Exotic Bakeries - History of Oozee

Exotic Cuisine & Bakeries
An Ann Arbor restaurant featuring various
Middle Eastern vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and meat dishes
1721 Plymouth Rd, Courtyard Shops, Ann Arbor, MI (734) 665-4430

The History of Oozee

The original name Qoozee, represents a traditional Arabic feast meal. It consists of a baby lamb cooked on a slow fire. Once cooked it is placed whole over a large brass tray filled with rice stuffing ( cooked rice with meat “mostly lamb meat”, nuts, spices, and sometimes raisins). Tribal leaders, as well as wealthy families in the traditional society still prepare and serve Qoozee in the original way to show their valued guest respect and generosity . It is more common in the Arabic Peninsula, Iraq, South Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, and the tribal regions of Syria to serve the Qoozee.

The Damascus urbanites in Syria made it harder on the house wives to create the new individualized Qoozee, giving the house wife a reason not to make it at home. The Qoozee is now prepared and delivered to the household by restaurants or bakeries. The Damascusites didn’t only change the traditional way of serving Qoozee, they also changed the pronunciation, the ingredients, and the way of serving.

The name is changed automatically, since the letter Q in the urban area is eliminated so the Qoozee is called Oozee. Other examples are: Qaal (meaning he said) pronounce A’al ; Baqara (meaning Cow) pronounce Ba’ara and so on. In addition to the name being changed, so did the shape. The mansaaf group gathering dish shrank to a personal size. The mansaaf appealing looks has given different picture, many dome shaped pastry pie on a tray took the place of a group gathering large oval brass tray filled with rice and topped with whole baby lamb. The small head would be presented to the head guest, as a gesture of giving the most to the best, the head to the head.

What is today’s OOZEE? It is a simple Damascus individualized feast for honoring a guest, friend, or relative. A big tray or several smaller trays of OOZEE are catered to a person’s house for sharing happy or sad events, especially the mourning dinner.

Today’s Oozee is cooked rice, lamb (or beef), green peas, and Syrian spices, rolled in a puff pastry and baked. It is usually served with yogurt, salad, or babaganouj.

Exotic Bakeries - An Ann Arbor Restaurant featuring vegan, vegetarian and meat dishes.
Dine In or Carry-Out, In business since 1990
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