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

Feteer meshaltet with cheese and olives (Egyptian stuffed flaky pastry)

I had a relaxing weekend planned, and my idea of relaxation usually involves cooking of some sort. I'd had a dream a few nights previously about feteer meshaltet, I'm not sure what triggered it but I woke up with the taste in my mouth and knew I had to make it...
For those unfamiliar with the dish, feteer meshaltet is an unbelievably delicious Egyptian pastry dish, it has the crispness of filo pastry and the layering and moistness of puff pastry. Layers of super thin pastry are smothered in clarified butter and stacked and folded upon themselves, sometimes it's stuffed, savoury and pie-like and sometimes just the pastry is baked and served with a dusting of sugar and honey. I prefer the savoury version and decided to go with a filling of feta and green olives (cheese is quite a common filling, often of the processed variety... Mmmmm)
I'm not a big maker of pastry, and I did wonder whether I would be able to re-create the transparently thin layers, and had bought some ready made puff pastry as a back up should it not work. However, the pastry was actually quite straightforward to make, the trick being to knead it well, and rest to allow the elasticity to develop, so I would encourage anyone to give it a go!

Ingredients
450g plain flour
250ml water (you may need a little less)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
100g margarine or ghee (melted)

For the filling
100g feta (crumbled)
1 handful green olives (roughly chopped)
1 tsp za'atar 

1. Pour the flour, salt and sugar and slowly add the water, I've said 250ml but you may need a bit less, orpossibly more. The dough should be quite wet and sticky, but still kneadable
2. Once the dough has come together in a smooth ball, knead for 10-15 minutes, then divide the dough into four parts. Drizzle with a little of the melted margarine (or olive oil), cover and leave to rest for an hour 
3. Once the dough has rested you're ready to make the feteer. Pour some of the melted margarine on a clean work surface and start pushing the dough flat with the heel of your hand, keep the dough well oiled for this. With the kneading and resting the dough should be quite elastic and you'll find it spreads quite easily. The idea is to get it as thin as possible, if you can see your work surface through the dough then it's think enough! As an aside, if you get the occasional hole, don't worry. It's going to be folded up so the odd tear doesn't matter

4.  Add the crumbled feta, olives and za'atar to the centre of the dough circle (or square/oblong/rectangle) and fold the sides in over the filling. Once it's encased put it to one side
5. Repeat the process with the second ball of dough, this time when it's reached the desired thickness carefully pick up your filled dough parcel and place it in the middle of the circle, and fold the pastry over it 
6. And repeat again with the third and fourth balls, you'll end up with a well wrapped dough parcel

7. Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown and crispy, I can't give temperatures as my oven doesn't have a temperature gauge, but 190C for around 20 minutes seems about right!

8. Eat, and then wish you'd made more! 

Zeytinli açma (Turkish soft bread rolls filled with olives)

I don’t bake much, it’s not that I don’t enjoy bread, but the process of baking always seems to be a bit too precise. However I had been dreaming of zeytinli açma, the beautiful soft Turkish bread rolls stuffed with a tangy black olive paste. One of the first things I do as soon as I arrive in Turkey is to hunt out one of these beauties, usually easy enough as a branch of a certain world famous coffee shop in the arrivals hall stock them. I only realised I had a bit of an addiction a couple of years ago when I realised I was planning my day around where I could buy my next fix…

I’m back in turkey next month, but as I’m still trying to get to grips with the oven in my new house I decided to try my hand at some baking, and what better bread to start than with the delicious zeytinli açma. I wasn’t too precise about measuring out the ingredients, and as far as the cooking times go, my oven doesn’t have a temperature scale so I’ll have to be a bit vague with regards to timing, but the end result was extremely tasty! The quantities make 10 açma, enough to eat with a few left over to freeze for later.

Ingredients
3 cups of white flour
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup of milk
A sachet of yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
Squeeze of honey
Salt

For the filling

100 g black olives

2 tablespoons margarine (or butter)

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the milk and vegetable oil. Mix together, you should get a moist dough. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour
2. To make the olive filling, puree or finely chop the olives, and add a tablespoon of margarine or softened butter
3. Break off tangerine sized pieces of the dough and roll into balls, these quantities should make 10
4. Taking one ball of dough, roll it into a sausage shape and either squash flat, or roll flat with a rolling pin. This doesn’t have to be too precise. 

5. Take a spoonful of the olive and margarine mixture and spread on the surface of the dough. Roll up, and taking one end of the roll in each hand, twist and then form into a ring. Don’t worry if some of the filling starts to come out, this is the intended effect
6. Repeat with the remainder of the dough
7. Brush the tops of the açmas with milk or egg yolk (most recipes call for egg yolk, I had no eggs in the house) and sprinkle with sesame seeds or nigella seeds
8. Bake for around 20-30 minutes

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!

Kuru fasulye (Turkish white bean stew)

I've been a bit lax in putting up recipes recently, in my defence I was in the middle of moving house and for most of the time internet-less or in the midst of craziness. I've now settled in my new home, made myself familiar with the kitchen and as I have not long returned from a holiday in Turkey, I think a Turkish recipe is appropriate! Turkey is a bean lovers paradise and there are a multitude of delicious bean-based recipes to choose from. This is perhaps my favourite, kuru fasulye or white bean stew. I have eaten it on numerous occasions, but it was one of those dishes that I had never actually cooked at home. A food related discussion with a Turkish friend led to some recipe swapping, and this is his recipe – give or take a few tweaks. It's the sort of recipe I love, one that gives no amounts or specific directions but assumes you know the basics and can figure out the rest. More a list of ingredients and suggestions than a regimented mehod. Really, all you need for this are the beans (cannelini ideally, though I only had butter beans which I have to say I probably prefer as they have such a smooth and creamy flavour), dried tomatoes, tomato paste and a green pepper. As with a lot of Turkish food, the flavour comes from the fresh ingredients and the cooking process. This is a classic dish and you really don't need to mess with it.

Ingredients

250g dried white beans (butter beans or cannellini)
Water
2 garlic cloves
50g Margarine or butter
Olive oil
A few sun dried tomatoes (chopped)
1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp Aleppo pepper (ideally, or chilli flakes if you don't have)
1 large onion thinly sliced
2 green peppers (cut into rough chunks)

1. Soak the beans overnight
2. Drain the beans and add to a pan of fresh water and boil for 20 minutes
3. While the beans are boiling, fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil/margarine (or butter) mixture until softened
4. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes
5. Drain the beans, reserving the boiling water and add to the pan with the onions
6. Add around 500ml of the boiling liquid, I’ve left the amount vague. The finished consistency of the cooked beans can vary, some people like their kuru fasulye to be almost soupy, others with very little cooking liquid. I’ve gone for the happy medium
7. To the pan add the spices, chopped dried tomato and peppers, bring back up to the boil and then simmer covered for around 2 hours
8. Halfway through cooking check on the liquid, if you feel it needs more top up. If you want your beans to be more ‘stew-y’ leave the lid off slightly to allow the water to evaporate
9. After around an hour and a half check one of the beans to ensure that they're cooked. For a bit of extra luxuriousness, once the beans were cooked and the sauce the desired consistency stir in a knob of butter or margarine
10. Serve with crusty bread, or delicious with a rice and vermicelli pilaf

Moussaka (Middle Eastern style)

I love aubergines, probably one of the finest and versatile vegetables that there is. I have to say though, thanks to various cookery programs and articles the British* seem to have some strange ideas about this vegetable. 

Even as recently as 10 years ago I remember watching Delia Smith salt the poor creature and then wring it out in a kitchen towel “to remove the bitter juices”. I am not sure where the fallacy that aubergines are bitter came from, quite possibly some early semi-feral variety. In my decades of aubergine eating I have only once come across one bitter little bugger and that was some teeny tiny baby aubergines I bought from an Asian grocery store.
So I say for the sake of the poor wee veggies, unless you are frying them in which case you want as much moisture drawn out of them as possible to stop them being a little fat-soaking-up sponge – don’t salt your aubergines, they really don’t need it!!!

This recipe is a halfway house between Lebanese style moussaka and Egyptian style moussaka (or mesakaa / messa’aa depending on the transliteration). Both sharing a name and perhaps a few similarities to the more widely known Greek dish. The Lebanese moussaka is vegetarian and contains chickpeas. It’s also usually a stew cooked on a stove top. The Egyptian moussaka may be vegetarian, though more often than not it contains lamb, especially when cooked at home. It also may or may not have a béchamel sauce like the Greek variety, and like the Greek variety it’s baked.

Ingredients
1 large aubergine
1 large tomato
200ml passata
1 large can of chickpeas
1 onion (thinly sliced)
4 cloves of garlic (crush 2 cloves, chop the remainder finely)
Bunch of coriander
Handful of ground walnuts (optional)
Handful of chopped black olives (optional)
Handful of grated halloumi
A splash of pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp ras el hanout (optional)
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tablespoon of harissa (or to taste)

1 Slice the aubergine into 1cm rounds and grill
2. While the aubergine is cooking, fry the sliced onion and crushed garlic in olive oil until softened
3. To the onion, add the spices, passata, chickpeas, pomegranate molasses, olives and ground walnuts (if using, I was clearing out the fridge and had a few odds and ends knocking around)
4. To assemble, get a large oven proof dish, spoon a little of the tomato mixture in the bottom and then layer on the aubergines. Sprinkle with some of the chopped garlic and halloumi and then add more sauce. Repeat until you run out of aubergine reserving a little sauce to add on top. Decorate with the sliced tomato, some chopped coriander and the remaining grated halloumi
5. Bake in a 250C oven for around 30 minutes or until bubbling. I’m not overly fond of over browned cheese so I covered the dish with tinfoil for the first 20 minutes
6. Eat! Delicious served with a salad and topped with a yoghurt tahini dressing, or if you want something a little more filling, a vermicelli rice pilaf

*Not just the British, at least half the recipes I see online that contain aubergine will somewhere mention in the article that salting is required to draw out the bitterness. Don’t believe me?! Have a nibble of a raw slice, go on – it wont kill ya! Sure it may not taste of much, but I guarantee it’s not going to taste bitter!!!

Aubergine, halloumi and sweet pepper stacks

I’ll come right out and admit it, I have an inability to follow recipes. Whether it's down to impatience or a touch of kitchen-related ADHD I have no idea. When I cook it’s usually based on something I am familiar with, or something I have eaten and want to try to recreate, or maybe I’ve found some ingredients in the kitchen cupboard and wonder how they'll go together (as an aside, in my student days out of desperation I made a pizza topped with harissa, sweetcorn, cheese triangles and peanuts as I had nothing else in the house. It was edible but not one of my finest moments…). To me it seems an anathema to read a book and follow directions. Having said that, I do own an extensive library of cookery books, and there's no better way to spend a cold rainy afternoon than curled up on the sofa with a book pouring over the recipes. Or indeed sitting in the shade on a sunny day, book on lap. But follow a recipe? It’s not that I think I can improve on the original, more that I end up fine tuning it to my own taste. The recipe calls for walnuts? Eh… I’ll use that quarter bag of chopped hazelnuts languishing in the back of the cupboard. Everything’s fried? I wonder whether I could bake it… The end result is probably more ‘inspired’ by the original than a facsimile. For that reason I never took to conventional baking, if I’m given precise quantities to measure out then I lose interest. I function much better with vague instructions such as “half a packet of this and a few handfuls of that…”

My current cook book obsession is the Comptoir Libanais Express book that I picked up last time I was in London, an instant favourite for the food and also for the glorious photographs and graphics. And that leads me on to the aubergine stacks, I love aubergines. They are probably one of my favourite vegetables, and I love tomatoes as well, however decent flavoured large tomatoes are pretty much scarce at this time of year (at least in my local stores) and if you do find anything larger than a cherry tomato then it’ll taste of nothing and be as tough as old boots. However sweet peppers are abundant and always tasty especially when oven roasted de-skinned and tossed in a balsamic vinegar and herby marinade overnight, and so the recipe metamorphoses…

This recipe is very much a 'prepare the bits and pieces ahead' type of affair, and other than the initial grilling of the aubergines, halloumi and peppers the actual preparation takes minutes. The original recipe (which can be found here) showcases the vegetables in their natural form, I had some leftover muhammara in the fridge and decided to spread that on the aubergine slices as I stacked them up, acting as a flavoured adhesive. The quantities below make 4 stacks (with some leftover halloumi to nibble on...)

Ingredients

1 large aubergine

2 red sweet peppers

1 block of halloumi

3 tablespoons of muhammara (optional)

1 bunch of coriander

A few sprigs of tarragon (optional, but gives a nice aniseedy twang to the sauce)

1 tablespoon of zaatar

Olive oil

Lemon juice 

Salt to taste

1. Cut the aubergines into rounds, brush with olive oil and gril until soft. 

2. Cut the sweet peppers into large wedges and roast in the oven until the skin starts to blacken, allow to cool and then remove the skins. Ideally this should be done the day before, I tossed the skinned peppers in a bag with some dried mixed herbs, olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar

3. Slice three quarters of the halloumi and grill until golden brown. Grate the remaining halloumi, the Comptoir Libanais recipe suggests rinsing to remove some of the salt, however I tasted the cheese I had and it wasn't particulary salty. As I wasn't adding any seasoning to the aubergines I decided to omit the rinsing step

4. Preheat the oven to 200C, while the oven is heating prepare the aubergine stacks using 3 aubergine slices per stack. Place an aubergine slice on a baking tray, top with some of the muhammara (if using) then a piece of red pepper. Add another aubergine slice, some more muhammara and then top with the grilled halloumi. Finally place the remaining aubergine slice on top and sprinkle over a little of the grated halloumi

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until sizzling

6. While the aubergine stacks are baking prepare the zaatar sauce. In a blender add the coriander, tarragon, zaatar, lemon juice and a glug of olive oil. Blend and adjust seasoning to your taste 

6. Drizzle some of the sauce on top of the stacks and eat!

Chickpea, chocolate and pistachio pudding

While I am an avid collector of cookery books, I rarely use them for recipes, more for reading or for inspiration. However, I recently bought a copy of the Comptoir Libanais Express cook book and whilst flicking through the pages a recipe caught my attention - one for a chickpea and chocolate dessert. I have to say I was both repulsed and also intrigued by the idea. While I like to think I am pretty open minded as far as food goes (if it's veggie then I'll eat absolutely anything) I have a problem with sweet beans. Some things, as far as my mind goes, are meant to be savoury, and while I am happy to make cookies and halva using chickpea flour, in my mind cooked chickpeas themselves are savoury and the thought of making a pudding with them seemed to be the antithesis of all that is right in the world.

However, I do love a challenge, and was curious so I decided to try and make it. I've adapted the recipe somewhat, the original called for gelatine (I substituted cornflour / cornstarch), and used ground almonds (I've substituted pistachios). I also added some orange blossom water, and rather than a chocolate (or carob) sauce I decided on an orange blossom syrup. 
So... what was the end result like? Actually very nice. The texture was a little grainy, though that was more due to me not having a decent blender and doing the best I could with a stick blender, the taste was quite delicious though. I put a couple of the desserts in the freezer, as I think it could work quite well as a dairy free ice cream...

Ingredients
1 400g can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
400ml almond milk
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
50 g honey (to make it vegan use agave syrup)
5 tablespoons cornflour
100g pistachios
125g dark chocolate
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
Rose water syrup
Chopped pistachios 
Rose petals (optional)

1. Add the chickpeas and almond milk to a pan, bring to the boil then turn off the heat and leave for 15-20 minutesto infuse
2. Pour off around 50ml of the almond milk and add to the cornflour, mixing well until you have a smooth lumpess paste
3. Blend the chickpeas, almond milk and cocoa powder until smooth
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan, add the honey and chocolate. Heat gently until the chocolate has fully melted
5. Stir in the cornflour and almond milk mixture and continue to cook on a low heat for around 5 minutes
6. Turn off the heat and add the ground pistachios and orange blossom water
7. Pour the mixture into ramekins (makes enough for around 6) and leave to cool before refrigerating for a few hours
8. To serve tip out on a plate and decorate with nuts and rose petals. Delicious with a fragrant orange blossom syrup (2 parts sugar to one part water, orange blossom water added to taste)

 

Besara (broad bean / fava bean dip)

I was prompted to upload this recipe after hearing my mother wax lyrical about the humble broad bean (fava bean) the other night. Her theory being that mother nature must have known just how special they were because unlike peas and their simple unadorned pod, broad beans are swaddled in a luxurious fur lined casing that befits their role as king of the beans.
Broad beans are a much maligned pulse in a lot of Western (or specifically Northern European) cooking, however head further south and they take on a much more important role. None more  so than in Egypt where in addition to being the star of the ultimate breakfast food fuul medames, they are also found in the Egyptian version of falafel (taameya) and fuul nabet (sprouted bean soup) to name just a few dishes. 

Egyptian bean dishes traditionally use the dried fava beans, I had fresh frozen, while the flavour is perhaps not as concentrated and rich as the slow cooked dried beans, I decided that I would try making the fava bean dip known as besara (or bessara, b'ssara etc depending on transliteration). While traditionally Egyptian it is also found in Morocco. If you want to go down the more traditional route then substitute the 500g fresh beans for dried. Soak them overnight and then cook according to your preference.

Ingredients
500g fresh broad beans (or frozen)
1 large bunch of coriander
1 large bunch of dill
1 large bunch of parsley
Olive oil
4 cloves of garlic (crushed)
Salt and pepper to taste 

For the tasha (garlic and coriander seasoning):
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin

1. Add the beans to water and boil for around 10 minutes, drain (reserving a little of the cooking liquid) and once cool enough to handle, take off the skins. This is time consuming. Ideally for this part of the recipe it helps to have a mother who's idea of a good evening is watching antiques shows on TV whilst skinning broad beans :)
2. Once the beans are skinned (you don't have to be too obsessive about it, but really the taste and texture is so much better) add them to a blender with a good glug of olive oil, the fresh coriander, dill and parsley, crushed garlic and blend until smooth. If the resulting mixture is too thick then add a little of the cooking liquid until you have the desired consistency and season to taste
3. To make the tasha seasoning (so called because when you add the hot oil to the bean mixture it makes a "tssssha" sound) heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the remaining crushed garlic until it is lightly browned, add the coriander and cumin and cook for another few minutes then pour the hot oil and spice mixture into the pureed beans
4. To serve, transfer into a deep serving plate and top with some fried onions. Delicious! 

Tirshi (Spicy North African pumpkin dip)

It's winter... cold dark days and cold dark nights. At least here in northern Europe. A time for soups, stews and other comforting foods. I have to say dips probably would not be at the forefront of my mind under normal circumstances. However, at work we were having a buffet where everyone was to bring in some dishes. I had a butternut squash in the house that I'd planned on roasting and turning into a soup (actually to tell the truth, my immediate plans involved thoughts of hibernating until next year and I'd probably find the squash sometime in January turned into a mysterious pool of nastiness at the back of the cupboard) but looking at it with fresh eyes, I thought why not go for Tirshi? It's a spicy North African pumpkin-based dip that is popular in Israel, and would make a change from my usual offerings of hummous and baba ghanoush. 

Ingredients
1 large butternut squash
1 small potato 
2 cloves of garlic crushed
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons harissa (or to taste)
Olive oil

1. The butternut squash and potato can either be boiled or roasted, roasting will give a much better flavour and a drier dip, but it all depends on time. I made this in a last minute rush, so I peeled and cubed the squash and potato and boiled for 30 minutes. Drain well
2. Mash the squash and potato until well combined
3. Roast the caraway and cumin seeds in a dry pan until fragrant, then grind
4. Add the crushed garlic, ground spices and salt and pepper to taste
5. Stir in the harissa, the brand I had was pretty mild so I put in a couple of tablespoons, if you want to amp up the heat (I was making it for work so thought I'd better play it safe) then some additional chilli or Aleppo pepper could be added
6. Add a splash of olive oil, et voila! 
7. Eat: Delicious with crusty French bread, or pitta. Or anything really...

Vegetarian laghman (Uzbek noodle soup)

I do have a fondness for Central Asian food, despite the fact that the majority of it involves sheep in some form or another. Laghman is no different. A ubiquitous noodle soup found all over Central Asia, it is said to have its origins in China (where the noodles are known as lamian). As with the other Uzbek recipes I have posted here, I have to apologise for the lack of authenticity, but the exclusion of any meat or meat derived items pretty much makes it a fraud. Most of the Uzbek recipes I have read for laghman usually have lamb as the basis for the broth, with carrots, potatoes (maybe aubergine) and lots of fresh herbs adding some colour. I was lacking a little in the vegetable department (the fridge contained a carrot and a few leftover baby sweetcorn of dubious age), so to bulk out the soup I added a can of chick peas. The resulting broth turned out to be quite delicious. A word about the noodles, I decided to make them from scratch as it's something that I have never done, though if you don't have the time or the inclination then you could cook some pasta or egg noodles. With regards to timing, I made the soup in the morning and made the noodles in the afternoon, so I didn't have to worry about juggling pans. If you are more organised then make up the noodle dough while you're waiting for the carrots to cook.

Ingredients
1 large onion finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic chopped finely
1 large carrot cut into matchsticks
5 baby sweetcorn sliced
500ml vegetable stock
400g can of chick peas
1 medium red chilli sliced
Olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp ground cumin
1 pinch sumac (optional)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 bunch coriander

For the dough:
250g white self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
150ml warm water

1. Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil until softened. Add the sliced chilli and carrots and cover with a lid. Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes
2. While the vegetables are cooking, toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan and then grind in a pestle and mortar
3. When the carrots are softened, stir in the spices (additional ground cumin, sumac and smoked paprika), chick peas and stock. Simmer for 30 minutes
4. Once cooked, add some finely chopped coriander. Leave to one side. I have an aversion to eating scalding hot food, so personally I think the soup tastes much nicer after it's been sitting for an hour or so. Unless of course you live in the Arctic circle where it may get a bit chilly...

For the noodles
1. Put the flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt
2. Add the egg
3. Now slowly stir in the hot water. The recipe I read did specifically mention to use hot water (I used the same dough that I use to make manti), now you may think that is going to scramble the eggs, but I didn't find that to be the case. If you want to be more careful though, use tepid water
4. The dough should be very elastic, wrap it in cling film and leave in the fridge for around 30 minutes to rest
5. Once rested take out the dough and knead on a floured surface. If the dough is too sticky then just knead in some more flour, it's very forgiving!
6. Roll out as flat as you can, if you've got a pasta maker then this should be a doddle, I don't. You want the dough to be as thin as possible, practically speaking that's probably around 2mm. Cut into strips approximately 2cm wide and then hang to dry for 20 minutes. See below for my improvised noodle dryer.

7. Fill a large pan with water (and a good pinch of salt) and bring to the boil. Cook the noodles for around 5 minutes, or until al dente. Drain and put into a large soup bowl
8. Pour the broth on top. You can eat it as is, or with a dollop of soured cream on the top. For that extra Eastern European kick I stirred in some chopped dill and beetroot.

Tamale Pie

Winter is coming… 
Though I have to say it feels as though it has already arrived here. Returning home from the heat of Georgia (that's the Caucasus Georgia and not the Southern State) I felt in desperate need of something spicy and warming, and after rummaging through semi-bare cupboards for inspiration I came up with a can of pinto beans, a can of kidney beans, creamed sweetcorn and quarter of a kilo of masa harina in addition to an elderly red sweet pepper that needed to be used up ASAP.
Sounds like everything I need for tamale pie!
As a disclaimer, I have to say I have never eaten tamale pie, nor seen it with my bare eyes. I do have however considerable experience in eating tamales and a liking for pies. A quick perusal of the internet threw up lots of recipes all calling for shop bought cornbread mix, which I neither have nor could probably find in my local supermarket, so I decided to stay true to the name and make tamale masa for the topping.

The pie filling itself was a pretty basic vegetable and bean chilli. I haven't included the recipe here as it was a 'throw it all in the pan until it's done' sort of meal. For bulk and extra carbohydrate (It's winter…) I added the remnants of a pack of Israeli couscous (bigger than your average couscous) and a handful of bulgar wheat. Extra beans or lentils probably would have been the more sensible, however as I said, the cupboards were bare.

For the masa
250g masa harina
100g margarine
500ml stock
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt (can omit depending on the saltiness of the stock)

 

1. Put the masa harina and spices in a large bowl
2. Melt the margarine
3. Stir into the dry ingredients, it should look like damp sand
4. Now slowly add the stock, the mixture may not need the full 500ml, the texture you're after is smooth peanut butter on a warm summer's day. Feel free to whisk your masa thoroughly if you have the energy…
5. Spoon the vegetable chilli into an ovenproof dish, add some grated cheese at this stage if you want
6. Put the masa on top, to ensure a good coverage I spooned it on and then smoothed it into an even layer using a sheet of cling film
7. Bake in an oven preheated to 220C for 30-40 minutes, the top should be golden brown and sound hollow when you tap it
8. Eat. It may not be haute cuisine or fine dining but it's just what is needed on a bloody cold night. And because one can never have enough carbs (Atkins diet? Nah…) I added some rice and frijoles refritos just to up the stodge level

Iman Bayildi (Stuffed Aubergine)

Iman bayildi is probably one of the quintessential Turkish recipes that most people with even a passing interest in Middle Eastern food are likely to have come across. 
While it is a classic, there are numerous versions of how to cook it 'properly'. Some recipes call for the raw aubergine to be hollowed out and stuffed, others stuff after cooking. I've read recipes that involve frying, others braising and some where the aubergine is practically deep fried. All have their place. The only absolute certainty is that it must be served at room temperature. Straight from the fridge and you can’t taste a thing, and (heaven forbid) straight from the oven and it’s just plain wrong on all levels.

This is my recipe, tried and tested for decades (okay, a couple of decades I'm not *that* old) you could, as a friend did years ago when I gave her the recipe, adapt it for a weight-loss diet and leave out the olive oil (yikes!) it's still tasty, but really I'd rather cut back elsewhere than skimp on the olive oil… The amounts given here are enough for one large-ish aubergine, which could feed one very hungry person, or two with an accompaniment. 

 Ingredients

1 large aubergine
1 large red onion
3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
3 tomatoes
Tomato paste
Pine nuts 
Salt to taste
Chopped parsley to decorate

1. Prick the aubergine a few times with a knife and put it in 250 C oven. Roast for approximately 30 minutes until done. How to tell? Give it a poke! You don't want it collapsing in on itself, but the sides will start to wrinkle slightly
2. Meanwhile, while the aubergine is roasting, finely slice the onions, crush the garlic and fry in olive oil (I will leave the amount to your discretion. Remember, the original dish made an Iman faint so don't worry about being too generous) until soft and almost caramelised
3. Stir in the spices and cook for a minute or so, taking care that the mixture doesn't burn
4. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and add to the pan, cook down on a low heat until the tomatoes have all but disintegrated
5. Take the aubergine out of the oven and place on an oven proof dish, you want something with slightly deep sides. Make a cut along the middle, and gently part with a couple of forks. Mash down the insides taking care not to tear the skin

6. Add a little salt and olive oil to season the flesh
7. Now spoon in the tomato and onion mixture, packing it in as tightly as possible, trying to avoid any overflow, and sprinkle with pine nuts
8. Put it back in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes
9. Take out and allow to cool. Squeeze a little lemon over the top and pour a little olive oil over it. Sprinkle with chopped parsley

 

Lahmajun with Caramelised Red Onions and Olives

The Italians do not have a monopoly on pizza. I would imagine that any country that has got as far as baking bread will have some recipe that involves topping the aforementioned bread with something delicious - and Middle Eastern cuisine is no different. 

Lahmajun (or lahmacun, lehmajun, lahmajo) gets its name from the Arabic lahm bi'ajin (meat with dough) and consists of a bread base topped with spicy lamb, probably most commonly seen in Turkish restaurant as lahmacun. My version replaces the lamb with caramelised red onions and chopped black olives, a substitution that I think works really well. If you're feeling lazy the topping would be just as nice on some store bought pitta or flatbread.

Ingredients
500 g flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
320 ml warm water
  



For the topping:
1 large red onion
100 g black olives
1 handful fresh coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black cumin
1 tsp brown mustard seeds (optional but tasty)
1 tsp ajwain seeds (optional but tasty)

1. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl and stir in the olive oil. Add the water slowly and mix until it forms a dough
2. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place it in a large bowl, rub a little olive oil over the top, cover with plastic wrap and leave for at least an hour to rise
3. To make the topping add the finely sliced red onion and cumin (and other spices if you're using) to olive oil, and cook on a low heat for around 30 minutes until caramelised
4. Finely chop the black olives and coriander (you can do it by hand or use a food processor, you don't want it too fine though) and stir them into the onions
5. Preheat the oven to 250 C, and while you're waiting for it to heat up, knock back the dough and knead for a second time
6. Divide the dough into 6 pieces (more or less depending on what size you want the finished lahmajun to be) and roll out into discs
7. Add a spoonful or two of the onion and olive mixture to the discs and spread out
8. Cook for around 10-15 minutes - the timing will depend upon the size of the lahmajun and your oven. I'd check them after 10 minutes...
9. Eat!