In 2013, Ellie was still young and new to the market, we remember receiving an order from Ohoud; one of our very first clients. A lot of time later, we discovered a lot of people in common, one of which was our own sister, who was actually taking yoga classes by Ohoud. Discovering more friends and interests in common naturally lead to a great friendship.

There’s a lot of us that we see in Ohoud on the personal and professional levels. Her creativity, sense of calm and warmth, her dedication and commitment. Her love for life, travel and adventure, and her willingness to always try new things. Of course her love and appreciation of good food (yum!) too. But most of all, her passion and truthful support towards anything that she truly loves.

So many qualities that we love and aspire to, hence, a collaboration that we’re really excited for and proud of. We have A LOT of things coming up, but for starters, we’ll be posting a recipe every Wednesday created by Ohoud baked, cooked or served in our dinnerware. This is a fun collaboration, with well-thought ideas and many surprises ahead. Stay tuned, we hope you love it as much as we do!

About Ohoud

Ohoud fell in love with yoga almost 10 years ago, with it becoming less of just a mat practice and more of a lifestyle. She knew then that not only did she want to deepen her own understanding of yoga, but wants to share it as well. A trip to Rishikesh, India then climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro, the highest summit in Africa while working at Wild Guanabana, one of the leading adventure travel companies in the Middle East, really opened up her mind and heart to a whole new level.

From one life changing experience to the next, she had what many call a light bulb moment, allowing her to see how she wants to move forward with her life. A moment that lead to the birth of Bindu by Ohoud, and then the birth of Cocoa by Ohoud.

Kunafa Othmanleya

Ingredients

• For the Kunafa mix
• 250 grams of Kunafa
• 50 grams of butter
• 50 grams of ghee
• For the cream
• 1/2 tbsp of butter
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 1 1/2 cups of whipping cream
• 1 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk OR 2 tbsp of sugar

Sugar syrup: Simple sugar syrup is 1 part water to 2 parts sugar. For example, 1 cup of water to 2 cups of sugar. You bring them to a boil and you have your syrup. It’s a good staple to have in your fridge throughout Ramadan for all these delicious Ramadany desserts.

Directions

1. Make the cream first: in a pot on the stove, melt the butter.
2. Add the flour and whisk for a minute.
3. Add the cream and keep whisking.
4. Add the condensed milk and whisk until it thickens.
5. Take off heat and allow it to cool completely. Before you assemble the Othmanleya, if the cream feels curdled, just give it a vigorous until homogenous.
6. To make the Kunafa: in a wok on the stove melt your butter/ghee mix.
7. Add the Kunafa and toast it for at least 10 minutes until golden and crispy.
8. To assemble the Othmanleya, spread out half your Kunafa on Ellie’s serving plate, then generously drizzle sugar syrup on top. Then, spread out the cream. Add the remaining Kunafa and drizzle more syrup. You can top it off with your favorite nut assortment.

Lentil Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup of lentils (brown or orange)
• 700 ml of water
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 carrot
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tsp of chopped fresh thyme*
• 3 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 1 tsp of Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Goat cheese
• 1 Avocado (optional)

*You can substitute dried thyme if you don’t have fresh.

Directions

1. Soak the lentils in water for a couple of hours. Strain then rinse very well.
2. In a pot on the stove, being lentils, bay leaf, water and chicken stock to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer and let cook for 25-30 minutes.
3. Strain and transfer to a plate to cool faster. If possible after it cools, refrigerate for a bit.
4. Chop your veggies and mix them with all other ingredients in a bowl, except for the goat cheese and avocado.
5. Add the cooled lentils.
6. Transfer to your favorite Ellie serving bowl and top with goat cheese and avocado.

Chicken Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 1 can of cream style corn*
• 800 ml of chicken broth
• 1 chicken breast (cooked or uncooked)
• Splash of soy sauce
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper to taste

*If you can’t find cream style corn, blitz whole kernel corn with a splash of milk or cream.

Directions

1. Put the broth in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
2. While the broth is heating up, cut up your chicken into small pieces. Shred it if it’s cooked.
3. If your chicken is uncooked, this is when you cook it. Add it to the boiling broth, cover the pot and leave to cook for 5-10 minutes. Otherwise, proceed to the next step right away.
4. Add the corn and mix everything together.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add a splash of soy sauce.
6. Take the soup off heat, break in the egg and whisk quickly and vigorously.
7. Serve the soup in Ellie’s soup pot form their Ramadan collection.

Potatoes au Gratin

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp of butter
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 3 or 3 1/5 cups of milk
• 4-5 potatoes
• Mozzarella cheese
• Shredded parmesan or cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Peel and cut your potatoes into somewhat thin slices. If you won’t be layering it right away, keep the potatoes soaked in water so they don’t blacken.
2. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
3. Make the béchamel: add the butter to a saucepan and melt. Add the flour and whisk until it smells biscuit-y. Add 1 cup of milk and whisk well, then add the remaining cups. Add salt and pepper and keep whisking constantly. Turn off the heat when you see the first bubble.
4. Now for the assembly, start with an optional garlic rub of your Bram or dish. Add one layer of potatoes, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, add cheese and 2-3tbsp of the béchamel. Repeat for each layer and if you’d like, add a layer of cooked shredded chicken midway for a fuller dish. For the last layer, end with potatoes and a full layer of the remaining béchamel.
5. Place in the oven uncovered on the lowest rack for about an hour and 15 minutes or until it’s golden on the top and the potatoes are fork tender (you can loosely cover with foil if it becomes golden too soon). Alternatively, you can bake it covered for 30 minutes then uncovered for the rest of the cooking time.

*If your béchamel thickens too much when you’re assembling, you can turn the heat on, add another half a cup of milk and whisk.

Fattet Betengan

Ingredients

• 2 Eggplants
• 1 1/2 pieces of Shami bread or tortilla bread
• Optional: toasted nuts

Salsa

• 2 crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp of tomato paste
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 2 tbsp of pomegranate molasses
• 1-2 lemons
• Salt and pepper to taste

Yogurt dressing

• 2 small tubs of yogurt
• 1 tsp of tahina
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp of salt

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Cut up the eggplants into small squares, place them on a baking tray and drizzle and rub some olive oil.
3. Roast the eggplants for 15 minutes or until somewhat golden and tender.
4. To make the salsa, heat a drizzle of oil in a pot on the stove.
5. Add the garlic and stir for around 10 seconds before adding the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and molasses.
6. Season with salt and pepper, lower the heat and let simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, make the yogurt dressing by adding all dressing ingredients and mixing all. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
8. Take the salsa off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes.
9. Add the eggplants and the juice of about a lemon and a half to the rested salsa and set aside.
10. Cut up the Shami bread or the tortilla bread into small squares and toast in the oven for around 10 minutes.
11. Optional: toast your nuts in a pan. You can use pine nuts, peanuts, cashews, almonds or anything else you prefer.
12. Assembly: only assemble your dish right before serving so the toasted bread doesn’t get soggy. Start with the bread, add the eggplants and salsa mixture, top with the yogurt dressing. Sprinkle the toasted nuts for an extra tasty crunch.

Fillet Mignon

Ingredients

• 6-7 pieces of beef fillet
• 1/2 cup of onion water
• 1 small crushed tomato
• 1 tbsp of pomegranate molasses
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a bowl, add your fillet and pour all marinade ingredient to it and mix well. Leave out in room temperature anywhere between 10 minutes to 2 hours (the longer, the better).
2. In a preheated skillet on the stove, add a drizzle of olive oil.
3. Remove the fillet from the marinade, add to your skillet spaced out and sear each side for 3-4 minutes or until it browns.
4. Once done, lower your heat add the remaining marinade.
5. Optional: add a few cubes of butter on top of your fillet.
6. Cover your skillet and cook anywhere between 2-10 minutes depending on how cooked through you like your fillet to be.
7. Serve in your favorite Ellie serving platter.

Apple Crumble!

Ingredients

• 3-4 apples
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Crumble topping

• 100 grams of butter
• 110 grams of flour
• 55 grams of oats
• 40 grams of sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. To make the crumble topping, place the flour, sugar, cinnamon, oats and butter in a large bowl and mix until just combined.
3. Chop the apples, add the lemon juice and cinnamon and mix to combine. Transfer to your Ellie bram or an ovenproof dish.
4. Add the crumble mixture over the apples and place the dish on a large baking tray. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until the crumble is golden and the apples are soft. Serve with vanilla ice-cream.

Chocolate Mug Cake

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 2 tbsp of cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp of chocolate chips*
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1/8 tsp of baking soda
• 3 tbsp of milk
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp of water
• 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

*If you don’t have chocolate chips you can simply chop up some of your favorite chocolate into bits.

Directions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in your favorite Ellie mug then add all wet ingredients.
2. Microwave for 1 minute and 40 seconds.