Category Archives: Food

Fake Chopped Liver

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium eggplant
  • 1 large onion – diced
  • 3 hard boiled eggs
  • Oil (Vegetable or Olive)
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Parsley or cilantro / optional

How to:

  • Cut the eggplant to 1″ cubes. Place in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for at least 30 minutes.
  • Heat about 1/4 cup oil in a deep skillet, add the onions and saute until light brown.
  • Add the drained eggplant cubes to the skillet and continue sauteing until the the onion are dark brown and the eggplant is soft.
  • Peel the eggs.

Now you have a few options:

  • Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender. Run until it is all mashed and mixed.
  • Use a potato masher to mix and blend.
  • My favorite: A pastry blender! use to mash and mix all ingredients. Chunks are good!
  • Sprinkle chopped parsley or cilantro on top.

Chocolate bars

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup (100gr) buckwheat
  • 1 cup (200gr) dark chocolate
  • 1 cup (200gr) tahini
  • pinch salt
  • up to 1/2 cup nuts and/or seeds (hazelnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds….)

How to:

  • Soak buckwheat for 2 dry hours.
    • Drain and dry buckwheat in a pan, low heat
  • Melt chocolate and tahini in a bain marie
    • add salt
  • Mix dried, roasted buckwheat with chocolate/tahini mix
  • Add nuts (optional)
  • Spread mix in a small baking pan.
  • Place in freezer for at least 2 hours
  • Cut to squares

Sourdough Bread

Short version of the NY Times Cooking App “How to Make Sourdough Bread, A guide by Clair Saffitz

Link: the whole guide and how to maintain the starter

  • 350 gr White Flour
  • 150 gr Rye or Whole Wheat or Spelt four (or a combination)
    • mix together
  • 375 gr water
    • mix
    • cover with a damp towel, let sit 30 min

Check sourdough started by dropping a teaspoon into a cup of water, it should float

  • 100 gr bubbly sourdough started
    • mix into flour/water mix
  • 10 gr salt + 10 gr water
    • mix. cover with a damp towel and let sit 10 min.
  • Kneed the dough for 10-20 min.
  • Cover with damp towel and let rise for 60 min (Temp should be 76-80F)
  • Fold the dough gently, let rise for additional 60 min. Repeat 3-7 times until dough is fluffy.
  • Mix 50/50 white flour and rice flour
    • Line a mixing bowl with dish towel. dust with 50/50 mix
    • Dust the flour with 50/50 mix, flip so dusted side is down.
    • Fold the left side of the dough inward toward the center, then fold the right side inward and overtop of the left fold. Starting at the end closest to you, roll the dough away from you into a bulky spiral.
    • let sit for 1-2 min
    • lift up the dough and place it seam-side up in the prepared basket. Lightly dust the exposed part of the dough with more of the 50/50 flour mixture, and cover with a kitchen towel.
    • Let rise in room temparture 1-2 hours.
    • cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave in fridge over night.

  • NEXT DAY:
    • heat over to 500F, place uncovered dutch oven on lower rack.
    • remove dough from fridge.
    • dust the exposed dough with the 50/50 flour mixture, massaging it into the surface. Place a piece of parchment paper over the basket, making sure the parchment is longer and wider than the basket by several inches. Invert the loaf onto the parchment paper. Remove the basket, then slowly peel away the towel. Dust the rounded side of the dough with more of the 50/50 flour mixture, rubbing it into the surface to coat evenly.
    • Use a a knife to make a long, slightly off-center slash about 1/4-inch deep
    • place the heated Dutch oven on the stovetop. use the parchment paper to lower the loaf into the Dutch oven. Cover and return it to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.
    • remove the lid and reduce the oven temperature to 450F. Continue to bake the loaf uncovered until the surface is deeply browned all over, another 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven, pull out the loaf.

Buckwheat mini burgers

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup buckwheat (a,k.a kasha)
  • 3 chopped scallions
  • chopped parsley (~1/2 cup)
  • 2 TBS miso or Tahini + 1 tsp soy souce (see notes)
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • oil for frying

How to:

Cook the buckwheat in 2 cups of water. After it comes to a boil simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Mix with all other ingredients (see notes)

With we hands, shape to size and fry about 5 minutes on each side.

Notes:

  • I used tahini and soy sauce
  • I added 1 egg to the mix

https://veg.co.il/art272.html

MEJADRA – Middle Eastern Rice and Lentils

Ingredients:

  • 1 large onion, diced (or cut to very thin rings)
  • Oil (I use canola, olive oil is OK)
  • 1 cup green lentils
  • 1 cup rice (white or brown)
  • Salt
  • Black pepper

How to:

Fry the diced onion in the oil, on low heat until it’s beautifully caramelized to a beautiful brown color. It may take 1-15 minutes, don’t rush it, keep the heat low, stir every few minutes.

When the onions are ready, remove half of them to a bowl. To the pot add the rice and the lentils and salt. Add water (see note below) and cook for until ready (see note below). Add black pepper, mix. Serve with the reserved onions on top.

Serve as is as a side dish. Can top with yogurt for extra deliciousness.

Notes:

  • You can, but don’t have to, soak the lentils for a few hours before cooking. I always do*.
  • If lentils are soaked – add 2 cups water. If lentils are dry – use 2 3/4 cups water.
  • If using white rice – cook for 20 minutes.
  • If using brown rice cook for 40 minutes.
  • You can continue cooking for another 15-20 on very low heat and hope the bottom turns crispy delicious.
  • You can also add cumin and/or allspcie.
  • You can a diced tomato or a tablespoon of tomato paste.

Lots of seeds crackers

Dry ingredients:

3/4 cup + 1tbs (120gr) sunflower seeds
3/4 cup (120gr) flax seeds
1/3 cup (60gr) chia seeds
1/3 cup (55gr) pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup (55gr) sesame seeds

1 cup + 1tbs (70gr) cornflour OR tapioca OR 6tbs (90gr) chickpea flour or a combination of any of these flours
2tsp sugar OR brown sugar
1.5tsp salt
3/4tsp black pepper

Wet ingredients:
1.5 cups (375ml) boiling water
1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
2tbs tahini (=sesame paste)

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Mix all wet ingredients in a bowl.
Add wet mix to dry mix. Mix well. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
Spread half of the mix in a 9×13 cookie sheet, or all of it on a large cookie sheet.
Bake 40-45 minutes at 350F.
Cool. Break to crackers size pieces.  (bake the other half if using a small cookie sheet)

Enjoy!

Notes: Easy to make. Can make half the recipe.    Translated from אוכל למחשבה

Red Lentil Soup

Red Lentil Soup

How to make RLS:

red lentils

Red lentils in a bag

Dice a medium onion and saute (in a large pot) in vegetable oil.

Add 1-2 cups red lentils. (Wash the lentils several times in water before adding to the soup)

Add water and broth (I use home made vegetable broth, but any clear broth is good).  How much liquid?  enough to cover the lentil plus 1.5 cups.  (Add as much broth as you have and than add the water).

Add spices: Salt, Pepper, Cumin, Paprika (I use both sweet and hot), Turmeric (just a pinch).

Simmer on medium heat 30-40 minutes. Whisk for 30-60 second to mash the lentils.

While the soup is cooking – chop 1-2 carrots and 1-2 celery stalks in a food processor.  Be careful not to process the veggies too much – you want them smaller than peas but larger than corn meal.

When the soup is done (the lentils are are soft) – add the processed veggies and turn off the heat.

Serve the soup topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and squeezed fresh lime juice.

 

 

United we eat

Like every foodie who grew up in the middle east – l love tahini.  It has one ingredient – sesame. Ground to a paste it is used for making a dip called Tahini, it is added to hummus for a distinguish flavor and it can be used for cold dressings, hot sauces and mixed with honey or sugar – dessert. It is also considered healthy because of the high content of calcium and iron.

My favorite brand is Al Arz, made in Nazareth, by a small family owned compnay.  It’s not easy to find Al Arz tahini in North America and I often buy other brands.  Recently I purchased a jar of sesame paste off the Kosher shelf in the local supermarket. I also got a jar at Phoenician, a middle eastern grocery store knows as ‘The Lebanese’.

Here are the two jars:

tahini1Although they contain different amount the containers are identical except for the color of the lid and the label.

And here is the back side of both jars:

tahini

It may be hard to see the labels, so let me help you – one says ‘Product of Canada’ the other ‘Produced in Canada’.  I couldn’t find much information about the Canadian source of sesame products, but I don’t think there are very many sesame paste manufactures in Canada. Is it possible that the Tahini with Arabic name, marketed to the American Arab population and the Kosher Tahini marketed to the Jewish population are one and the same?   Politics may separate these two people, but united we eat.  Sharing meals may lead to world peace. Amen.