Middle Eastern - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Middle Eastern

13
Jan
2019

This could get meze: Hummus and Tabbouleh

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Dip, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Lebanon, Middle Eastern, Salad, Vegan, World Cooking

I LOVE Middle Eastern food. One of my favourite cookbooks is Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour and I also love all the Ottolenghi books. Maha in Melbourne is one of my favourite restaurants – their 12-hour slow cooked lamb is to die for! I also used to live in an area of Melbourne that is full of middle eastern restaurants and ate at one of them at least once a week. So I was very excited to see that the next chapter in Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972) was for food from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. I was even more excited to see that there were recipes for two absolute classics of the region – hummus and tabbouleh. Both of which were in the Lebanese section.

Apart from the deliciousness, one of the other reasons I love Middle Eastern food is the amazing names for example, The Imam Fainted, and The Dervish’s Rosary. No other culture that I can think of has such poetic names for their food. My original plan had been to feature both of these recipes however, I recently discovered that I have an allergy to eggplant (aubergine), an ingredient that features heavily in both of these dishes.

Have you ever wondered if what you see and call “green” is the same as what other people see when they see green? Yes, it’s the colour of grass and leaves and apples but is the green I see the same as the green you see?

I wonder about things like that all the time.

I’m super fun at parties…

Well, my experience with eggplant was a little like finding out that what I call green is what everyone else calls pink. I was talking to a friend of mine about eggplants (as you do) and happened to mention “I like the way they make your mouth go all tingly”.

My friend was like “No…no it doesn’t….” with this face:

Long story short, it turns out that not everyone’s mouth tingles when they eat eggplant and that tingle is actually an allergic reaction. Turns out I am mildly allergic to nightshades, particularly eggplant and capsicums.

So an eggplant heavy menu was off the menu. So, no great names today, just some damn nice food. Starting with…

Hummus

Luckily I have no allergy problems with hummus which is wonderful because I eat it by the truckload. And yet, I have never made it before. And I may never make it again. I’d read that for really smooth hummus you need to peel the chickpeas. This is not only utterly boring (even using the hacks that abound on the interwebs) but also oddly repulsive. The chickpea peels kept sticking to my fingers and pulling them off felt weirdly like removing my own skin. It even looked a bit like it too…

The hummus was lovely though. This was a very classic recipe but, you could jazz it up by adding herbs or other flavourings to it.

Here are twenty or so variations from my Appetizers spreadsheet:

You say Tabbouleh, I say Tabouli

For the love of Mike can we settle on one spelling and stick to it? I’ve seen this spelt so many different ways – Tabbouleh, Tabouleh, Tabouli, Tabbouli…..in the end, even Good Housekeeping gave up. They list this in the index as Mint and Parsley Salad!

Unlike hummus, which I buy pretty much every week, I never buy tabbouleh. Because store-bought tabbouleh is generally disgusting – soggy and bland.

Homemade? Delish!

Like the hummus, the tabbouleh recipe in World Cookery is fairly plain. But this will allow you to jazz it up as you wish. Next time, I will add a little sumac into the dressing to ramp up the zing factor. I am also very taken with the Ottolenghi idea of topping tabbouleh with pomegranate arils.

That variation and a number of others can be found here.

The Recipes

I used tinned chickpeas for my recipe. I also assumed that when they said sesame oil in the recipe for hummus that they meant tahini (given it is in the recipe title) and not the sesame oil you use in Asian dishes.

Also, I did not garnish with parsley as per the suggestion because I needed all my parsley for the tabbouleh. I used a sprinkle of paprika.

The tabbouleh recipe suggests that you eat your tabbouleh using lettuce, vine or cabbage leaves as scoops. I prefer pita as the scoop, and if that piece of pita happens to have a smear of hummus on it, so much the better!

You could add some other delicious Middle Eastern titbits (for inspiration see here) and make up a lovely meze platter with these. Or, you could do what I did and just have them, along with the pita bread for lunch.

For those who care about such things, this meal is vegan.

Have a wonderful week! But before we go, tell me, what is your favourite cuisine?

21
Nov
2018

Sour Cherry Stuffed Monkey

categories: 1970's recipes, Desserts, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Israel, World Cooking

Disclaimer: No monkeys, stuffed or otherwise, were hurt, or even involved in the making of this week’s recipe. Stuffed Monkey is actually a Jewish pastry. With a totally kooky, and kind of revolting, name. Which is, of course, why I had to make it!

And I’m so glad I did because Stuffed Monkey is delicious! The pastry is like a cinnamony shortbread and the filling is slightly fudgy, a bit like a brownie. It’s so good!

Now, the original recipe for Stuffed Monkey, direct from the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery, had candied orange peel as the fruit in the filling. I’m not a big fan of candied peel at the best of times and, certainly not in the quantities required to make this. So I subbed in some dried sour cherries and some dried apricots for my version. I did add some orange zest as well so there was a hint of orange in my recipe as a small nod and a wink to the original.

So, why the odd and not appetising at all name? I found a couple of theories on the old interwebs…the first is that “monkey” is a corruption of the Arabic word “makhshi” which means stuffed. So this would then become a Stuffed Stuffed? The other theory I found is that these were first popularised by a family called the Monnickendams.

I’m not sure I’m entirely convinced by either of these but what do I know?

Here’s the recipe direct from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery:

And here is my version with the cherries and apricots.

Stuffed Monkey

Print Recipe

A delicious baked dessert

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

For The Pastry

170g butter
227g plain flour
170g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten

For The Filling

80g dried sour cherries, chopped
80g dried apricots, chopped
60g slivered almonds
zest of an orange
227g ground almonds
85g butter
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
1 egg white

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For The Pastry

Rub the butter into the flour.
Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Add the egg. Combine until the mixture becomes a smooth dough.
Divide in two equal pieces.
Roll the first piece out and use it to line a pie dish.

For The Filling

Beat the butter, ground almonds and egg yolks together.
Add the dried fruit, nuts and vanilla and salt.
Stir to combine.
Spread the filling over the dough in the pie dish.
Roll out the second piece of pastry and cover the filling with it.
Press the edges to seal them.
Brush with the egg white to glaze.
Heat the oven to 180C.
Place the pie pan in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes

This is great on its own but is fabulous with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

There is a downside to making a dessert called a Stuffed Monkey.

Which is that no one wants to eat it. The minute you mention the name, they get a funny look on their faces. Then they ask you to repeat what you said. Then they say “It’s okay, I think I might just have coffee”.

So just tell your friends it’s called Sour Cherry Tart or something. They’ll be shovelling it down like nobody’s business and asking for seconds in no time at all!

Or tell them the name and keep it all for yourself. It’s that good!

Have a great week!

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31
Oct
2018

Potato Maraska

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Israel, Middle Eastern

Today, as we continue our globetrotting trek through 1972 we are saying goodbye to the Balkans and heading to…well, here’s the clue given on page 273 of Good Housekeeping World Cookery….

If the baking dishes of non-descript food didn’t immediately alert you to our destination, then maybe the shisha, the toy camels and the fact that the dishes are placed on SAND may indicate that

a) We are off to the Middle East, and

b)Subtlety was not strong back in the day!

That picture is the worst!

Specifically, our first stop on the trip is Israel.

I really wonder, why, when the line drawings in this book are so pretty, they even bothered with the cliched photography. It was hardly to make the food look attractive!

The Potato Maraska was not my first choice of recipe for this post. I originally wanted to make a Butter Kuchen. I even bought all the ingredients for it. Well, I bought sour cream. I had everything else.

Then I read the recipe…

Hmm….and after you let the dough rise overnight? Then what?

Well, if you’re Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery you move swiftly on to a recipe for Chremzlach and the Butter Kuchen is never mentioned again.

Never mind, I thought, there is a recipe right above the recipe for Butter Kuchen for Kuchen Dough. I’ll just get the rest of the recipe from that…

Or…..not….

I would love to know what Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery has against finishing a recipe for Kuchen. But given the absence of how to cook the risen dough, I decided that mine was going to be a kuchen free kitchen!

I had been going to make a fish pie that night and, in the absence of kuchen I decided that I would use the recipe for Potato Maraska as the topping instead of regular mashed potato.

The Potato Maraska was…..okay. Not as nice as normal mashed potato but if you and didn’t have milk and butter or you wanted to cut down on some calories, the egg adds a richness to the plain potato.

And at least it was a full recipe!

That’s it for me!

Have a great week!

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PS – If anyone knows how to make a butter kuchen, please send me a full recipe!

01
May
2015

Rocking The Casbah

categories: Artichokes, Chickpeas, Cookbook Guru, Eggs, Morocco, Olives, Pastry, Potato, Salad, Tuna

The selection for March and April over at The Cookbook Guru was The Food Of Morocco by Paula Wolfert which really fits in with my explorations into Middle Eastern Food via Persiana and MENA.

First, the book is ENORMOUS!!!! If you dropped this on your foot, you would be in serious danger of breaking a toe. Or two. It was really quite difficult to choose the recipes to try, there were so many and so many that sounded delicious.

Second, it is beautiful – not just the recipes, the photography, the writing, everything about it is lovely. I would love to have this in my own collection as it is so well curated and contains so much of interest but sadly, it is quite expensive so, at the moment is just on the wishlist!

I have been sick for nearly a week now so I have left my run here a little late. Thankfully the anti-biotics have started to kick in and hopefully I can get this post out whilst it is still April somewhere in the world.

I have made four things from this book and whilst I would have loved to have a post for each, for the sake of brevity, I’m putting them all together so I can get something out before Christmas!!! I have also not included any recipes as that would have taken even more time but, if you like the look of anything let me know and I can send ’em through!

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO // BRIK WITH TUNA, CAPERS AND EGGS

I was not familiar with the brik, (pronounced breek) which is a Moroccan snack consisting of a very thin pastry called warqa wrapped around various fillings, one of which is this delicious but to me, uncommon, combination of tuna and egg.

Not surprisingly there was no warqa pastry at the local supermarket and because I was running so late on this, I could not shop for it so I used the much more readily available filo pastry for my briks. You can apparently also use spring roll wrappers, or if really brave, make your own warqa pastry.

So first up you saute up some onions, then add your tuna, capers, parsley and some parmesan cheese. And yup, this mix just on it’s own tastes AMAZING. I’m surprised there was any left to make the briks. Personally, I blame the hosts of reality tv cooking shows for constantly telling people to taste their food during cooking!

Then you make place the tuna mix on the pastry but make a little hole to hold the eggs. I don’t think it matters if it spills over a little like mine did.

Then you quickly seal this up and drop it into some hot oil to fry up – the idea being you want your pastry crispy and your egg still a little bit runny.

So, did I cook the perfect runny egg brik?

Sadly, no. My egg was cooked through. 🙁

This was not all bad though, it certainly made it easier to take the remainder for lunch the next day. And OMG, so tasty. I’ll definitely be trying this again and trying to nail that runny egg.

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO //POTATO TAGINE WITH OLIVES AND HARISSA

This tasted as good as it looks. And one for my vegan friends!!! The colours are so beautiful and the flavours blend together beautifully!

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO // THE BIRD THAT FLEW AWAY

This a lovely chickpea dish with a delightful name. Paula Wolfert explains that is it a “plat de pauvre” (a dish for the poor) that is made when you can’t afford to buy a chicken. It’s so good I think I would eat it regardless of whether I had a chicken or not!

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO INSPIRED // ARTICHOKE SALAD WITH ORANGE, LEAFY GREENS AND DATES.

A Spanish restaurant I am very fond of does a salad with oranges, artichokes and dates which is To. Die. For. In order to recreate it’s flavour, I used Paula Wolfert’s Orange, Leafy Green and Date Salad and added artichokes and some lemon and olive oil in the dressing. I think it worked really well and I loved the hint of orange flower water. It was not exactly my restaurant salad but it was pretty close. And look at how pretty it is!

Artichoke, Orange, Leafy Green and Date Salad

This was an amazing book and I am so glad that The Cookbook Guru drew it to my attention. The next few months we will be cooking from a book by a true legend of Australian Cooking, Margaret Fulton. I can’t wait. And I promise to be a bit more timely!

Have a great week!

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Moroccan Stewed White Beans Recipe – Vegetarian

16
Apr
2015

Feel Good Libyan Chicken Soup

categories: Chicken, Libya, Soup

So, this is the day I had.

The morning was humid and windy. Otherwise known as hell for allergies. My train was cancelled so I had to stand on the platform for 20 minutes waiting for the next one. In the humidity and wind. By the time the train finally came we were crammed in like sardines, my hair was frizzy from the humidity and my nose and eyes were streaming from the wind and the pollen / dust / mad air of Melbourne. Plus I’d left my book at home and someone had turned my charger off overnight so when I turned my phone on for entertainment it lasted about ten seconds before shutting down. No reading. No candy crush. Did I mention this was a Monday?

So I was jammed into the train, nose streaming. And I had no tissues. I always have tissues. Except when I don’t. I became one of those really annoying people who sniffle and snuffle on public transport. I hate those people. I think the only reason someone didn’t yell at me to “Stop that goddamn sniffing” was because my eyes were also streaming like mad and people probably thought I was crying.

Which I did later in the day when I dropped my lunch box and my delicious salad fell all over the ground. So, out to buy lunch and it was no longer hot and humid. It was pouring with rain. So I got soaked to the skin because, of course, I had no coat and no umbrella. I spent the afternoon shivering. By the time I got home, I was cold and grumpy and yes, still sniffing and all I wanted to do was get my dinner on, do my yoga podcast and collapse in front of My Kitchen Rules.

Harrrummmppphhhh…my soup calls for tomato paste. We always have tomato paste. Except when we don’t. I felt like crying again but subbed in some hefty swearing and a can of tomatoes and a couple of sun-dried tomatoes. And then I put my soup on and went upstairs to do my yoga pod.

It was now 7:02pm. MKR starts at 7:30. Which is fine. I do the YogaMazing podcast routines which are all about 20 minutes. So perfect timing really. Is it possible that one thing is going to work out for me today? I switch on the computer.

7:02 Windows is updating your computer.

7:10 Windows is still updating your computer

7:20 Windows is unfuckingbelievably still updating your computer.

The update finally finished at 7:28. I swear, it was as if they had timed it for maximum annoyance.

By now my little bit of grumpiness had turned into a full scale funk and a full blown cold. I stomped downstairs to turn on the telly and the twitter because that is now my default mechanism for watching My Kitchen Rules. Bravo MKR tweeters, you are the funniest and the best!!!

Not that I was thinking that then because I was in a pique with the world.

And then I got to the bottom step and thought “What is that gorgeous smell?”

And no, it was not the neighbour’s cooking something delish but MY chicken soup. My Libyan Chicken Soup with Thyme, or to be exact my Sharba Libiya bil Dajaj wa Alzatar. Or as I like to call it, the chicken soup of awesomeness.

This smelled wonderful. Exotic and fragrant with spices, it was instantly warming and uplifting. And it tasted amazing. Both soothing to my frayed nerves and bad temper and exciting and spicy to my tastebuds.

Talk about chicken soup for the soul. This was life affirming. One bowl of this and my fit of pique was lifted.

This was as easy as hell to cook. And all of the ingredients should be readily available. The recipe called for “orzo” which I also didn’t have so as well as the tomatoes I subbed in risoni. I have since found out these are the same thing. Who knew? Personally, I am going to start calling it by it’s Libyan name of Bird Tongues which manages to be both incredibly poetic, a perfect description and also, a teeny bit creepy. Oh, and the thyme featured below? Straight from my garden!!!

I found this recipe via a group I joined called MENA, the Middle East and North African cooking club. Every month the host chooses a soup, a main and a dessert from a country in the region and members can cook any or all of them. I have been loving cooking from Persiana, and was very keen to learn more about this region’s food and ingredients. And if this was anything to go by, bring it on.

The recipe except for the tweaks mentioned above is here:

Sharba Libiya bil Dajaj wa Alzatar (Libyan Chicken Soup With Thyme)

Gah…because I was sick I missed the cut off for MENA this month but never fear, hear are some of the other entries in for this month:

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a fabulous week, and the next time you feel a little bit sniffly or at odds with the world, try this soup!!!

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Category: Middle Eastern

Hummus

You say Tabbouleh, I say Tabouli

The Recipes

Stuffed Monkey

Ingredients

For The Pastry

For The Filling

Instructions

For The Pastry

For The Filling

Notes

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO // BRIK WITH TUNA, CAPERS AND EGGS

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO //POTATO TAGINE WITH OLIVES AND HARISSA

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO // THE BIRD THAT FLEW AWAY

THE FOOD OF MOROCCO INSPIRED // ARTICHOKE SALAD WITH ORANGE, LEAFY GREENS AND DATES.

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