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Halal-conscious recipe

Arayes

Eleanor Ford's arayes, the Levantine grilled pitta stuffed with Halal beef mince spiced with sumac, smoked paprika and allspice, toasted on a griddle and finished with pomegranate molasses.

  • Cuisine Levantine
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 4 stuffed pittas
  • Time 20 min
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
A flat minced-meat pide cut into strips on a white plate, with two long green peppers laid across it
Photograph from our ingredient library: a restaurant kıymalı pide, another minced-meat flatbread, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Caroline Ford · CC BY-SA 3.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The filling is 450 g of beef mince, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, inside shop-bought pitta, whose dough conditioner is worth a look.

Beef mince spiced with sumac, smoked paprika and allspice, with tomato purée, toasted pine nuts and parsley, is spread thinly inside pitta, brushed with oil and pressed on a hot griddle until the bread is crisp and the meat cooked through. A drizzle of pomegranate molasses finishes it. The beef needs a Halal source, and the pitta should be free of L-cysteine (E920) of unstated source, or certified.

It follows Eleanor Ford's recipe for Great British Chefs, which serves four. She notes that arayes means "brides" in Arabic, and that the meat goes inside the bread before it is griddled, a reversal of the usual kebab.

Serve hot.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Beef mince Beef is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and mince without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the mince from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Beef.
  • Pitta Some industrial breads use L-cysteine (E920) as a dough conditioner; its source is not always stated. Choose pitta without E920, or certified. See L-cysteine.

Safe substitutes

  • Beef mince of unknown slaughter → 450 g Halal beef mince
  • Pitta with E920 of unstated source → Pitta without E920, or certified

Allergens

gluten (pitta), nuts (pine nuts)

Ingredients

Arayes

  • 450 g Halal beef mince
  • 1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 heaped tbsp toasted pine nuts
  • 1 heaped tsp sumac
  • 1 heaped tsp smoked paprika
  • ¾ tsp ground allspice
  • ¾ tsp fine sea salt
  • 3 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 4 pitta breads without E920, or certified
  • to taste olive oil, for brushing
  • to taste pomegranate molasses, to serve

Method

  1. Mix the filling. Mix the mince with the tomato purée, pine nuts, spices, salt and parsley.
  2. Fill the pittas. Cut each pitta down one side and spread the filling inside in a thin, even layer. Brush the outsides with olive oil.
  3. Griddle. Heat a griddle pan to medium-high. Grill the pittas, pressing down with a spatula and flipping now and then; a quarter turn gives crisscross marks. Allow about 8 to 10 minutes in total, depending on the bread, until the pitta is well toasted and the meat is cooked to a juicy pink or well done.
  4. Serve. Serve hot, drizzled with pomegranate molasses.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from Great British Chefs' 'Grilled pitta stuffed with sumac-spiced meat' by Eleanor Ford, which says these are found across the Middle East and the Levant, where they are called arayes (serves 4; easy; 20 minutes in total: 450 g beef mince mixed with a heaped tbsp each of tomato purée and toasted pine nuts, a heaped tsp each of sumac and smoked paprika, ¾ tsp allspice, ¾ tsp fine sea salt and 3 tbsp finely chopped parsley; spread thinly inside 4 pitta breads cut down one side; the outsides brushed with olive oil; griddled over a medium-high heat, pressed with a spatula and flipped now and then, about 8 to 10 minutes in total, until the pitta is well toasted and the meat cooked to a juicy pink or well done; served hot with pomegranate molasses). We specified Halal beef and pitta without E920 or certified; the published steps are followed in order. Great British Chefs gives the total time only; we split it from the method into 10 minutes each of preparation and cooking. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Grilled pitta stuffed with sumac-spiced meat — Great British Chefs Retrieved:

    By Eleanor Ford; known as arayes across the Middle East and the Levant. Serves 4, easy, 20 minutes in total: beef mince with tomato purée, pine nuts, sumac, smoked paprika, allspice and parsley spread inside pitta, brushed with oil and griddled 8 to 10 minutes; pomegranate molasses to serve. We specified Halal beef.

  2. Beef analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    What makes beef Halal: the slaughter.

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