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ody — such as vegetables, grains,<br />
meats and fish.<br />
Samira recalls her kids enjoying<br />
the traditional home-cooked dishes<br />
she made daily. But as her kids grew<br />
older, they became interested in eating<br />
what their friends were eating.<br />
Samira quickly realized that the modern<br />
Western diet is not at all the same<br />
(or as healthy) as the traditional Eastern<br />
diet she grew up eating.<br />
It became Samira’s goal to recreate<br />
all sorts of dishes for her family,<br />
and to completely avoid feeding her<br />
children the unhealthy “fast food”<br />
meals. Focusing on wholesome ingredients,<br />
through trial and error, Samira<br />
figured out how to make a couple of<br />
favorites such as chicken nuggets and<br />
hamburger buns for the burgers.<br />
Cheerleader for Aspiring Chefs<br />
In addition to cooking for her family,<br />
Samira has always enjoyed sharing<br />
her recipes. Friends, family and sometimes<br />
complete strangers began asking<br />
for her recipes and instructions.<br />
Eager to lead, set an example and<br />
empower, Samira’s approach is to encourage.<br />
She tells people, “You can do<br />
this, even if you’ve never cooked before.”<br />
The more she shared, the more<br />
inspired she became to keep going.<br />
Over the years, Samira’s passion<br />
for cooking, and especially baking,<br />
grew to the point of boiling over (pun<br />
intended) and she finally decided to<br />
put it all into a book.<br />
Between 1997 and 2011, Samira published<br />
three cookbooks in Arabic and<br />
in English. Her first book, Muchtar Min<br />
Fenoon Al-Dabough, was published in<br />
Arabic, in 1997. Next, came the Treasured<br />
Middle Eastern Cookbook, published<br />
in 1998. Her third book, A Baking<br />
Journey, was introduced in 2011.<br />
While raising a family and putting<br />
together cookbooks, Samira also became<br />
a regular on TV Orient — the Arabic-speaking<br />
network on cable television<br />
— preparing, demonstrating and<br />
sharing her latest dishes for the Chaldean<br />
and Arabic speaking community.<br />
Toward the end of her run with TV<br />
Orient, Samira moved her platform to<br />
YouTube, where she has been posting<br />
since October 2010. Taking charge<br />
of the production directly has given<br />
Samira complete creative freedom. It<br />
is only the latest chapter in her long<br />
and evolving career.<br />
RECIPE<br />
Pikota Habiya Kashka<br />
Recipe shared by Samira Cholagh<br />
Ingredients:<br />
4-5 pounds beef or<br />
lamb with bones<br />
3 cups barley<br />
6 cups water<br />
1 teaspoon ground turmeric<br />
1/2 cup oil or butter<br />
1 large onion, chopped<br />
salt to taste<br />
Step 1, Barley: Rinse the barley. Fill<br />
pot with water, add barley, salt and<br />
turmeric. Boil until the water has<br />
evaporated. In a frying pan, heat 1/4<br />
cup oil, add chopped onions. Cook<br />
onions until soft, not brown. Add<br />
onions to cooked barley, mix well.<br />
As a final step, add remaining 1/4<br />
cup of oil to pan, heat at high temperature<br />
then pour into the pot of<br />
the Pikota. Mix well.<br />
Step 2, Meat: Select beef or lamb<br />
with bones for best flavor, any<br />
choice of cut. Searing the meat in<br />
oil at a high temperature for a few<br />
minutes on each side will enhance<br />
the savory “meat” flavor. Add water<br />
to the pot, cover and simmer for an<br />
hour and a half or until tender.<br />
Step 3, Presentation: To achieve the<br />
pictured presentation, pack Pikota<br />
into a round cake/Jello pan or any desired<br />
shape. Place a flat serving dish<br />
over filled Jello pan, keeping pressure<br />
to seal them together and in one quick<br />
swoop, flip Jello pan over serving dish<br />
and slowly remove the shaped pan.<br />
Arrange meat around the Pikota. As<br />
a side with this dish, fresh tomatoes,<br />
parsley and cucumbers are served.<br />
<strong>AUGUST</strong> <strong>2023</strong> CHALDEAN NEWS 39