Vermicelli Rice

This is another one of those dishes that brings me back to my childhood, my toddlerhood, even, as I was served up bowls and bowls of this with fresh whole yogurt.  It's a soft and flavorful rice, fragrant with cinnamon and allspice, often topped with browned almonds or pine nuts.  The broken peices of noodles, sauteed in butter and then cooked along the rice, make this a dressed-up rice.  As soon as I could safely see over the rim of a pot, it became my job to saute the broken noodles in the butter, stirring diligently to prevent the noodles from burning.  Of course, I still remember the smell of those noodles burning, and my mother chidding me, and my defense:   I just turned away for a second! 

When we would have American friends over, they would point at this rice and declare, "Rice-a-Roni!"  My mother would always smile kindly and say, "Yes, very similar."  Except that it's not.  It's much, much better.

Spotlight on: Sesame Paste, or Tahini

  



Like any regional cuisine, the Middle East has a distinct flavor profile, cultivated by using a handful of ingredients over and over.  One of these ingredients is tahini.  To many non-Arabs, tahini is a slightly exotic ingredient, one that you have to hunt for in the grocery store. Thankfully, you will usually find it these days, sometimes in the natural foods section, sometimes by the peanut butter.

Nourishing Makeover: Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Coconut Cookies

A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for my mother's favorite cookie:  Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Coconut Cookie. 

I promised a more nourishing makeover, and here it is.  I grew up with lots of  "healthy cookies" because my mother used to replace oil for butter and add whole wheat whenever she could.  But this makeover is of the Weston A. Price variety: keep the butter, treat the grains, and use nutrient-rich natural sweeteners.

The result:

Yum. Yum.

They baked up perfectly. They are sweet, chewy and also slightly crunchy. The chocolate was gooey, the pecans were even more buttery due to soak-and-dehydrate method, and I once again enjoyed the salt-sweet play of these cookies.  Because of the sprouted flour, these cookies are hearty and filling, and even one cookie is very satisfying.  My toddler who is known to whine, Hungry!  Hungry! all afternoon ate one of these and was satisfied until dinner.  My husband said that they tasted a little like granola.  

The process may seem a little labor intensive, particularly preparing the pecans and the oats, but I found that while there were several steps, each step only took a minute or two and was very easy. I made a double batch of the oats and lots of pecans and crammed them all in my oven to let them dehydrate, so I can actually make another batch of these cookies sometime in the future with very little effort. Plus, I am happy to take a little extra time if it means that I can give my family delicious cookies that will nourish their little bodies while making them smile.

Eggplant Bake, or Mnezzali

Oh.  My. 

This is delicious. 

When I gave my husband a spoonful, his reply was:  Holy Cow. 

My kiddos each had to have a bite as soon as it came out of the oven. 

This is one of my very favorite Palestinian dishes, one that I requested whenever I came home from college, jet-lagged, with bags under my eyes and breaking out from the stress of exams and the less-than-nourishing cafeteria food.  One bowlful of this hearty, flavorful dish and I had a smile on my face again. 

Eggplant has since become one of my favorite vegetables.  It's smoky and rich flavor shines in this dish, and paired with tomatoes and beef, allspice and cinnamon, with the faint spicy taste of olive oil--this is one dish that you won't be able to stop sneaking spoonfuls. 

Fresh Herb Gaza Omelette, or Ijee

I would eat them in a boat, and I would eat them with a goat. 

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, we are celebrating Palestinian style: 

Green eggs.

Hold the ham. 

From Gaza, with Love

I remember the first time I had this omelette.  My teta, my grandmother, was living with us in our home outside of Jerusalem and one evening we were having a simple supper of eggs and labani and bread and my grandmother made one of these omelettes for us. It is your father's favorite omelette, she said, I made this for him when your mother and father were newly wed.

Palestinian Meatloaf: Lamb Kefta, Two Ways

  

Kefta is meatloaf, really.  Ground meats, mixed with seasonings by hand, pressed into a dish, smothered in sauce.  There are differences, of course.  Instead of beef, pork and veal, we use lamb and beef.  Instead of bread crumbs, we use minced parsley.  The lamb is spiced with cinnamon and allspice.  On top, we skip the ketchup and pour a creamy tahini and lemon sauce, and sprinkle with pine nuts. Or, if you are in the mood for tomatoes, we pour a little tomato sauce and arrange sliced fresh tomatoes.

I remember the first time my mother explained kefta to an American family:  your loaves of bread are high, and so that is how you make meatloaf.  Our loaves of bread are flat, and so that is how we make meatloaf. 

Sourdough "Pita" Bread, or Khubiz Arabi

  

Bread is the staff of life in the Middle East.  Though we eat rice abundantly, rice is actually the new kid on the block, relatively speaking.  Our ancient fathers ate bread as their main sustenance and nourishment.  Give us this day our daily bread, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.

Bread is the vehicle for all other foods - we scoop up vegetables, salads, meats, cheeses, eggs - everything can be folded into a piece of bread.  Bread is also the utensil, the way our food is carried to our mouths.  There is ceremony - how to tear off a piece, how much to tear off at a time, where to dip in the common bowl, how to hold the bread so that it doesn't drip.  And yet bread is so common place that it is rarely remarked upon, rarely experimented with, it is simply there every morning when you wake up, and at every table that you sit down to. 

How to Make Yogurt Cheese, or Labani

In the fridge, at the breakfast, lunch or dinner table, in any home in Palestine and you will find a bowl of this tangy spread made from two simple ingredients:  yogurt and salt. We always had bread and labani in the house.  Stores closed because of a political strike?  Bread and labani.  No time to cook?  Bread and labani for dinner.  In a hurry for breakfast?  Bread and labani and a cucumber.   

Simple as it is, it is delicious and nourishing.  This spread holds all of the goodness of yogurt, high in protein and probiotics, but it is even more concentrated and more portable. 

Labani (also labaneh, labneh, labane) is from the Arabic word laban, which means yogurt.  I have seen it described in English as "yogurt cheese."  Technically not a cheese, this is similar to Greek yogurt, but with the consistency of cream cheese. 

Stewed Green Beans, or Fassoulia

Did your mother serve you spaghetti and meatballs every Wednesday night, with thick slabs of garlic bread? 

Mine didn't.  Instead, she regularly served this rich tomatoey stew, full of hunks of beef and softly cooked green beans, scooped high over cinnamon and all-spice seasoned rice.  The smoky-sweet smell of behar, all-spice, quickly brings me back to her kitchen, to the covered pot of rice on the stove top, and the second pot of bubbling green bean stew. 

How to Make Pomegranate Molasses

Want to know a little secret?

Pomegranate molasses.  It's amazing. 

My mother introduced me to this ingredient, by hand-carrying a bottle from home.  I have kept a bottle in my cupboard ever since.  It's a thick, viscous syrup made out of boiled-down pomegranate juice.  The flavor is complex, puckering tart - almost lemony, fruity, and slightly sweet. 

What do I do with this? 

Use it on meats, my mother said.  Rub it into a beef roast, or a pork roast.   Spread it over a roast chicken.  It is magic, I tell you. 

It really is. 

Stuffed Chicken, or Djaj Mahshi

Do you have something to celebrate? A new bride in the family? A new mother? The fact that it is Saturday? 

Stuffed chicken is a Palestinian celebratory meal, served particularly to new mothers. Traditionally, a new mother would spend a month at home and in bed, caring for her newborn, while her mother-in-law would take over all household chores, including cooking and preparing delicacies for the new mother. Pregnancy, labor, delivery, the early days of breastfeeding - new mothers' bodies have given so much that they should in turn be given the most nourishing foods possible. This tender roasted chicken is stuffed with buttery pine nuts, spiced rice and ground meat. Served with a bowl of tart plain yogurt, a chopped salad and some Arabic bread, this makes for a meal designed to heal and build up a mother's body.

The quality of the chicken matters. When my mother comes to America, she laughs at the plump chickens in the grocery store. Is this a chicken or a turkey? What did they do to these breasts? I have never seen a chicken like this. She mockingly staggers as she picks one up.

I have come to see her point. The chickens I grew up eating were smaller, and also tasted well, more like chicken. More flavorful than the chicken-flavored-cardboard that I had been cooking since I had moved to the States.

I back away from the boob-job chickens.

I pick up an organic, free-range chicken. When on sale, I really enjoy kosher organic chickens. They are so tender that they melt in your mouth and my children adore them. The higher price tag gives me pause until I realize that if I make enough bone broth from the chicken bones, I will actually recoup the cost of the chicken entirely. And because they are pastured birds, they absorb the macro nutrients of the foods they eat, and pass those on to me. These birds fit into our moral framework, too, which I was grateful for tonight when my daughter asked me what the difference was between the chicken that we eat and the chickens that she has seen at farms. When I gently explained that they are one and the same, I was glad to be able to explain that this bird had had a long happy life and just one bad day.

 

Djaj Mahshi

1 whole chicken, pastured preferred

Rice and Meat Stuffing:

(Enough for extra to cook on the stove top or to stuff two chickens)

1 onion, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup rice, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained

1 teaspoon butter

1 3/4 cups chicken stock or water

1/2 lb ground lamb or beef

Salt and pepper

All spice

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

1/2 cup pine nuts

Chicken Rub:

1 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons yogurt

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses*

1 tsp Middle Eastern chicken seasoning, or all spice

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper

1. Saute the diced onion in olive oil until translucent. Add rice and saute for a couple of minutes. Then add chicken broth or water, 1 1/2 tsp salt and pepper, 1 tsp all spice, and a little freshly grated nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then simmer until becoming tender, but not mushy, about 15 minutes.

2. Brown the meat, breaking up into small pieces with your spatula. Season with salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp all spice, and little cinnamon.

3. Saute the pine nuts in a tablespoon of butter, over low heat, stirring carefully and watching. They burn very easily.

4. In a bowl, combine the rice, meat, pine nuts and onions. Check seasonings.

5. Wash the chicken and pat dry inside and out and set it into a shallow roasting pan.

6. Divide the rice into two separate bowls, to prevent contamination. Reserve one bowl to serve with the chicken. Spoon stuffing from the other bowl into the cavity of the chicken, fitting as much as you can. Using toothpicks, secure the opening to the cavity as best as you can. If you prefer, you can sew the cavity closed.

7. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, yogurt and pomegranate molasses. Rub into the chicken breast. Salt and pepper the chicken liberally. Place some pats of butter under the breast skin, and rub a little more onto the chicken skin.

8. For a tender bird, slow roast the chicken using this method. Preheat oven to 300 F and roast the chicken. Roast until the chicken reaches 160 F, then turn the oven up to 375 F, baste the chicken with its juices and roast until the chicken's internal temperature reaches 180 F. This should take a total of two and a half to three hours, depending on the size of the chicken.

9. Cover with foil and let the chicken rest for five to ten minutes, for its juices to redistribute.

10. To make the most flavorful rice, pour some of the chicken drippings from the roast pan into the reserved rice stuffing and stir it in. Then try not to eat it all on the spot.

*You can purchase pomegranate molasses at Middle Eastern grocers, large grocery stores, or you can make it yourself.   See recipe. 

Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Coconut Cookies

  

This is not a traditional Palestinian cookie, in case you were wondering.  But this is my mother's kind of cookie.  My mother loves cookies with "things" in them.  Nuts, chocolate chips, oatmeal - they all make her cookies happy.  The first time my mother ate these she told me that when she is old and dying, and she is ready to eat her last cookie, I must make her these.  A little morbid, but I'll take it. 

When I was was eight months pregnant, my dear friend invited me over to have a marathon cooking day in her kitchen, so that I could stock my freezer and she could give some meals away.  I think we made eight lasagnas, four batches of enchilada mixes and four batches of these cookies in a mere three hours.  It was a year before I wanted lasagna again.  But these cookies, well, that was another story.  We started out with a basic oatmeal cookie and couldn't stop adding ingredients to them.  This is what we made and they were a howling success. 

Dare I admit that I even won our local community dessert contest with these cookies?  They are that yummy.