of pistachios
½ kg of butter
50 g of pine nut
Salt
Allspice
Difficulty: hard
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
½ kg of rice
1 can of green peas
1 kg of yufka (thin bread)
250 g of ground beef
Crack pistachios and place the
nuts in a bowl.
Add 1.5 liters of cold water on top
of ½ kg of white rice and add 1
tablespoon of salt.
Place 2 table spoons of butter in a
saucepan and add half of the
ground beef (about 175 grams)
and half a tablespoon of allspice.
Cook it for 5-7 minutes and keep
stirring regularly.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in
another large pan and add the
remaining of the ground beef.
Cook for 5-7 minutes, add green
peas.
Rinse the rice and add it to the
Add 3 liters of boiled water on top
of all ingredients.
Close the lid and let it soak in the
water for 10 minutes.
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Family Chef: A taste of home
Ouzi
by Wahideh, Karkamış camp,
Turkey
Oil the cooking tray.
Lay half of the yufka bread in a
bowl and add the grean peas and
rice mix.
Add a tablespoonful of pistachios.
Fold the sides.
Turn it upside down and place it in
the cooking tray.
Cook in the oven for 10 minutes
and serve with ayran (mix of
yogurt, water and salt).
Wahideh’s tip:
Ouzi is a meal Syrians serve to
their guests during special
occasions. You can also put the
stuffing on a plate and place
roasted chopped meat on top of
it. This is the way that it is served
at weddings.
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Meet the Chef
Welcome to The World Food
Programme’s (WFP) Family Chef
series. Explore the culinary treasures
and cooking abilities of refugees who
benefit from WFP’s cash-based transfers,
an initiative that allows individuals to
buy the food they need to cook their
traditional dishes.
I first met Muntaha at the youth centre in
Turkey’s Karkamış camp where she volunteers
every day, playing with the children and helping
with art projects and games. She spends
most spare time there, but always returns
home before lunch to help her mother cook.
She greeted me with a warm smile and after
chatting for a short while she invited me to visit
her family at their tent.
When we arrived, her mother Wahideh opened
the door for us and insisted that I join them
for lunch. Unlike her daughter, Muntaha is not
a very cheerful woman. A weight of sadness
follows her as she moves around her tent,
almost weighing her down with every step.
“When the bombing started we had no choice
but to leave Aleppo. All of our family fled to the
border and we waited there together for two
days. When we finally crossed the border, we
Falafel
stayed in Antakya for another 27 days before
finally moving to Karkamış camp,” she told me
as she prepared the ingredients for lunch.
“My husband was a public employee. He had a
good income and we had a normal life, but all
of that changed when the war began.”
It was a hot day so Muntaha set up three fans
while she and her mother cooked. She listens
to her mother very carefully and follows her
instructions to make sure the meal is perfect.
Smiling, she said, “I like learning our traditional
meals. It reminds me of home.”
As they showed me how to prepare their
traditional Ouzi, Wahideh continued to talk
about the Syria she left behind where she and
her family were safe and could walk outside,
enjoying the scenery and nature. “Being safe in
Syria is the thing I miss most.”
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