In this video, learn how to create Chef John's Arayes, a delightful Lebanese dish featuring meat-stuffed crispy pita pockets bursting with Middle Eastern flavors. Join Chef John as he shares his expertise, step-by-step instructions, and culinary tips to ensure your Arayes turn out perfectly crispy and delicious. Enjoy a taste of Lebanon with this mouthwatering recipe!
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00:00Hello this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with Arayas! That's right
00:08apparently this translates to bride and groom which seems very appropriate since
00:13I can't think of a better marriage than a crispy pan-fried pita that's stuffed
00:17with spicy aromatic savory meat. And by the way these things must be pretty easy
00:22since this was my first attempt ever and I think I pretty much nailed it. And to
00:27get started we're gonna need some kind of ground meat which for me is lamb but
00:32if you prefer to use beef or ground turkey this technique will work the same.
00:36And what we'll do is spice this up with some smoked paprika, some ground cumin,
00:41some ground coriander. We'll also do a little bit of allspice which of course
00:47tastes like all the spices. We will also sneak in a little bit of cayenne as well
00:53as some freshly ground black pepper and of course we're gonna need some salt. And
00:59then we'll finish this up with some freshly chopped Italian parsley as well
01:03as some crushed or finely minced garlic. Or you could if you want grate it which
01:07a lot of recipes call for. Speaking of which the last ingredient at this point
01:12will be some grated onion which is a very classic ingredient in these kind of
01:17Middle Eastern meat mixtures. And yes by grating you're gonna get a very intense
01:22flavor so for a little milder alternative you could dice and saute the
01:26onion first. But personally I do like the flavor of the grated and I think it's
01:31well worth a few tiers. And that's it once everything's in there we'll give
01:35this a thorough mix which I like to start with a fork and then if necessary
01:40I'll finish with my hands. Alright the theory being the less time my hot sweaty
01:44fingers are touching the meat the better. And since I was filming and didn't want
01:48to wash my hands I just finished with the fork. But the point is we have to
01:52make sure everything's thoroughly and evenly mixed. And then we could if we
01:56want use it right away but I think it's much better if we wrap it up and pop it
02:00in the fridge for at least an hour. And you could if you want go as long as
02:03overnight. And then besides our meat mixture the other thing we can make
02:07ahead of time is our tahini yogurt sauce which starts with a spoon of tahini
02:12which is simply a sesame seed paste. And since it's usually kind of grainy and
02:17chunky and doesn't stir in well to other things I like to heat it up a
02:21little bit before we mix it into the yogurt. But before we do that we will add
02:25some freshly squeezed lemon juice and a little splash of cold fresh water. And
02:30then we'll zap that in the microwave for about a half a minute or until it's nice
02:34and hot. And even though that doesn't look much different it's gonna mix into
02:39the yogurt much better. So we'll go ahead and transfer that into some plain Greek
02:42style yogurt. And then besides the two main components I also like to add a
02:47little touch of crushed garlic. Plus a pinch of cayenne just to stay in shape.
02:51And then we'll finish up with a little bit of salt before we take a whisk and
02:56give this a thorough mixing. And if you're thinking shouldn't you have used
02:59a smaller bowl to make this easy task even more difficult? Well first of all
03:04I'll do the jokes. But yes it is a good point. At home please use something a
03:08little bigger. Okay when I film I always try to use the smallest containers
03:12possible since that usually means you can see things better. But yes a larger
03:17bowl would have been nice. But in any event we'll want to whisk that until
03:21it's nice and smooth. At which point we'll wrap it up and pop it in the
03:24fridge until we need it. And then once our meat and sauce are set we can move
03:28into final production. Which means taking some pita bread and cutting it in half.
03:32At which point you'll hopefully be able to pull that open without the bread
03:36sticking or tearing too much. And if your pita is fresh that shouldn't be too hard.
03:41And if it's not cooperating you can heat it in a pan a little bit which will
03:46soften it and make things a little easier. So I went ahead and did that to
03:49two pitas because I'm gonna make four portions. And then we'll grab our meat
03:54mixture and we'll use exactly one quarter of it in each half pita. And
03:58since I had never done this before my intuition was to put it near the bottom.
04:03And then once that was accomplished I figured I could just use my fingers and
04:06sort of squeeze it up towards the opening. And while my intuition is
04:10usually pretty good for these kind of things, this time it really wasn't. And
04:15that meat mixture was not moving around as easily as I had hoped. But anyway
04:19eventually after a little bit of squeezing and pressing I got it done. Oh
04:22and if you do get a few cracks in the pita when you're stuffing, don't stress.
04:27Everything gets pretty much sealed up when it cooks. But anyway I continued on
04:32using what I learned on the first one. And for the next one I placed the meat
04:36more in the middle. Which did end up being easier to work with. And I should
04:41mention some people cut the bread into quarters. But I kind of like the
04:44appearance of the half pitas better. So to me it was worth that little bit of
04:48extra effort. And that's it. Once our pita halves are stuffed we can head to the
04:53stove where we will heat up a generous amount of olive oil over medium heat. And
04:58once hot we will carefully place our rayas in. At which point we're going to
05:02cook these for about three or four minutes per side. Or until our meat on
05:06the inside is cooked through and our pita gets beautifully golden brown and
05:10crispy. And we are definitely gonna need to pay attention to the heat. And make
05:14sure our flame is not too high. Since the last thing we want to have happen is the
05:19outside gets beautifully browned and crispy. But that happens too fast and the
05:23inside still not cooked. So I'm gonna say do this on medium. But it's gonna be up
05:27to you to adjust as you see fit. Alright that is just you cooking. But having said
05:33that our meat layer is relatively thin. So about three minutes or so per side
05:38should be fine. And once that's done, if you're making more than one, you can
05:42transfer those onto a sheet pan and just keep them in a warm oven until the rest
05:46are done. So that's what I did while I cooked up the other two. And as you can
05:51see we really do want to try to get these nice and browned and crispy. But
05:55just in case you don't trust appearances, let's give it the old fork don't lie
05:59test. Oh yeah now that sounds crispy. Mostly because it is crispy. Hopefully
06:10on both sides. And while these were pretty good at room temp, I do think we
06:14want to serve them right away while they're still hot. Which I'm gonna do
06:18next is some lemon wedges. And of course our tahini yogurt sauce. Which I
06:23garnished up with a little bit of Aleppo pepper. And a pinch of parsley. Since I
06:28have to take some contractually obligated pictures. And after doing some
06:32of those, I pick one up and applied a little bit of sauce and went in for the
06:36official bite. And that my friends, as I touched on in the intro, is a very, very
06:42successful marriage. A crispy pita bread surrounding delicious aromatic spicy
06:47meat. Which is fairly rich. Which is why I think a nice squeeze of fresh lemon is
06:52also very nice with this. And I know it doesn't look like there's a ton of
06:56filling. But believe me it's the perfect amount. Okay I saw a few versions online
07:01that seemed to have a lot more meat involved. Which they must have baked.
07:05Because there's no way that would have cooked through in a pan. But anyway the
07:08most authentic versions I saw seemed to have just about this much stuffing. And
07:12for me I thought it was the ideal ratio. Oh and pro tip, if you put two dollops of
07:18the sauce on, you get to take two bites. But anyway if you want to use more
07:23filling, go ahead. I mean you are after all the Judy Blume of this bride and
07:28groom. And speaking of vows, promise me that after you get this technique down,
07:32you will try it with different fillings, spiced according to your own personal
07:37taste. Right this might seem like a specific recipe, but it is really just a
07:42technique. And there are just so many different directions you could go with
07:45this. Right I'm thinking like Italian sausage and peppers. Or maybe a
07:50cheeseburger Arias, with some caramelized onions inside, that we would
07:54dip in a secret sauce. But anyway no matter how you decide to tweak this, I
07:59think it's my new favorite sandwich that's not a sandwich. And I really do
08:03hope you give it a try soon. So please follow the links below for the
08:08ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.