Arabian Night - An All Mediterranean Dinner

The Mediterranean dinner menu consisted of:

Appetizer :: Hummus 

A creamy chickpea dip served with crispy Pita bread or nachos

Entree :: Chicken Shawarma

Pita bread filled with grilled chicken, grilled eggplant, garlic based sauce, pickled vegetables like cucumber, gherkins, (fresh tomatoes and lettuce- optional)

Side Dish 1 ::  Mutabbal (Baba Ghanoush)

A roasted eggplant based garlic infused creamy dip

Side Dish 2 :: Tzatziki 

Cucumber, yogurt dip infused with lemon zest

Dessert :: Baklava 

A rich, pastry made of layers of phyllo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup 

Wine :: Sherry - Palo Cortado 

This aperitif compliments olives, nuts, meatballs

Post Dinner :: Darjeeling  Tea and a Majid Majidi movie

Relaxing tea with an uplifting movie :)

Other options:

*Add crispy nachos with the hummus 

or 

Eat hummus with vegetable sticks (healthier option) 

**Cut leftover phyllo sheets from baklava in squares, big enough to cover the cups of the muffin tray. Make several such cups by placing a layer of 2-3 phyllo sheets and gently pressing them to take shape of the cup. Now bake this at 350 F till it becomes crisp and golden brown. Fill with dips of your choice, like hummus, mutabbal, tzatzik.

Chicken Shawarma

There might be many authentic Shawarmas in this world, but the tastiest 'ever' for me, would be,  Anat's Shawarmas in Johannesburg! They were juicy, they were spicy, they had deep fried eggplant slices, potatoes chips and yes, they had that taste and crunch! My Jo'burg stay made me an Anat shawarma addict and I still crave for those Shawarmas!!! And therefore this post today.

Of course the eggplants are not deep fried, and the potato chips are missing from my shawarma - I don't want post- dinner guilt! :)

You need:

To make pan grilled chicken:

Boneless (skinless) chicken breasts – 2 Nos. (cut into thins strips)

Lemon juice – 1 Tbsp

Greek yogurt – 1.5 Tbsp (replace with thick yogurt that is not sour)

Garlic – 1 Tbsp (minced)

Salt – 1 tsp

Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

Paprika -1/4 tsp

Dried parsley – ¼ tsp (replace with fresh)

Cayenne pepper – 1/8 tsp

Cinnamon powder– 1/8 tsp

Olive oil – 2 Tbsp

To assemble Shawarma:

Eggplant – Cut into 1 cm thick slices and pan grilled with very little olive oil, till brown.

Pita bread

Pickled vegetables like cucumber, gherkins, carrots etc. 

Garlic sauce – Mix 1 Tbsp mayonnaise with ½ tsp minced garlic. 

Tomatoes – chopped (optional)

Lettuce - optional

1. Combine chicken, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, garlic, salt, cardamom powder, paprika, dried parsley. Cayenne pepper, cinnamon powder in a large bowl, cover and let marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator. 
2. In a non stick pan, heat  olive oil. Tip in chicken and let cook for 10 minutes until chicken browns, cook for an additional 2 minutes if necessary to brown. 
3. To make sandwich, open the pita bread like a pocket , spread garlic sauce on pita, add chicken, eggplant and pickles (you can add tomatoes and lettuce if desired). 
4. Enjoy with fries or salad on the side!

Baklava

Sweet-Tooth or No Sweet-Tooth, this one is difficult to resist. 

I learnt 3 important lessons while making this sweet meat. Never use butter substitutes to layer phyllo sheets, don't grind all the nuts together. I meant the dry fruit nuts, you silly! And lastly, treat the phyllo sheet like a friend and handle it with confidence- it will listen to you and not break/ fall apart. 

Please read my remarks in the bottom before you  proceed to avoid disasters and heart breaks! :)


You need:

Phyllo dough – 1 pkt (around 10 sheets will be used)

Butter melted - 1 Stick 

Finely chopped nuts of your choice – 1.5 Cups (I used equal qty of pecans, almonds and pistachios)

Sugar - 1/8 cup (2 Tbsp)

Clove powder – 1/8 tsp (optional) 

Nutmeg powder - 1/8 tsp

Cinnamon - 1/8 tsp

Ground Pistachios – To garnish
For the syrup:

Sugar - 2 cups

Water- 1 cup

Lemon juice - 1 tsp 

Rose water - 1 Tbsp

Orange blossom water – 1 Tbsp (skip if you don't have)

Making the syrup:

Place sugar, water and lemon in a pot and let come to a soft boil, simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat and add rose water and orange blossom water. Now simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely before adding to the sweet. (You can make this syrup once you have put the baklava in the oven for 35-40 min. By the time baklavas come out, syrup would have cooled)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Coarsely grind all the types of nuts in a food processor (one type at a time)
3. Now mix nuts, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon powder and sugar in a bowl. 
4. Butter the baking tray on all sides. Place a phyllo sheet. Now apply butter all over this sheet using a pastry brush. 
5. Place the next sheet on top of this sheet. Apply butter all over the second sheet making sure there are no big  air bubbles in between. Repeat this step to form a layer of 10 phyllo sheets.( simply put, butter each later of the phyllo dough and layer 10 sheets to form a base)
6. Sprinkle nuts uniformly.
7. Repeat the layering process with 5-6 layers on top of the dry fruit filling.
8. Carefully cut the pastry into any shape, most common is square or diamond shape. 
9. Place in oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Drizzle the baklava while in the pan with the simple syrup and then let cool completely before serving. Top each piece with ground pistachio.

*Use only unsalted butter and please don't use any other spread or vegetable spread. I tried to avoid butter and instead decided to use melted vegetable spread that tastes like butter. I melted the spread in a dish and soon had a film of vegetable oil floating on water. The phyllo sheets got only water between the layers and I ended up with a sticky gooey baklava instead of the flaky layers. I had to redo to perfect it! :(

** Try using an organic phyllo dough. Keep them frozen till you have everything ready for stuffing, melted butter for layering. These sheets thaw in minutes. Keep a moist kitchen towel handy to cover the those sheets which are in the queue.

***Grind each type of nut separately as each takes different time to grind. If you grind them all together, some may become too fine, paste like and leave oil. 

Baba Ghanoush/ Mutabbal

First thing first, Mutabbal and Baba Ganoush (BG) are NOT the same. :) . So why have I mentioned both in my post title? Well, they are often used interchangeably even in well known Middle Eastern restaurants, leaving many like me - confused! :) OK, so both have the same main ingredient -  smoky baked eggplant/ aubergine. That's the only common thing between the two. But what makes them different? Read on..

Mutabal is the one with tahini and garlic and sometimes yogurt (sour cream) to make it creamy. 

BG is the one with pomegranate molasses, tomatoes, parsley and walnuts. (Somehow I always associate BG with baigan bharta, but that's just my personal opinion! :))

This recipe is for Mutabbal, which I prefer over BG because of super garlicky taste. Of course you can go easy on garlic if you don't want to smell of garlic on a romantic date!

You need:

Large Eggplant - 1 no. (baked then peeled)

Lemon Juice - 1.5 Lemon (adjust to taste)

Tahini Paste - 2 heaping tsp

Garlic – 2-3 cloves (minced, reduce if you are not a big garlic fan)

Salt – ½ tsp 

Greek Yogurt - 1 Tbsp or thick plain yogurt (optional, you can always add later to check if you want it or not)

Sour Cream, - 1 Tbsp (optional as I added this to cut down on the  raw garlicky taste, replace with Greek yogurt)

To garnish:

Mint or parsley leaves 

Olive oil

Cayenne pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Puncture the eggplant and roast it on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.
2. Then place the eggplant in a bowl and cover with a cling wrap.  Once it cools down, you can easily peel it and extract just the pulp.
3. Add the minced garlic (to avoid big chunks while eating), lemon juice and tahini paste, blend in a blender or with a mortar.
4. If you feel you want it a little creamier and eggplant-garlic taste is a bit too strong, add Greek yogurt, sour cream and blend well. 

How to serve:

Spread nicely in a plate such that you form a pit in the center that is not too deep. (as shown in the picture). Garnish with parsley or mint and top with olive oil and sprinkle cayenne pepper or paprika. Add olives!

Serve with olives and pita bread.

Hummus (Hummous, Hommus, Houmous)

Hummus or houmous, hommus, hummos, hummous -  no matter how you spell it, it will still be that one helluva delicious, versatile dip with amazing creamy texture. And yeah, its super healthy! Always remember - Olive oil is healthy!! OK, back to making Hummus. It is essentially made of blended chickpeas, sesame tahini, lemon juice, and garlic.

You need:

Chick Peas/ Garbanzo Beans – 1 can (14oz or 16 oz) or 1.5 cup soaked overnight

Tahini  -  5 heaping tsp and adjust to taste (Sesame Seed Paste, notes below to see how to make it yourself)

Greek yogurt - 2 Tbsp (I used Fage brand of Greek yogurt, substitute with plain yogurt with any excess water removed )

Sour cream - 1 Tbsp

Lemon juice - 2 Tbsp (adjust to taste) 

Garlic – 2-3 cloves (grated, optional if you don't want the garlic taste)

Salt – ½ tsp

Fresh mint leaves – 3-4 nos.

To garnish:

Pomegranate seeds – ¼ cup

Fresh Parsley - 2 Tbs 

Cayenne Pepper or Paprika – 1 tsp

Olive Oil - 1/4 Cup 

1. Remove all the water from the chickpeas, as you can always add a little water later if its too thick, but you can't do the reverse! If you are using soaked chickpeas, boil them with ¼ tsp of baking soda  until soft and cooked through. Use minimum amount of water and drain it before you add the chickpeas to the blender. 
2. In a blender add chickpeas, Greek yogurt or sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, salt and mint leaves. Blend until smooth to desired thickness.
3. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, parsley, cayenne pepper and olive oil as shown in the picture.

*Lime juice can be adjusted. It does remove the bitterness from the tahini sauce and makes it sweet and creamy

**If you can't get hold of tahini sauce, dry roast sesame seeds and blend with olive oil to make a very very fine paste. Best gadget to use to blend to such a fine paste is to use a spice/ coffee grinder.

Quick and Healthy Pita Snack

This is a pretty quick and healthy snack to make when you don't want to compromise on the taste and health in absence of time.
Perfect for Sunday brunch!

All you need is some fresh veggies of your choice and yes of course Pita bread. I prefer to use thinly sliced onion,cabbage,tomatoes and capsicum.

For non-veggies,coat a boneless piece of chicken with some olive oil,salt,pepper and lime juice and pan fry it light brown. Try to cook it on high heat to keep it succulent. Tear it into irregular bite size chunks for easy mixing with the veggies.

Stuff the pita with the mix.Add any sauce of your choice. I prefer to use Nando's Garlic Peri-Peri and Mustard .Sometimes a dash of barbecue sauce gives it a more tangy touch.

*For those who don't like the raw veggie taste,you can lightly saute' them in olive oil.

Middle Eastern Meatballs with Moutabel

For a taste of the Middle East try this wonderfully simple recipe, a great combination of flavours and textures
Servings: 4-6
Level of difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes




Ingredients
500g lean minced lamb/chicken
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled crushed
a handful of Coriander, chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp Salt
a pinch of cayenne
50g Pine kernels, chopped
Olive oil, for frying
green salad, to serve
warm flat bread (such as pitta), to serve


For the smoky aubergine puree:
1 aubergine
1 garlic clove, peeled
a pinch of salt
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp thick creamy yoghurt
2 tbsp Olive oil
a pinch of cayenne pepper


For the minted yoghurt:
a handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
120ml thick creamy yoghurt




Method1. First prepare the aubergine puree. Pierce the aubergine in a few places with the point of a knife, then directly place it over a flame until the skin is thoroughly blackened and blistered and the flesh feels soft, around 10 minutes. Set aside to cool


2. Mash the garlic to a paste with a good pinch of salt and with the blade of a flat knife. When the aubergine has cooled enough to handle, peel off the charred skin and squeeze out as much moisture as possible from the flesh.


3. Work the aubergine to a puree either in a blender, food processor or by chopping it or mashing it with a potato masher.


4. Beat in the garlic paste, lemon juice and yoghurt a little at a time. Season with cayenne pepper and set aside.


5. Make the minted yoghurt by stirring the chopped mint into the yoghurt.


6. To make the meatballs, mix together the mince, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, allspice, salt and cayenne. Work until soft and paste-like with your hands. With wet hands divide the mixture into 24 pieces and roll into walnut sized balls.


7. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the meatballs in small batches for about 5 mins, turning often so they are crisp and browned all over, but still moist and juicy inside.


8. Drain well on kitchen paper and keep warm until all the meatballs have been fried.


9. Serve the meatballs hot with a few spoonfuls of minted yoghurt, smoked aubergine puree, a simple green salad and warm flat bread.