Traditional beef mutabbaq with cheese
Snacks and light side dishes play a big role at an iftar table, and these beef mutabbaq with cheese are perfect for that role. With traditional flavours, a hearty, savoury beef and vegetable filling, and melted, gooey cheese wrapped in flaky, golden paratha, our mutabbaq will be a hit for guests and family members of all ages.
The shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese in the folded paratha packages does wonders for the mutabbaq in terms of both consistency and flavour, adding a gooey, melty texture to the minced meat and slightly crunchy vegetable filling, and a mild cheese flavour to the overall experience when taking a bite of the traditional snack.
The filling is flavoured with cumin and cinnamon, highlighting the recipe's Middle Eastern origin. The two spices work great together, cumin being warming, nutty, and slightly sweet, and cinnamon packing a punch with a woody, slightly citrusy and spicy flavour. They are delicious with meat like beef, adding incomparable depth and aroma.
Folded paratha dough with meat and vegetable filling
Mutabbaq means 'folded' in Arabic, which is exactly what this dish is; paratha folded over and around a cheese, beef, and vegetable filling to a closed package fried to golden, crispy perfection on a pan. Paratha is unleavened flatbread; it has buttery, flaky layers, and is perfect to keep in savoury fillings. You can use it as it is, pan-fry it, or bake it with filling in the oven until golden. If you buy it frozen or make it yourself to freeze, you always have flaky paratha in the freezer ready to make sandwiches, wraps, or this delicious paratha mutabbaq.
Cheesy, quick, and easy mutabbaq for iftar
Our mutabbaq recipe is a perfect, quick, and easy addition to any iftar table. The filling takes little work; you can easily let it rest for a while if you have other dishes to prepare. Requiring only filling, cheese, and paratha, it is quite simple, too, requiring only an easy folding before frying on a pan. Serve as it is as a larger, cheesy side dish, or as snacks cut into strips or squares on a platter.
When something is cheesy, it is an instant hit with all ages, which is why we opted for a generous sprinkle of shredded mozzarella and cheddar that turns into a gooey, melted delight after pan-frying the mutabbaq. It also holds the filling together, making for easier bites almost like finger food; perfect as snacks at iftar. And the best thing is, you decide how much cheese gets into each folded package, so you can go all out on cheese if you want to.
Experiment with the filling's ingredients
The mutabbaq filling is versatile, making it easy to experiment with. You can, for example, make a chicken mutabbaq with thinly sliced chicken breast. You can also add more, or other, vegetables, like grilled zucchini or aubergine, or put a spin to the spices by using ground cloves or freshly grated ginger. For a spicy touch, use finely chopped chilli pepper to taste. Just make sure not to use ingredients with too much liquid as this might make the filling soggy, and, if adding vegetables or chicken slices, make the pieces or slices bite-sized so you get a homogenous filling.
