Rich Lebanese Recipes. Red Muhammara Sauce. [+ cookbook review]

Inspiration for meal ideas can often come from the shelves of cookbooks we have, waiting patiently on our shelves to be noticed, thumbed and covered in sticky ingredients.  This inspiration was from a cookbook launch party, held in Battersea, London at the Food Blogger Connect conference.

I've long had a love affair with Middle Eastern food. It rarely disappoints and the ease with which you can create quite dramatic flavours always amazes me.  Do you go through phases with food?  I do.  Sometimes the slowly simmered foods from India are my kitchen rave. Other times it may be avocado and cilantro (coriander) that line my windowsills which mingle and merge with spritely jalapeños and a conveyor belt of freshly made corn tortillas.  Right now, as the sun shines with close to Arabic effort, I am feasting on the delights of the Lebanon.

Aubergines (eggplant) are being roasted in the oven, alongside plump red peppers doused in oil.  Pinenuts are releasing fragrant oils from gentle toasting.  Supermarkets are being plundered for the ruby jewels of the pomegranate and soy yogurt is being transformed into a lemony, garlicky cool white dip.  You can almost hear the hypnotic, rhythmic music curling in the air with the scent of smokey paprika. Where's my jangly coin, belly dancing belt?

Once the eggplant/aubergine was roasted and delicious (you know how it goes all silky..ooh, I love that) I spooned over rich red muhammara sauce.

Here is the recipe, I adapted from Bethany Kehdy's blog.  The girl who reminded me of the food of the Lebanon.

Her book is out now.  The Jewelled Kitchen  The book is packed with recipes (it is not a vegan cookbook) the most gorgeous photography by Sarka Babicka.  I am in awe of her outstanding talent.

This recipe is gluten free and totally vegan.

red muhammara sauce

1/2 cup toasted almond flour (to sub for bread crumbs)

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup walnuts (I've also made a toasted pine nut and walnut combo 1/4 cup of each..yum!)

2 bell peppers, charred with seeds and skins removed. Use any of the juice they produce.

30 ml pomegranate molasses  (didn't have so I used 1 tsp of sumac for the touch of tartness)

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil (or walnut oil for a richer flavour)

a strong girl squeeze of fresh lemon

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp chill powder or cayenne

salt and fresh black pepper to taste

You can go messing around with putting the charred red peppers into a plastic bag to make them sweat and so easier to peel away the skin, do this if you are in a hurry (don't hurry) or just remove from the oven and wait for it to cool down. It will be easy to peel.

Put all the ingredients into a small blender and blend until smooth.  Test for seasoning.  If it is ok then put in an appropriate serving dish and scatter with crushed walnuts or toasted almonds.  

Do a few hip rolls and a shimmy or two,  to build up an appetite..and then feast.

Mayonesa de Zanahoria - Carrot Mayonnaise - simple, versatile & delicious

I happened across this recipe whilst shopping in a community market in Buenos Aires.  Rows of jars, bright and golden on rustic shelving.  The name was so exotic  zanahoria de mayonnaise.  Translated as carrot mayonnaise.  I bought a jar and teased the ingredients from the artisan seller. 
I jotted them down. Ready, one day for its assimilation in my kitchen.  One try and it shone. It is that simple.

I now share it with you.   

Mayonesa de Zanahoria  - Carrot Mayonnaise


Ingredients

1 1/4 cup carrots.  Thinly slice and drop into a shallow pan of boiling water just covering the carrots.  When beginning to go soft, remove the boiled carrots. Allow to cool. Retain water. 
squeeze lemon juice
2 Tbs good olive oil
1/2 small clove garlic - minced
1 tsp pink salt
*optional 1 tsp mustard  - I use Carley's Organic Mustard - it's subtle and a little sweet


Method

1.   pop the cooled carrots and lemon juice into a blender or processor.  I used a mini processor for this amount.  Blitz until smooth.  (Use some of the retained cooking water if it needs some help to blend.  Go easy.  Just a little at a time).  The oil in the final step will help a lot to make it smooth and creamy.
2. add the garlic, salt and *mustard.  Blitz again.  
3.  add the oil.  slowly.  a small amount at a time so it emulsifies and transforms the carrots into a sweet and gently peppery mayonnaise.

Pop into a jar and refrigerate.  Will keep for 4-5 days.  Or use it immediately.  Spooned onto bread and coupled with avocado and argula, or a baby leaves.  Or any way you like.  And you will like.  Promise.

This recipe could be made raw also.  Miss out the cooking of the carrots.  If you have a blender (lucky you!) it will work a treat.  I think the texture benefits from cooking if you haven't got one and are making do with a food processor.   Give it a try. Let me know what you think.

Be well,

India xx

Versatile Rich Tomato Marrakech Relish (no cook)

No cook Versatile Rich Tomato Marrakech Relish

Don't run off at the sight of a long ingredients list. Its predominance mostly spices.  Simple to prepare and so flavoursome.  I promise you'll be pleased you made it and it really only takes a few minutes.  I'm always ridiculously proud when I make something a store would have you think impossible to us mere mortals.

Sometimes I will go into a store or restaurant and experience a recipe so striking that I have to go home and make attempts recreate it. It is a challenge I heartily accept.  Nowawdays, I usually push my trolley right on by the shelves stacked with jars of pre made sauces and condiments but last week, a little jar caught my eye and beckoned me hither.  A tagine paste.  I accepted it's silent call and grabbed it from lofty height.  Automatically, I turned the jar over in my hand and inspected the ingredients.  Wow!  no unnecessary fillers or scary E numbers.  I gave it place among a soft bed of spinach and pushed my trolley onwards.  It was a treat!  I set about mimicking it.

One of the things I love about cooking is the guess work involved, along with the measuring, sprinkling, mincing, smelling and even in a funny way the annihilation of my clear zen worktops to transform to something akin to a struck bomb, with open jars, splattered liquids amid the perfume of garden herbs.  I suspect a failure to take up science and a soul that is caressed by evocative food memories is behind my kitchen puttering.

I cracked this on the second hit.  The flavours are lusty and robust.  Statisfying in a way that necessitates only a few brimming spoonfuls to satiate.

Ingredients  (makes one jar or about a cup full)

1/2 cup soaked sun dried tomatoes (the dry kind and not in oil…if you have the oiled type then omit the sunflower oil part of the recipe)
5 garlic cloves - minced
1/2 red pepper - chopped
1 small shallot - minced
1 roughly chopped red chilli pepper (deseeded if it is a hot number)
1/4 cup roughly chopped sun dried tomato soak water (you may need less or even none at all, depending on the consistency of your tomatoes…your judgement is needed)
1/2 juice of squeezed lemon
2 Tbs finely chopped fresh mint (remove the stalk if it is woody)
1 Tbs finely chopped fresh parsley (remove the stalk it is a bit woody)
2 1/2 tsp cumin powder - I roast seeds and grind them myself so I can enjoy the smoky aroma whilst grinding in my pestle
1 tbs coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground caraway seeds
1 Tbs truffle (or walnut/olive) oil
1 Tbs sunflower oil
1/2 tsp salt (this should be enough but add sparingly according to how salty your sun dried tomatoes were)
grinding of black pepper


Method

1. in a blender, blend the tomatoes with the red pepper to a rough paste.
2. add all the other ingredients and pulse until mix is of a thick, slightly coarse consistency.  I love to leave little nibs of garlic, onion, chilli pepper and fresh herbs suspended in the paste.  It adds depth and excitement in each spooned bite.
I am slathering it liberally on almost anything at the moment. I cannot get enough.  Baked poppadoms are peppered with it, Raw Garlic Bread it loaded with it and veggies are turned scarlet with generous lashings of the stuff.  Beans are delicious bathed in it.  Avocado, potato….I could go on.  I won't.

I hope you like it as much as I do.  You can also try and change up the spices to match an alternative country.  Its base could be the foundation for the flavours of Italy, Mexico and Spain too.  Add some pickled lime and it could whisk you away on an exotic trip to India.

Please enjoy.

India Leigh x

Raw Sprouted Buckwheat Hummus - Recipe

Raw Sprouted Buckwheat Hummus


I have a friend who calls chickpeas 'devil food'.  The force of her wrath is due to the 'fall out' after-effect of the ubiquitous legume.  Mindful of this and needful of dip, I hunted around for alternatives.  I'd not soaked any almonds so that was out.  My stock of pre-cooked black beans were frozen solid.  Oh dear, I had nothing to 'hummus' but I craved it so! 

In a moment of inspiration I grabbed my dish of buckwheat, happily going about its business of sprouting on my windowsill.
I paired it will all the usual 'hummus' suspects, and crossed my fingers as I stood and watched it quickly blending into a thick, pale cream.

I slathered it thick on a wedge of sweet potato, hot and steaming, fresh from the oven and eagerly bit into it like an open-faced sandwich. Verdict?  It is really rather tasty!  Hunger abated and full of delight that my experiment had worked I roasted some cumin and bashed the smoking seeds with a pestle to release the flavours, and the together the two became firm friends.
I then dug around in my cupboard to fish out my mandolin (not the instrumental kind..though that would of been fitting!) and sliced some delicate rounds of beetroot to create an easy starter.  More about that after I've shared the basic recipe with you.

First, sprouting the buckwheat.  Buckwheat is not a grain but a seed, related to the rhubarb family.  It is full of amino acids (one of most complete sources on the planet) and is gluten free.  It is a 'healthy' starch and after soaking in water for 20mins (some say longer but I've heard it can spoil quickly), it gives off a gloupy gel like substance that needs to be rinsed vigorously.  Once rinsed pop into a sprouter and rinse 3-4 times a day.  You should see the little sprout tail emerge after a day or two.  Rinse, rinse and rinse again, and then you are ready to turn it into moreish (and Moorish) hummus.

Ingredients
2 cups raw sprouted buckwheat
1 plump clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt (pink preferably)
1/2 lemon juice (2 Tbs)
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar or ume plum seasoning (to lift)
1-2 Tbs tahini (raw if that is your bag)   I used 1 Tbs and it was delicious.  See what you think.

Method.
1. pop all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.  Check for seasoning.  Is it ok?  You may like more lemon or more salt.  Try it.

Nutrition (source Food Matters)

Sprouted buckwheat is an amazing food because it tastes like a grain but is actually gluten and wheat free and not a grain at all. It is one of the most complete sources of protein on the planet, containing all eight essential amino acids. This makes it perfect for diabetics and those who want to cut down on their sugary carbohydrates and to balance their blood sugar levels. It is also known to lower high blood pressure. 

Sprouted buckwheat also cleanses the colon and alkalizes the body. Buckwheat is a wonderful super food for people who have varicose veins or hardening of the arteries. One of the reasons is that it is full of rutin, which is a compound that is known as a powerful capillary wall strengthener. When veins become weak, blood and fluids accumulate and leak into nearby tissues, which may cause varicose veins or hemorrhoids. 

This healing food is also rich in lecithin, making it a wonderful cholesterol balancer because lecithin soaks up "bad" cholesterol and prevents it from being absorbed. Lecithin neutralizes toxins and purifies the lymphatic system, taking some of the load off of the liver. Sprouted buckwheat is also a brain boosting super food. 28% of the brain is actually made up of lecithin. Research suggests that regularly consuming foods rich in lecithin may actually prevent anxiety, depression, brain fog, mental fatigue and generally make the brain sharper and clearer. 

Buckwheat is high in iron so it is a good blood builder. It also prevents osteoporosis because of its high boron and calcium levels. Sprouted buckwheat is high in bio-flavonoids and co-enzyme Q10. It contains all of the B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, and selenium, as well as many other health giving compounds. 


Wow!  AND it makes great hummus.  Also, when teamed with mint, fresh raw beets, cumin, lemon oil and my homemade Marrakesh Relish….it is heavenly!

Enjoy!

Be well

India Leigh x

p.s  another raw buckwheat recipe you may like caramelised onion tart

p.s.s it is an excellent substitute for oats too.  Try it for breakfast.

CELERIAC GRIDDLE SCONES with roasted leeks and creamy caper sauce - Gluten free

These scones are not like oven scones, they get a really nice golden crust and a richer,  more robust flavour.  I took the inspiration from one of the books I've been flicking through the pages of, at night before I slumber.  The book listed potato scones but I preferred the idea of flavourful celeriac instead. 

Celeriac Griddle Scones - makes 6

500g (small) celeriac - peeled and cut into 2inch (ish) cubes

1/2 cup sorghum flour (juwar)

1 tbs garbanzo flour

1 green (salad) onion finely chopped

1/2 tbs finely chopped rosemary

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp fine ground white pepper

1tbs oil for frying

Method

1. steam the celeriac until soft (retain a little of the cooking water if needed to bind the mix). mash

2. add all the other ingredients, through to the oil for frying, and mix well to form a ball of 'dough'

3. roll out on a floured surface (or grease proof paper...easier to clean up!) to 1/2 inch thick

4. use a pastry cutter or a glass to cut into rounds

5. in a heated and lightly oiled skillet, cook the rounds on each side until lightly browned

6. serve immediately

The scones freeze well.  They are also very nice as a lunch with one of my fabulous-hummus-sisters or as a lid for a vegan pie.

I served with roasted leeks and tomatoes - simply drizzle with a good oil, season and roast.  Simple, silky, and the flavour is intense.

I made a quick caper sauce to pour over my leeks and scones and bring the dish together.

1 tbs vegan butter

1 tbs brown rice flour

1/2 cup vegan milk (I used unsweetened hemp)

2 tbs capers

season with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. melt the butter in a pan and add the flour.

2. stir until the flour is melted ensuring it doesn't burn.

3. slowly pour in the milk whilst stirring constantly

4. simmer for 3-4 minutes.  If it thickens too much add a little more milk.

5. add the capers and heat for a further 30 seconds

6. season to taste

'buttery', crumbly loveliness...



Introducing the fabulous HUMMUS SISTERS!

I am addicted to hummus. I am a Gemini. I get bored.  I like to be creative (OK so my veggie drawing skills need some work! and YES that is what the inside of a tomato looks like).  The equation  A+G+B+C = solution...THE HUMMUS LAB.

My kitchen looked like a bomb site after I'd put all these together, and I did spin around on the spot wondering what I was doing more than once.  But I managed to pull it off.

Isn't it beautiful written in Arabic...  حمّص بطحينة

 

For the basic hummus I used

1 can organic chickpeas - drained

1 tsp tahini

1 large garlic clove

juice of half a lemon

1tps salt

*note: this is quite a low fat recipe.  Make it to your taste, you can add more tahini or a swirl of olive oil on top too to make it more unctuous**

Once you have the basic recipe you can then get creative with your flavours.  I made 3 alternatives here today.  I'll be your muse and suggest a few others at the end (of this post, not the end of time...that would be silly).

the dazzling hummus sisters

Ms Sundried tomato hummus

To make sundried tomato hummus just add as many as you like (the type in oil in a jar are best).  For a smokey flavour you could add smoked paprika.

 

Miss Carrot & Cumin hummus



To add a colourful twist to your basic recipe add a carrot and blend (add more tahini as the carrot will add moisture and make it a bit 'wet') and decorate it with freshly ground roasted cumin.  It is sweet, aromatic and delicious.

Miss Olive Noir Hummus

Yes, you did guess right...add olives, BUT for this recipe I also added a spoon of raw black tahini with is coarse and adds a interesting dimension.

Other suggestions - mustard, chili spiked or wasabi hummus.  You know you can use other white beans too, and even omit the beany element altogether and use zucchini instead.

For a whole wealth of of hummus factoids for you beany paste geeks.....here is the Wikipedia low down.



How do you hummus?