Kubbat Halab (Iraqi style rice kibbeh stuffed with mushrooms, aubergine and chestnuts)

I have to admit, Iraqi cuisine is not something that I am too familiar with. While it shares some similarities with its neighbours, and the Middle East as a whole, with the exception of some of the food popular among the Iraqi Jewish diaspora such as amba (the ubiquitous mango and turmeric sauce found in many of Israel’s falafel and sabich shops), sabich – a pitta stuffed with fried aubergine, pickles and egg and slathered in the aforementioned amba sauce, and marak kubbeh adom or red kubbeh soup. A rich sweet, sour and spicy beetroot soup with bulgar wheat dumplings stuffed with usually meat, but sometimes a vegetarian mixture my knowledge is lacking.
There are some distinctly Iraqi specialities, one of which is kubbat halab or Aleppo kubba/kibbe. While named after the Syrian city, this dish is uniquely Iraqi. Traditionally a spicy meat filling encased in a turmeric coloured rice dough and then fried until crispy. 

My version is a vegetarian adaptation, I had originally planned to stuff the kubba with a mushroom mixture, however I didn’t have enough so added some aubergine and chopped chestnuts, ultimately you could probably stuff it with whatever takes your fancy. I often make these stuffed with cheese, which while totally non-traditional are unbelievably delicious. Crispy fried rice encircling melty oozy cheesy goodness. Mmmm
The ingredients below are enough to make 4 or 5 kubbeh, size-wise mine are around the size of a tennis ball, squashed slightly. Oh, that’s another thing. Shape – Sometimes these kubbeh are the more traditional kibbeh torpedo shape, other times they are ovals or like mine squashed spheres. It’s all personal choice, though if you’re shallow frying then you probably want something with a flatter base.

Note: Recipes for kubbat halab usually call for an egg to bind the rice together, and washing the rice prior to cooking to remove some of the starch. I omitted the egg and the washing stage, figuring the starch would help the mixture stick together. It did.

Ingredients
250g long grain or basmati rice
1 tsp turmeric
Pinch of saffron threads
Salt

Stuffing
2 cloves of garlic
Mushrooms*
Aubergine*
Chestnuts* (chopped – or any type of nut)
1 tablespoon Paprika
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Allspice
2 tablespoons sultanas

*I've not given quantities, but to fill 5 kubbeh, I used 6 small mushrooms, a handful of chestnuts, and a couple of slices of grilled aubergine (all leftovers scavenged when I realised I didn't have enough mushrooms!)

1. Add the rice to boiling water with the saffron, turmeric and salt. Rather than cooking by the absorption method I boiled the rice for around 12 minutes until it was just done and then drained.
2. To make the dough, traditionally leave the rice to cool enough to be handled, and then work it between your fingers breaking up the grains until you have a rough dough to which you add 1 egg. I used an immersion blender to puree the rice. You don’t want to do this too thoroughly, I left some of the rice whole to create texture. Taste the rice dough and add more salt if you think it needs it

3. For the stuffing, chop the vegetables finely and fry until soft and then add the spices. I haven’t gone into much detail, as basically you can use whatever you want!

4. Before assembling, it helps to have a bowl of water to dip your fingers in to keep the mixture from sticking.
5. Take a good sized handful of the rice dough (around the size of a tennis ball) and then flatten on the palm of your hand, add a spoonful of the filling and then fold the dough over the filling and shape the finished kubbeh. There are quite a few different methods of doing this, and I guess you make them how you’ve seen them being prepared! Some people take a ball of the kubbeh mixture, place a finger inside and flatten out the sides creating a rice dough ‘cup’ into which the filling is placed. The dough is quite pliable so either method works just as well. Once you’ve sealed the filling in the rice ball flatten is slightly

6. To prepare, shallow fry in oil until crispy and golden brown. I also oven baked some, while you don’t get the same delicious crispy rice crust, they are still tasty and obviously a slightly reduced calorie version

7. Lovely served with amba, or harissa, or any way you fancy!

Bamya (Egyptian style okra stew)

I love okra in all its forms, but none more so than in the hearty Egyptian stew bamya. As with a lot of Middle Eastern and North African foods, the recipes are shared throughout the region, but with subtle differences. Bamya in Egypt pretty much always contains meat of some sort, after much trialand error I found that rather than use  meat substitute, using grilled chunks of aubergine work perfectly. Especially when marinated in a sweet and sour vinegary marinade.
As with all my recipes, the amounts are approximations, use more or less liquid depending on how much okra you have.

Ingredients
300g okra
1 large onion 
1 aubergine 
Olive oil
8 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp caraway seeds
2 tablespoons of tomato paste 
200ml of passata 
Margarine or butter (a good sized dollop)

For the marinade
A splash of balsamic vinegar
A splash of regular vinegar
Olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin, coriander and caraway seeds
Salt
1 tsp smoked paprika 

1. Cut the aubergine into large cubes and grill on a griddle pan until done, I don't add any oil. If you prefer you could roast the aubergine slices in the oven. You want them to keep a bit of body, so don't overcook
2. While the aubergines are cooking dry roast the cumin, coriander and caraway seeds and then grind in a pestle and mortar or a coffee grinder. (As an aside, this spice combination is known as tabil and is Tunisian in origin, while not strictly used in the Egyptian version, Egyptian cuisine does use coriander and cumin heavily, so as I always have tabil ready made I tend to just use that)
3. Tip the still hot aubergine cubes into a container and add the balsamic vinegar, regular vinegar and spices. Leave for at least an hour
4. Grate the onions, and fry in olive oil with 4 cloves of crushed garlic until golden brown
5. Add the okra and sautee for a few minutes
6. Stir in the spices and tomato paste and then add the passata. Top up with some boiled water if the sauce needs thinning down
7. Bring to the boil, and then simmer on a low heat for around 30 minutes or until the okra is tender
8. Now add the aubergine chunks and cook for another 10 minutes
9. As the bamya simmers, crush the remainder of the garlic and fry with the dried coriander in butter or margarine until golden brown, this is called the takliya and is the finishing touch in many Egyptian dishes
10. Pour the takliya into the bamya taking care not to miss a drop (I usually pour a little of the tomato sauce into the pan that the garlic has been frying in just to catch all of that garlicky goodness)
11. Serve with white rice and a squeeze of lemon joice

Çiğ köfte (Bulgar wheat and ground walnut kofte)

In addition to bean cuisine, Turkey is a land of the kofte or meatball. Obviously for a vegetarian, meatballs are possibly not something that one shows much interest in, however çiğ köfte (or raw meatballs) are something quite special. Yes, you did read that correctly, 'raw meatballs' and vegetarian in the same sentence. Traditionally, çiğ köfte were made with raw meat (either lamb or beef) finely pounded with soaked bulgar wheat and ground chillies, however due to food and hygiene laws in Turkey (or at least in Istanbul) it has not been possible to serve raw meat in restaurants for the last ten years or so. Hmm... what can a creative person do? Well, a vegetarian/vegan version came into being, and amazingly delicious it is too. The 'meatiness' comes from the soaked bulgar wheat and ground walnuts. It reminds me a little of some of the Georgian walnut-based pastes such as pkhali. The recipe itself is so simple, yet utterly delicious and rewarding. The only time consuming bit is the kneading of the mixture, but slip a box set in the DVD player, take your kofte mixture into the living room and knead away  :)

Ingredients

1 cup fine bulgar

1 cup ground walnuts

Boiling water (to soak the bulgar)

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 onion (grated)

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 tsp dried mint

1 tsp cumin

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 large ancho chillies (soaked in water for 30 minutes, deseeded and pureed)

Fresh coriander and parsley

1. Pour the boiling water over the bulgar wheat and soak for around 30 minutes

2. Pour into a muslin square (or clean dish towel) and squeeze out the excess water

3. Mix in the ground walnuts

4. To this, add the grated onion, tomato paste, herbs, spices and chillie puree and mix well. If it’s too crumbly then add a little olive oil. Texture wise you want a doughy like consistency. As an aside, if you can’t find the fine bulgar wheat needed to make this recipe, using a stick blender to ‘mush’ up the standard bulgar wheat works just as well. Don’t overdo it though as you want a little bit of texture in the mix

5. Knead this mixture for at least 10 minutes (ideally 30 minutes)

6. Pinch off golf ball sized pieces and roll into sausages, squeeze hard to create indentations

7. To eat serve in lettuce leaves with a squeeze of lemon. Delicious!

Koshari (rice with lentils, pasta and chick peas)

I posted a recipe for mujadarra a while back, a delicious rice and lentil concoction found all over the Middle East, rice and lentils are probably one of my 'go to' comfort foods. Easy and quick to make and utterly delicious and satisfying. Nothing like a double dose of carbs to ease a troubled soul. Double dose you say? Pah! I laugh on your double dose, what about a triple, quadruple or even quintuple dose of carbs? Yep, now we're talking, and we're talking koshari!

The Egyptian take on mujadarra. It has the rice and lentils, but snuggling up to them are vermicelli, pasta and chick peas all smothered in a spicy tomato sauce and topped off with fried onions. Oh yeah!
I've side-stepped from tradition slightly with this recipe, it's probably more of a pimped up koshari than the type you'd encounter on the streets of Cairo, as I decided to make the sauce with some canned cherry tomatos and ancho chillies, I also had no ditalini pasta (short macaroni tubes) so mine is the lightweight 4-carb version, but immensely satisfying all the same. I made this with a packet of ready cooked puy lentils - you could use canned brown lentils or cook your own lentils from fresh. As for the sauce, wing it! The ancho chilli gives it a lovely rich smokey flavour, but I've had koshari with a variety of sauces from the thinner vinegary end of the spectrum to the thicker lucious side. It's all good!

Ingredients
200g rice (rinsed)
100g vermicelli
250g cooked lentils
1 can of chick peas
Water (or vegetable stock)
Olive oil

For the sauce
400g can of cherry tomatoes 
4 cloves of garlic (crushed) 
1 large red onion thinly sliced
4 large ancho chillies (soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes)
1 tsp cumin (ground)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Salt to taste
Balsamic vinegar

1. Rince the rice to remove some of the excess starch. Roughly break the vermicelli and fry in olive oil until toasted and golden, add a pinch of salt, stir in the rice and cover with boiling water or stock (I'm not giving amounts here, I pour in the water until it's around 1.5 cm from the top of the rice, it's a pretty forgiving recipe as the pasta soaks up any excess water). Turn up the heat and boil vigorously for 1 minute, then turn down to the lowest heat, cover the pan with a cloth and put on the lid and cook for 30 minutes
2. While the rice and pasta are cooking, prepare the sauce
3. For the sauce, fry the crushed garlic and half of the onion in olive oil until softened
4. Toast the cumin, caraway and coriander seeds in a dry pan for a couple of minutes and then grind.
5. Drain the ancho chillis (reserving a little of the soaking liquid) and deseed them. Put in a blender and pulse until they form a smooth paste. Add this to the onion and garlic mixture and fry for a few minutes
6. Add the tomatoes, ground spices and balsamic vinegar and simmer on a low heat for around 30 minutes. Season to taste, if you want a spicier sauce add a spoonful or two of harissa
7. Once the rice is cooked, stir in the lentils and chick peas and put the lid back on. I usually leave things to mingle while I am frying the onions for the topping
8. Fry the remaining thinly sliced onion until crispy and caramelised
9. To serve, spoon the rice, lentils and chick pea mixture on a plate, add a ladle or two of the tomato sauce and top with a handful of crispy fried onions. Delicious!

Mushroom and chestnut kibbeh

I already wrote a little about kibbeh/kubbe before, those delicious morsels consisting (usually) of a bulgar wheat shell encasing a filling, and then fried until crisp or cooked in a soup. Sometimes, as in the case of tray kibbeh it is based with the filling sandwiched between the bulgar wheat.
I found a box of chestnuts that I had bought some time before and then promptly forgotten about (actually, more correctly they got buried under a million cans of chick peas and shoved to the back of the cupboard). After a clean out I decided that I needed to use them, and I knew exactly what to make. Mushroom and chestnut kibbeh.

While it is not a traditional kibbeh filling, it is a combination that works wonderfully well together. I can't take credit for the idea though, as I first tasted them at the Arabica deli counter in Selfridges... Pricey, but oh so delicious.

Ingredients
200g bulgar wheat
100g semolina
2 tablespoons flour
1 tsp salt

For the filling
2 large portobello mushrooms
200g chestnuts
3 cloves of garlic (crushed)
Olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp oregano
A splodge of harissa (optional)

1. Put the bulgar wheat in a bowl and cover with boiling water. You want it to be completely covered and leave to soak for 30-60 minutes
2. While the bulgar is soaking prepare the filling. Chop the mushrooms and fry in olive oil with the spices until softened, then stir in the chestnuts and cook for a few more minutes. Turn the heat up high and cook briefly until all the excess water from the mushrooms has evaporated. Tip onto a plate and let it cool
3. After the bulgar wheat has soaked, drain and squeeze out the excess water (a clean kitchen cloth is ideal for this). I couldn't get a hold of any fine bulgar wheat, so I mushed it up between my fingers to try and break down the grains at this point. Tastewise it makes not one bit of difference, but the fine bulgar does make for a slightly neater and prettier kubbeh
4. Mix in the semolina, flour and salt
5. Knead the dough for a few minutes, you'll notice that the dough tends to crack or crumble as it dries. Keep a bowl of water beside you as you work to dip your fingers in as you make the kibbeh shells
6. Take a lump of the dough (what size? Hmm... kibbeh size, bit bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball!) and roll it into a ball. Placing your thumb in the centre of the ball squeeze the sides out so as to make a cup-shaped receptacle for the filling. If the dough starts to crack or split dip your hands into water to moisten it. Question: how thin should your kibbeh walls be? Answer: as thin as possible! 
7. Add a spoonful (or as much as you reckon will fit) of the filling and gently pinch the sides together. If it looks like there will be some leakage, just pinch off some more dough to patch it up. Wet your fingers and roll into an oval shape (traditionally the ends are pinched so it's more of a torpedo shape)
8. Continue until you run out of either dough or filling. This amount should make around 10 kibbeh. As an aside, if you have any excess filling it is delicious spread on toast. If you don't want to cook all of the kibbeh you can also freeze them at this point
9. Now to cook. You kibbeh afficionados may have noticed my kibbeh look a bit weird. That is because I decided to bake them rather than the more traditional deep frying. How you cook them is up to personal preference. Mine were baked at around 200C for 30 minutes until crispy. If you were so inclined you could also drop them into a soup and simmer for 30 minutes. It's all good!

Date shake

I seem to have gone a bit date crazy recently… In my defence, as my local supermarkets just seem to stock awful 'ready to eat' dates (i.e. reconstituted with nastiness, preservatives, oil and usually tasting of nothing) when I see unadulterated dried dates or beautiful glistening fresh ones I have a tendency to go a bit wild and buy in bulk. Which has resulted in having around 2kg of dates in the cupboard, and a couple of packs of reduced to clear medjool dates that I picked up last night on the way home from work. So I decided I had to do something with them and quick. As it is Ramadan at the moment, and it is traditional to break the fast with dates and a drink, here is a recipe that combines both. 

Ingredients
500ml milk (real, soya, rice or otherwise)
10 dates*
2 tablespoons rose water or orange blossom water
Pinch ground cardamom
Flaked almonds or pistachios to decorate (optional)

1. The first step depends on how squidgy your dates are, if you’ve got some large juicy medjool dates then just whizz them up in a blender. If your dates are of the drier variety then chop them up finely and soak in some freshly boiled water for an hour or so and then puree
2. Pour the milk, date puree, rose water (or orange blossom water) and cardamom into a blender and blend
3. Serve over ice in a tall glass, decorate with some flaked almonds if you so wish and enjoy. Also delicious if made into a smoothie with yoghurt instead of milk, or with a scoop or two of ice cream to thicken things up, or some oats if you want to have a breakfast smoothie instead. The possibilities are endless...

*I used medjool dates, so soft and lucious that they practically turn into a delicious puree as soon as you look at them. Dried dates will need some soaking to soften them up, and I am not sure how well it would work with a date like deglet noor, as beautiful they are to look at, and with a delightful honeyed taste I am not sure whether they'd puree successfully, but I may be wrong...

Omek houriya (North African carrot salad)

Carrots are pretty versatile vegetables turning themselves to just about anything sweet or savoury. Omek houriya (or omi/ommok houriya/houria depending on the transliteration) showcases them in their (almost) natural form, with the flavour enhanced by harissa, cumin, caraway and coriander seeds. This Tunisian recipe is usually served with a topping of tuna, egg and olives but works just as well without the fishyness (or egg, and in my case olives as I realised I had none in the house...). Simple and a perfect way to use up any carrots languishing at the back of your fridge.

Ingredients
Carrots (amount left to the cooks discretion)
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tablespoons harissa
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil the carrots until done (~ 10 minutes or thereabouts. You don't want them to be too mushy
2. Drain and mash or blend to a puree. The texture varies, some cooks blend it to a smooth paste, others a more chunky texture
3. Add the crushed garlic, I like adding it when the carrots are still warm as the flavour infuses through the mixture
4. Dry roast the cumin, coriander and caraway seeds in a heavy based pan and then grind. You *could* use ready ground spices, but if at all possible try to grind the coriander yourself, it tastes totally different from the pre-ground stuff
5. Add to the carrot mixture and taste. Season and stir in a splash of olive oil
6. Now mix in the harissa, I have suggested a tablespoonful but it really depends on what brand you are using
7. Eat, traditionally it comes topped with tuna, hardboiled egg and olives
 

Salad Mechouia (North African roasted pepper salad)

I love the taste of vegetables cooked over an open flame, however having an electric oven and hob just doesn't get the same results. I took advantage of the long Bank Holiday weekend and decided to set up a barbeque (one of those disposable supermarket ones) and grill some veggies. Aubergines for baba ghanoush (oven cooked ones taste okay; however burned and charred skin takes it to another level of deliciousness entirely...) were my first choice, and as the charcoals were still white hot I decided to throw on some peppers without any clear idea on what to make with them.

Grilled salads are popular all over North Africa, and this one salad mechouia (or salad mashwiya /meshwiyya depending on the transliteration - meshwiya meaning grilled or roasted in Arabic) makes use of grilled red and green peppers, chillies, tomatoes, garlic and onion.  The salad is also found in Israel, brought over by the Moroccan immigrants and is known as matbucha, though the Israeli version is probably heavier on the tomatoes. 

It's a simple recipe and one that literally takes a couple of minutes to put together (assuming you already roasted the veggies)

Ingredients
2 green peppers
2 red peppers
1 green chilli
1 large red onion
2 tomatoes
2 large cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
2 tsp capers (optional)
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Black olives (to garnish)

1. Put the veggies on the grill and cook until well done and slightly charred. Leave to cool and then peel
2. While the vegetables are grilling, dry roast the cumin, caraway and coriander seeds in a frying pan for a few minutes until the aroma is released. Grind in a pestle and mortar
3. Chop the peeled peppers into small cubes and toss them in a large bowl (some recipes call for all of the vegetables to be blended, however I prefer my salad chunky - each to their own...)
4. Roughly blend the onions, garlic, chilli and tomatoes together and then add to the chopped peppers. I add some capers at this point.
5. Stir in the ground spices and add the olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
6. You can eat immediately, but it tastes better after a few hours to allow the flavours to blend. Serve at room temperature decorated with black olives.

Muhammara (Middle Eastern chilli and nut dip)

Muhammara (or m'hammara) is a dip found over the Middle East and and beyond (there's also an Armenian version called garmeroug), its origins are said to lie in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Primarily it consists of either fresh or dried peppers, ground walnuts and olive oil, flavoured with pomegranate molasses and sumac. It can be eaten as a dip, spread on bread or served as a sauce, typically for grilled meats or fish.
I was inspired to make this after reading the Comptoir Libanais cookbook, but I've moved away from the traditional ingredients slightly, I had a bag of ground hazelnuts in the cupboard that needed to be used up, also I had no aleppo pepper, which is the type of chilli that most versions are based on, however I did have some dried ancho chillies which I figured would give a nice earthy smokiness to the finished dish.
It's pretty easy to make, and with the exception of the time taken to roast the peppers, it's something that can be whizzed up in minutes.

Ingredients
2 red sweet peppers
2 large ancho chillies
100g ground nuts (I used hazelnuts, traditionally walnuts are used)
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp ground cumin 
1 large garlic clove (crushed)
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
Olive oil
Handful of fresh coriander (optional)
Salt to taste 

1. Roast the peppers until the skin is blackened, allow to cool and peel
2. While the peppers are roasting soak the ancho chillies in boiling water (for around 30 minutes)
3. Add the cooled and peeled sweet peppers, rehydrated chillies and coriander to a blender with a dash of olive oil (can add more to taste) and the pomegranate molasses and blend until smooth. 
4. Stir in the nuts, crushed garlic, sumac and cumin. Add salt to taste.
5. Eat!

Vegetarian pozole rojo

This is a recipe I've had knocking around for a while, but never got around to uploading so excuse the lateness. After visiting Mexico last year I kicked myself that I hadn't got around to tasting pozole, a Pre-Columbian soup made from hominy maize. Pozole nowadays (as with a large proportion of Mexican food) usually contains pork, however on occasion you can find vegetarian versions.
A word about the hominy maize used for pozole, it's maize that has been nixtamalised, which involves treating it with an alkaline (usually calcium hydroxide), this helps to break down the components and allows the corn to be made into a dough. The calcium hydroxide also reacts with the corn so that niacin (an essential B vitamin) can be digested. Okay, enough with the science. How does it taste? In itself not of a great deal, but slow cooked with delicious ingredients and it becomes a hearty soup ideally suited to cold winter nights. I used the dry hominy maize, however if you can get the canned variety then that would save an awful lot of cooking time. This is not a recipe to make when you're in a hurry!
There are two main types of pozole commonly made, red (rojo) or green (verde) the name coming from the colour of the sauce, the recipe below is for pozole rojo, and its deep dark red owes its colour to the use of ancho chiles. The soup is served with a selection of toppings, allowing the eatee to customise it to their liking. Excuse the rather poor photograph, I was too hungry to make the food look pretty!

Ingredients
1l of vegetable stock
250 g dried hominy (soaked overnight) 
1 white onion cut in quarts
2 garlic cloves
1 large onion chopped finely
4 Ancho chiles
Olive oil
1 tbs smoked paprika
2 tbp cumin
1 tbs oregano (Mexican if you can get it)
1 tsp allspice
Salt to taste

Toppings
1 small red onion (sliced)
1 handful of radishes (sliced)
1 red chilli finely sliced
1 handful of pickled jalapenos
1 bunch fresh coriander chopped
1 avocado diced
Black olives chopped (optional, not authentic but nice)

1. Soak the pozole maize overnight (if using dried maize)
2. Toast the ancho chiles in a dry frying pan for a minute or so, and then soak in around 100 ml of boiling water (just cover with water) for 15 minutes
3. Once softened, take out the seeds and puree with the soaking liquid until smooth. Leave to one side
4. Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft and stir in the herbs and spices
5. Now stir in the soaked and drained pozole and add the vegetable stock
6. Stir in the ancho chile puree
7. Simmer for at least 4 hours, the time it takes for the maize to cook will vary. I ended up simmering it for almost 6 hours. The maize should be tender, but it retains a little bite to it
8. Serve with bowls of the different topping so people can add them for themselves

I can't believe it's not milk... Umm...

While not a vegan, I do find the whole concept of drinking milk to be a bit vile. I’m lactose intolerant so maybe I should explore alternatives, but unless I overdo things I am usually okay. However while I am perfectly happy to use soya, rice or oat milk etc on cereal, I have yet to find anything that has the same mouthfeel in coffee as moo juice.

I decided to perform my own highly unscientific trial of alternatives available and how they fair in my beverage of choice. As a disclaimer all of the products mentioned below taste perfectly okay straight out of the container, my main criteria for voting is purely based on how they perform in coffee and whether the end result is to my own personal liking.

Here I present my preliminary findings of this ongoing taste test...

Koko dairy free coconut based milk alternative One of the problems I've had in the past with using soya milk in coffee is that once diluted in a hot drink it goes a bit watery. As coconut is so high in fat I thought I'd be onto a winner with this one. However delicious as it may be, it became thin and wishy washy on addition to my coffee, so nope.

Alpro soya my usual soya milk for other purposes, tastes nice and creamy. While it has that typical soya taste in coffee it does give the drink a satisfying creaminess. However… a bizarre gloopy sediment remained in my cup which increased exponentially as the day went on (I'm lazy okay? It's much easier just topping up than washing out a cup every time). Slightly worrying and a more than a bit nasty. Unfortunately no photographic evidence of the sediment, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Coop organic soya milk I had assumed that all soya milk was the same. However this one seemed to produce far less of the gloopy cheese-like sediment. Main drawbacks were extreme frothing and a tendency to separate on standing, and if you forgot to shake the container before using it the end result was not pretty. So far my favourite and a reasonable facsimile of milk.

Update – on opening a new carton, the separating out problem proved to be a regular occurrence despite vigorous shaking. Coffee became undrinkable. And it takes an awful lot to make me throw out a cup of coffee…

Almond milk Oh sweet Lord this must be what evil tastes like! Now, don't get me wrong, I love almonds, though on tasting the almond milk before adding it to coffee I had an inkling that all would not be well. Pleasant enough, but with a slightly cyanide-y aftertaste. Hmm… Once in coffee and the overwhelming flavour is burned something or other (charcoal briquettes maybe?) With added cyanide. Plus it separates out into a rather alarming crazy paving effect on the top of the cup. Not pleasant. 

Oat Milk  I was hoping for great things with this one, if you've ever soaked oats in water and poured the liquid in your bath then you'll know that the resulting emulsion does indeed look milky. But does it taste milky? And what happens if you pour it in a nice mug of hot coffee?

Well… the initial appearance looked promising, a nice milky coffee look, however in the time it took to walk from the kitchen to my office (~1 minute) it had started to separate out giving that "oops the milk’s gone off" look. On standing, more unusual happenings took place, the mixture appeared to move, forming random shapes and pictures on the top of the cup. Quite hypnotic actually...

As a tree turned into a whale, a colleague pointed out that there could be potential fortune telling opportunities in it. Fortune telling aside, what did it taste of? Vileness. Alas another one for the 'no way Jose' pile.

Rice Milk Rice milk is a staple in my cupboards as it's ideal to have handy when the urge to whip up a batch of horchada beckons. Pouring it out, the almost translucent effect was not promising, it barely diluted the colour of my coffee and despite vigorous shaking there was a thin layer of clear liquid floating on top of my cup and a slight oil slick-like sheen.

End result in coffee? Hmm… scary. The texture is watery and very unpleasant, the actual taste is okay without the bitter aftertaste of soya, but I'm not sure it's something I could get used to, plus it’s a bit too close to milk of magnesia for comfort. On the plus side, no gloopy weirdness or separating out…

Hazelnut milk A curious one. Pouring into a glass its beige colour is a little disconcerting, and it was pointed out that this is sold as a ‘Hazelnut drink’ rather than milk, so how would it behave in coffee? Drinking the milk by itself I noted a strong hazelnut flavour and a sweet taste, not unpleasant. In coffee I have to say the physical appearance was very convincing...

No separation, crazy paving effect or oil slick… And the taste? Oh wow! Creamy beautiful hazelnut coffee, the milk effect was very convincing and there was no unpleasant residue at the bottom of my mug. Only drawback I can think of is that it feels more like a ‘special occasion’ luxury drink rather than an everyday milk substitute. I did check the calorie content to see how it compares with semi skimmed moo juice, and surprisingly it has less calories and fat per 100mls. I'm not sure if it would take over from milk, as I kind of like coffee flavoured coffee, but I have to say I was impressed.

So... results? These preliminary findings still have soya out ahead, purely for the texture you get in a hot drink. For the next round of voting I'll have to compare the various supermarket brands... Stay tuned!

Sikil Pak (Mayan pumpkin seed and roasted tomato dip)

I was looking for something a bit different to make today, and something relatively easy as I'd left it rather late in the evening to think about food. 
I'm planning on heading to Mexico later on in the year, last year's experience has whetted my appetite for more, so for that reason I've been pouring over guide books and mentally planning routes. This time I'd like to start in the south of the country, Maya territory. While I love Mexican food (no really? You'd have never guessed huh?) I'm not that familiar with traditional dishes of the south, and whilst perusing books the name of a dish caught my eye - sikil pak (or x'ikil pak / sikli paak) a Yucatecan dip of Mayan origin. Based mainly on pumpkin seeds (pepitas) with the addition of tomatoes or tomatillos depending on the recipe, it sounded intriguing and delicious. I love sauces made from nuts or seeds, so a dip made from them seemed like a natural progression. Try it, it could end up a regular on the menu! 

Ingredients
200g hulled pumpkin seeds
2 large tomatoes
1/2 red onion
1 garlic clove (unpeeled)
Fresh coriander
Water
Salt


1. Toast the pumpkin seeds, the traditional way is in a comal (a smooth flat cast iron pan) or you could use a dry frying pan. I spread them on a baking tray and put them in a hot oven (I was roasting an aubergine at the time and it seemed a good use of the heat) and that worked fine. The seeds start off flat, but puff up when heated. Keep a close eye on them so they don't burn. Once toasted leave to one side to cool.
2. Put the tomatoes, garlic and half an onion in a dry frying pan and toast. Don't worry about the black patches that appear, that is pure flavour! You may want to keep an eye on the garlic though as it can turn bitter quite quickly.

3. Place the toasted pumpkin seeds in a blender and puree until you get a fine sand-like consistency.
4. To this add the tomatoes, onion and garlic and blend.
5. The mixture should have the consistency of hummous, so add a little water if it's too thick (I don't give measurements, it depends on how juicy your tomatoes are)
6. Taste and add salt as desired.
7. Eat! Muy delicioso with tortilla chips (I had some fresh (but rapidly becoming less fresh as the week goes on...) blue corn tortillas in the cupboard so made some chips out of them

Badrijani Nigvzit (Georgian style aubergines with walnut stuffing)

It was a lovely day today, one of those rare days of summer that we hardly ever get nowadays in the UK. To celebrate I wanted to cook something light and summery and what better than badrijani nigvzit - Georgian style fried aubergines filled with a spicy walnut stuffing.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Georgian food is probably (well, at least in my opinion) the most unique cuisine in the world. Whereas with other national cuisines you can often detect influences from neighbouring countries, or possibly echoes from past invasions, the countries of the Caucasus, and in particular Georgia and its breakaway regions seem to have managed to hang onto their traditions. While Russian foods have made an appearance (borscht is ubiquitous all over the former Soviet states) traditional dishes have remained true to their origins retaining their unique flavouring that set it apart from anything else I have tasted. I have to say, in the UK Georgian food is woefully neglected and somewhat unknown. With the exception of a few restaurants in London and the south of the country, if you want to taste it you're either having to get the next flight out to Tbilisi (though not direct, alas) or make it yourself.

Badrijani nigvzit translates as aubergine and walnuts, and that's basically what it is. If one ingredient summed up Georgian food it is the walnut. Used both in sweet and savory dishes, it crops up again and again. If you're not a big fan of walnuts, keep reading - this dish may be the one to convert you! Simple to make, and the fragrant walnut stuffing complements the aubergine as though they were born to be together. I've seen a few different recipes for this dish, this is probably the most uncomplicated. Other than frying or grilling the aubergine no cooking is required.

Ingredients
2 large aubergines
200 g walnuts
3 garlic cloves (crushed)
2 tsp khmeli suneli
1 bunch of coriander
1 tbs pomegranate molasses
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Salt (for the aubergines)

1. Slice the aubergine lengthways into thin slices (~ 1 cm). Lay the slices on a baking tray and sprinkle with salt. Salt you say? Isn't that something that cooks used to say eons ago when they were under the impressions that aubergines were evil bitter little creatures that had to be salted into submission? Yes, you would be correct, other than some teeny tiny ones I bought in an Asian grocers I have never had a bitter aubergine. The reason for the salt in this recipe is to draw out the excessive water. You're going to fry the slices and you want them to be as dry as possible. You'll notice that after 5 minutes the aubergines start to 'sweat', leave them for around 30 minutes and then pat them dry.
2. Fry the slices in olive oil until golden brown, and then put to one side to cool.
3. Grind the walnuts until they have the texture of sand (some lumps are okay). I used a pestle and mortar for this as I didn't think my hand held blender was up to the job of dealing with whole nuts
4. To the nut mixture add the garlic, spices, pomegranate molasses, balsamic vinegar and coriander leaves. If you don't have khmeli suneli add ground fenugreek and coriander seeds. Blend until as smooth as possible. You want the consistency to be a thick paste, but if it's too thick add a little olive oil to loosen it up. It should look something like this

5. Lay the slices of aubergine on a plate and add a tablespoon of the stuffing mixture, then spread it out.
6. Roll the aubergine slices from the narrow end to the base and secure with a cocktail stick. Repeat.
7. You could serve immediately, but I think they taste even better if the flavours are allowed to mingle for an hour or so. Eat at room temperature. Be amazed.
 

Nvig (Armenian style spinach and chickpeas)

Continuing with the Armenian theme, I decided to cook up a batch of nvig (or nevik, neeveeg depending on your transliteration), a traditional meat free dish eaten in Armenia during Lent (or all year round for veggies like me!), it's another quick and easy dish that requires very little in the way of preparation. The only requirement is a big enough pan to hold the masses of spinach before it wilts into nothingness.

Ingredients
250 g spinach
1 can of chickpeas
1 small onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
Olive oil
150 ml water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp Aleppo pepper 
1/2 tsp sumac
2 sprigs tarragon (chopped - optional)
1 bunch dill (chopped - optional)

1. Fry the onion and garlic until softened
2. Add the spinach and water, you can either add the leaves whole, or chopped. Put the lid on the pan and leave for 5 minutes or so (until the spinach has wilted)
3. Stir in the spices and chickpeas
4. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes
5. Best served at room temperature with plenty of crusty bread (ideally Armenian) or pitta

As an aside, this was the view from my room. Can you imagine waking up to Mount Ararat every morning?

Fasolia: Green beans and tomatoes

I've just returned from Armenia, so it only stands to reason that I start to post some Armenian recipes, as it's a country I have woefully neglected so far in this little blog. Unless you're familiar with it, the first question would probably be: So what is Armenian food like? Well, Armenian food shares many similarities with its neighbours (Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey) utilising fresh ingredients, nuts, fruits and herbs extensively, though traditionally not too much in the way of spices. Also, as a result of the Armenian diaspora it has also picked up influences from the lands the Armenians lived in such as Russia, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Romania and Lebanon. So... vaguely Middle Eastern with the occasional Slavic or Mediterranean touch. Mmm...

My first offering is fasolia, a green bean and tomato dish, a simple recipe with a few ingredients. It contains green beans, onions, oil and tomatoes (fresh or tinned), the onions are fried, the beans and tomatoes added, and the whole lot cooked down into a delicious stew. Simple eh? Well, that's the basic recipe, however there are numerous variations with regards to the additional flavourings or spices. My uncle used to make up batches of fasolia and bring them over, he would add cumin, chopped celery and some green olives to the mixture (Greek influence), a woman I was speaking to on the plane home (and swopping recipes with) just added black pepper. I've gone for olives, plus a good helping of fresh coriander.  

Ingredients
200g green beans
400g can chopped tomatoes 
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:
1 handful coriander (chopped)
1 handful green olives (chopped)

1. Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until softened
2. Chop the beans into 5cm pieces (roughly) and add to the onions. Stir and cover the pan, and cook for 5 minutes 
3. Add the tomatoes (and olives and coriander if using) and simmer until the beans are tender - 30 minutes or so
4. Serve either warm, room temperature or cold as prefered. 

Bakhsh Plov (Bukharan Jewish style pilaf)

Continuing my adventures with Uzbek food, I decided to try my hand at some traditional Bukharan Jewish dishes. Uzbekistan had at one time a sizeable Jewish population, occupying the region of the former Central Asian emirate of Bukhara (currently Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) with small numbers also living in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and parts of Russia. 
A Jewish presence in that region has been recorded since the tenth century BCE, and the population lived there with varying degrees of acceptance and/or discrimination for the next two and a half thousand years. Incidentally, the name 'Bukharan' was coined by European travellers to the region in the sixteenth century. With the establishment of Soviet rule in 1917, life for the Bukharan Jews deteriorated and in the 1920s and 30s thousands fled from religious oppression. During the 1970s and 80s emigration to Israel and the USA started, and by the early 1990s most of the population had left. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union there were estimated to be around 45,000 Bukharan Jews in Central Asia, now only a few thousand remain.

So... back to the food. What is Bukharan Jewish food like? Well, it's pretty similar to the cuisine of other Central Asian countries, with heavy emphasis on rice, noodles and either mutton or lamb as the principle source of meat-based protein. But there are some specific dishes, one of which is Bakhsh. I am not sure of the etymology of the name, but as bakhsh in Persian means gift (as in bakhsheesh), and because the traditional way of preparing this meal involved simmering a bag of chicken, liver, rice and herbs in a broth, I suppose the opening of the package to reveal the cooked delights within was akin to opening a gift. Though I may be totally barking up the wrong tree... 

For anyone wanting to try and cook the traditional meaty bakhsh there is a recipe in the uber-Uzbek/Central Asian cookbook 'Kazan, mangal and other manly pleasures' written by Stalik Khankishiev (who is a bit of a Russian celebrity chef) and you can also watch a clip of him making it here (in Russian)

In addition to the bag method, Bakhsh can also be cooked like a traditional plov (pilaf), which is how I have approached it. As with my recipe for carrot and cashew nut plov, I make no appologies for the total lack of authenticity; I am lacking in the essential kazan (cauldren) and my meatless version would make a Bukharan grandmother shudder. Unauthentic it may be, but I like to think that the recipe below is 100% authentic in spirit...

Ingredients
250g long grain rice
400g can of chickpeas (drained)
1 large onion
1 fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves (peeled and crushed)
8 garlic cloves (unpeeled and left whole)
1 large bunch of coriander
10 green olives (sliced)
1 handful of dill
1 handful of flat leaf parsley
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black cumin seeds (optional)
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sumac
Olive oil 

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed casserole dish and fry the sliced onion and crushed garlic until soft and lightly coloured. Add the sliced fennel and cook for 5 minutes until just starting to soften
2. Place the unpeeled garlic cloves and chopped olives in the pan then put the lid on the casserole dish and continue to cook on a low heat for 20 minutes
3. Meanwhile, wash the rice in cold water until the water runs clear, then leave to soak in warm water until the vegetables have finished sauteing
4. Once the vegetables are cooked add the spices and stir in gently
5. Now add the chickpeas in a layer on top of the vegetables. Don't mix

6. Finely chop the herbs and add these on top of the chickpeas
7. Drain the rice and layer it on top of the chopped herbs. The idea with the layers is that the onions and fennel being closest to the heat will continue to caramelise during the cooking, the chickpeas provide a protective layer so the herbs can steam and infuse everything with their flavour. The rice is the icing on the cake so to speak, holding everything in place
8. Add freshly boiled water to the pot, I haven't given amounts because it will vary depending on the size of your pot. You want the water to be around 1.5cm above the level of the rice
9. Boil until all the water evaporates, this should take around 5-10 minutes
10. Once the water has evaporated poke holes in the rice with the end of a wooden spoon to allow the steam to escape
11. At this point, turn off the heat, cover the pan with a kitchen towel or aluminium foil and put on the lid. Leave to steam for 20 minutes
10. Lift off the lid and now mix everything together and turn out onto a serving dish.Delicious as it is, or it can be served with a salad.