One hundred and one mezze: 32. Arayes

Sainsbury's has introduced a new(ish) flat bread couple of months ago and it is fantastic! Miles better than any pitta bread you can buy from a high street supermarket. The bread is a folded softer version of pitta bread (higher fat content, judging by the paper packaging). Its two layers are too thin to be opened as a pitta pocket. You need to to fold the bread over the sandwich stuffing. 

I usually fill the bread with pastrami, cheese and American mustard and toast it in a frying pan with some butter on the outside to make a perfect toastie. Alternatively, stick it in a toaster until crisp and use it for dips and hummus.

However may absolute favourite way to use this bread is to stuff it with kebab meat (or kafta for the Lebanese inclined!)and stick it in the oven. This dish was my favourite part of an Arabic barbecue dinner as a kid and is still my number one choice for a solo dinners (since my wife finds mince lamb too fatty). I often make a big patch of kebab meat and stick it in the freezer in small bags. Perfect emergency dinner!.

This dish is eaten all over the Middle East. It is called Arayes in Lebanon and Hwawshi bread in Egypt.While in Aleppo the add some white cheese and call it Toshka. In Damascus I don't think we have a specific name for this dish and it doesn't usually feature on restaurant menus. It is just bread stuffed with kebab meat.

Arayes

400g minced lamb (or half beef half lamb)

50g chopped parsley

One small onion

Salt

Pepper 

1/2 tsp Allspice 

Chilli flakes (optional)

Butter (optional)

Sainsbury's flat bread (or any pitta bread)

Heat the oven to 200c. (Or use a panini press or for ultimate taste cook on the barbecue )

Start by chopping the onion as small a humanly possible. Salt generously in a deep bowl and leave to soften for half an hour. It is worth taking your time at this step as there is nothing worse than a mouthful of chunky uncooked onions.

Add the meat, parsley, allspice, salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste. Cook a small bit .of the meat in a frying pan and taste to check the seasoning.

Stuff the bread with the meat mixture to your liking. I prefer a thick layer of meat to keep it pink in the middle.

Butter the bread on the outside and cook on a wire rack in the middle of the oven for 10-20 minutes depending how you like your meat.

Serve as part of mezze spread or with a bowl of salad for a nice supper

One Hundred and One Mezze: 31. Potato with garlic and coriander

Potato occupies an awkward spot in Syrian cuisine. 

It is not a true vegetables in the way we use vegetables in our cooking. We don't have the concept of meat and two veg. Instead vegetables are either cooked in some sort of a stew and served as a main or cooked in olive oil and served as a vegetarian side dish. Potato does not fit either. 

Potato is not our main source of carbohydrates. Rice and bulger occupy that spot. 

We don't use it to thicken soup. We don't use it as a pasty filler. We don't make hash brown with it... etc 

As a results potato is often neglected in many Syrian kitchen. I know many Syrian households that never used potato other than chips!

But look a bit under the surface and you would find amazing uses of the humble spud. One of my favourite dishes of all time is my chicken and potato bake with garlic, lemon and oil. Another favourite of mine is a simple breakfast dish of boiled eggs, boiled potato, salt and pepper swimming in olive oil. Another great dish is potato salad and I don't mean the one smothered in mayonnaise, but a fresh sharp salad with tomato, parsley lemon and olive oil. Something similar to my artichoke salad. 

Today's recipe is a very nice and simple mezze dish. Potato with olive oil garlic and coriander. Most people fry the potato cubes however I prefer them boiled. They absorb the olive oil and take on the garlic and coriander aroma.

Ingredients:

Two large potatoes cut into an inch cubes

4 garlic cloves (use more or less to taste)

A handful of coriander 

Olive oil 5 tbsp

Boil the potatoes in salted water.

Heat the olive oil on low heat. Add the garlic and coriander and remove immediately from the heat. You just need them welted. If you burn your garlic throw it and start again.

Add the potato. Mix well and season to taste. 

One Humndred and One Mezze: 30. Batersh

30 years ago Syria's Assad regime committed one of the worst massacres in the twentieth century. 20000 people of the city of Hama lost their lives at the hands of the regime army. They didn't spare anyone, man, woman or child. Men and boys dragged out of their houses, lined against the walls and killed by fire squads. 

30 years on, the Assad junior regime is committing the same massacres. This time all over the country and in slow motion. 7000 of my country men and women lost their lives over the last 11 months with no end in sight. 

Sorry for the depressing words but this is how I felt for the last 11 months and this is how my beautiful Syria is being killed every single day.

This post is dedicated to Hama, the bravest of all Syrian cities.

Batersh is a speciality of the city of Hama. It is, in a way, Mutabal topped with Syrian Bolognese sauce. 

I know what you think, very odd combination. It might sound odd but in fact it is very moreish and very satisfying.

In Hama, Batersh is mostly served as a supper main dish which is my favourite way to eat it. However, I also like to serve it as a warm Mezze dish.

Here is my take on Batersh:

Two aubergines

Tahini 2-3 tbs

Yoghurt 2-3 tbs

Garlic 1 clove, crushed

Salt

For the topping:

Minced lamb 200g

Ghee clarified butter 2 tbs

One large tomato pureed in a food processor.

Tomato paste 1-2 tbs

Pine nuts 30g

Parsley 1 tbs chopped

Salt and pepper

Start by placing the aubergine whole and skin on directly on open flame and cook it till it is charred on the outside and soft on the inside. Turn around every few minutes so it is charred all over. This method gives the dish its characteristic smokiness. No other way of cooking can give you that exact flavour. Grilling under a hot grill in the oven is not bad. You can also put your aubergine directly on electric or halogen hub. The cooking process should take 15-20 minutes.

After you cook the aubergine, cover with cling film for 20-30 minutes. Remove the charred skin. It should come off easily. Mash the aubergine with a fork. Mix the rest of the ingredients and add to the aubergines. Season with salt to taste. 

To make the topping start by frying the pine nuts in the Ghee butter to a nice golden brown. Be careful as pine nuts burn very quickly. Remove from the butter with a slotted spoon and keep aside for later.

In the same Ghee fry the minced meat until it start to brown. Add the processed tomato and the tomato puree. Use more or less puree to your taste. I don't like my sauce too sour. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for twenty minutes until the meat is tender and the sauce thick and concentrated.

Spread the Mutabal in a plate. Spoon over the meat sauce and sprinkle the pine nuts and chopped parsley.

Serve with Arabic flat bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 29. Shanklish Salad

This post and my previous one on shanklish were supposed to be one post but when I started writing I discovered I have a lot to say about shanklish. It is a delicious ingredient and almost unknown outside the Levant. It definitely deserved its own post.

Today's recipe is the best way to enjoy shanklish. It works great as a light supper dish or as a mezze. As I mentioned previously, shanklish is not a native cheese to Damascus but as time went by it became more and more popular. You can find this mezze dish served in some of the upper end restaurants around the city.

Here is my Shanklish Salad recipe:

One Shanklish ball
Small red onion (or few spring onions)
One tomato
Olive oil

Finely chop the tomato and the onion. Crumble the shanklish and mix. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil.

Serve with Arabic flat bread. This salad is eaten with bread like you do with hummus, mutabal and other dips.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 28. Cheese Borak

Today's recipe is a must in any Damascene restaurant meal. It is an essential part of any meal you almost get served these by default, sometimes without even ordering them. To start your meal you will get served one of these and one Kibbeh Me'lyieh (Fried Kibbeh) along with the usual suspects of hummus, mutabal and fatoush.

For this recipe I used my mum super fast borak dough recipe. This dough recipe is only good to be fried as it will come out crisp and flaky. If you want oven baked borak you will be better of using puff pastry but you need to roll it really thin so you don't end up with cheese puffs.

I made my borak in the traditional rectangular shape. Not the most aesthetic but diffidently the most traditional.

Here is my Cheese Borak recipe:

Flour 2 cups

Boiling water 3/4 cup

Vegetable oil 1/4 cup

Salt 1 tsp

For the filling:

White cheese 200g

Chopped Parsley 30g

Sesame seeds (optional)

Black sesame seeds (optional)

Black pepper

Start by preparing the filling. Crumble your white cheese and mix with the rest of the ingredients. You can use any type of Arabic white cheese. I usually use Nabulsi cheese. It has a great subtle flavour. If you don't have access to Arabic white cheese then you can try my alternative mix of Feta and Mozzarella.

In a mixing bowl add all the dough ingredients and start mixing with a spoon. Be careful not to burn your fingers with the boiling water. Using hot water allows all the ingredients to come together surprisingly easy. Once mixed into a dough start working it with your hands. The dough is ready to work with almost immediately.

Roll the dough very thinly and cut into rectangles. Spoon some of the cheese mix, fold the dough and press the edges to seal it. You can use a pizza or a ravioli cutter to make the edges pretty (unlike mine!).

Deep fry in vegetable oil, drain on a kitchen towel and serve warm.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 27. Musakhan

Palestinian food shares most of its dishes with the surrounding Levantine countries. Few "national" dishes of Palestine like Maqluba (upside down rice dish) and Mahashi (stuffed vegetables) are common all through the Levant with, sometimes very distinct, local variations. Today's dish, Musakhan is on the contrary a true uniquely Palestinian dish. Musakhan in it is original format is a very rustic dish of layered bread, sumac and onion mixture and roasted chicken.

In Syria, Musakhan is fairly well known and frequently eaten dish although the Syrian version varies a lot from the Palestinian ancestor. The flavours remained the same but the cooking, ingredients and presentation has been refined in keeping with Syrian fondness with food finesse. Here goes thick Taboon bread and comes in paper-thin Saj bread. Chicken is shredded and Musakhan is served in individual portions.

Musakhan is hardly ever eaten as a main dish in Syria. It is usually served as a side dish or part of a large spread in dinner parties and big family occasions. In coffee shops and restaurants Musakhan is usually served as a small snack dish you can munch on in the few hours you spending there smoking Argeeleh. Another very popular version of Musakhan is tiny small pastries stuffed with the chicken and sumac mixture and served as part of finger food buffet in parties.

For this recipe I use Saj bread, a very thin Syrian bread that can be bought from large Middle Eastern supermarkets. Alternatively you can use Lavash bread which is a similar bread native to Iran, Armenia and Turkey. If you live in an area where you can have access to Turkish shops then you can use Yufka pastry. Finally if you are getting desperate use filo pastry.


Here is my Syrian style Musakhan recipe:

Cooked chicken 500g (boiled or roasted)
Three onions
Olive oil 1/2 cup
Sumac 4 tbsp
Pomegranate Molasses 1 tbsp (my own addition, optional)
Pine nuts 30g
Saj bread
Salt

Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Start by frying the pine nuts until golden in the olive oil. Be very careful as pine nuts burn very quickly. Remove from the oil when ready.

Slice the onions thinly and fry on medium heat until they go translucent. Shred the chicken and add with the sumac, pomegranate molasses and the rest of the olive oil (keep some to brush the bread with at the end) to the pot. Taste and add salt as required. Remove from the heat.

Cut the saj bread into 20cm (8inch) squares. Spoon 3-4spoonfuls of the chicken mixture into the centre of the bread. Fold three corners in and roll the bread into a spring roll shaped pies (see below).

Arrange the rolls in a roasting tin. Brush generously with olive oil and back until golden brown.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 26. Meat Borak

Borak, or as commonly known by the Turkish variation of the name Borek, is an umbrella term describing a huge variety of filled pastries eaten in all ex-Ottoman Empire countries. Serbia, Greece, Armenia, Turkey and The Levant have some version or another of the dish. The common feature of these pastries is a crispy flaky crust and a generous filling. Meat or cheese are by far the most common but potato, sausage, spinach or leeks can be used. Borak can be deep fried or oven baked after being brushed with oil or butter to give it some extra crispness.

In Syria the two main varieties, cheese and meat, are an integral part of the mezze spread. The taste, type of pastry and filling extras varies a lot from restaurant to restaurant.

Today's version is a combination of my mother's pastry recipe and my version of the meat filling. The pastry recipe is very simple and easy to work with. It is good for deep frying as it comes out nice and crispy. I haven't tried to bake it in the oven but feel free to do and let me knows how it goes.

For the filling I used traditional flavouring I really enjoy but again feel free to make changes as you fancy. Like most mezze dishes there is no right or wrong, just the way you like it!


Here is my Meat Borak recipe:
Flour 2 cups
Boiling water 3/4 cup
Vegetable oil 1/4 cup
Salt 1 tsp

For the filling:
Mince lamb 250g
Pomegranate molasses 1 tbsp
Walnuts
Pine nuts
Salt
Pepper
Allspice

Start by frying the meat in vegetable oil or Ghee butter. Season with salt, pepper and allspice. Once all the water evaporated, add the chopped nuts and the pomegranate molasses. Let the stuffing cool down while making the dough.

In a mixing bowl add all the dough ingredients and start mixing with a spoon. Be careful not to burn your fingers with the boiling water. Using hot water allows all the ingredients to come together surprisingly easy. Once mixed into a dough start working it with your hands. The dough is ready to work with almost immediately.

Roll the dough into a thin layer with a rolling pin. Fold and roll again. Repeat a couple of times to give the dough extra flakiness. The dough is quite oily and it doesn't usually need any extra sprinkling of flour or oil.

Once the dough is ready cut into circles. Spoon some of the meat mixture. Fold and seal the edge by making small firm folds.

Deep fry in hot vegetable oil and dry on kitchen towel.

Serve warm.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 25. Nakanek

Nakanek, or Makanek as known in Lebanon and most Levantine restaurants around the world (maqaniq is an alternative spelling) is a small thin lamb sausage. It uses sweet fragrant spices as opposed to the hot spices used in Sujuk. Pine nuts is an essential ingredient in these sausages and adds a nice crunch and a subtle sweet flavour.

You can buy them in most Middle Eastern butchers and large supermarkets in London. I tried many different Nakanek from many different shops but my favourite remain the ones I buy from The Green Valley supermarket on Edgware Road.

You can prepare Nakanek in few different ways. I love them simply fried in a little bit of butter and served with a squeeze of lemon and a slice of tomato.


Here is a simple Nakanek recipe:

Nakanek 400g
Butter (or Ghee clarified butter) 1tbsp
Lemon
Tomato
Rocket leaves

Fry the Nakanek sausages in butter till they get a nice brown colour. Cover the pan and continue cooking for few minutes until cooked through. Don't over cook them, they dry up quickly.

Serve with lemon, sliced tomato and rocket leaves.

Alternatively you can grill the sausages on a hot griddle pan.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 24. Okra in Olive Oil

The British concept of meat and two veg meals doesn't exist in Syrian, and the rest of the Middle East, cuisine. We don't use vegetable boiled or steamed as a side to the meat. Traditional Levantine cooking uses meat and vegetables cooked together in a stew type dishes served with rice or Bulgar.

For every meat based dish there is an "Oil" counter part. These dishes are usually served as side dishes at room temperature or part of a mezze. They are called "Oil" dishes as they cooked in olive. Almost every kind of vegetable can be cooked this way; runner beans, broad beans, spinach and today's vegetable Okra.

Okra or Bamyeh as it is know in Syria is a very popular vegetable in Middle Eastern and East Mediterranean cooking. Traditionally it is cooked with lamb cubes in a tomato-based stew and served with rice. Today's recipe is Bamyeh Bi Zeit or Okra in Olive Oil a meatless counterpart. It is not as frequently cooked but as delicious if not better. I find bamyeh bi zeit at its best if cooked and left in the fridge overnight for the flavour to develop. Next day take out of the fridge let it get back to room temperature and enjoy it with Arabic bread.
Here is my Bamyeh Bi Zeit recipe:

Okra 250g
Tomato 2-3
Chopped coriander leaves 1 tbsp
Garlic 2 cloves
Salt
Olive oil 2 tbsp

Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a heavy bottom pot. Chop the tomatoes roughly and add to the oil. Chop the okra and very thinly slice the garlic. Add to the pot. Season with salt and add a little hot water to cover the bottom of the pot. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Once the vegetables are cooked and most of water has evaporated add the chopped coriander. Mix and cover for another 5 minutes.

Serve with Arabic flat bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 23. Moussaka

Like stuffed vine leaves, Moussaka is another ex-Ottoman Empire dish. While most of the people outside the region know the Greek version of the dish, other versions of Moussaka exists in many countries from Egypt, The Levant, Turkey and all the way to the Balkans. While I conceded stuffed vine leaves to the Turks due to etymology I can comfortably claim Moussaka to us Levantines for the exact same reasons. Moussaka is a word of Arabic origin. It comes from the Arabic musaqqa'a مسقعة which translates roughly to "Chilled" as the dish is served at room temperature.

The common theme between all the different versions of Moussaka around the world is the two main ingredients aubergines and tomatoes. In Damascus Moussaka is served as a side dish or as part of mezze and strictly vegetarian. In some other parts of Syria ground meat is added and the dish is served as a main. In Lebanon chickpeas is a common extra. The Turkish and Egyptian versions call for ground meat and the Greek one you all know with the traditional layers and white sauce topping.


Here is my Mousska Damascene style:

One large aubergine
Two tomatoes
One onion
One red pepper
Garlic 3-4 cloves
Coriander leaves chopped 1tbsp (optional)
Vegetable oil
Olive oil 3tbsp
Salt

Heat the vegetable oil to fry the Aubergine.

Peel the aubergine in stripes (as above, I just like the way it looks!) and cut into 1.5 cm thick slices. Fry till fully cooked and golden brown in colour.

Slice the onions and the peppers, roughly chop the tomatoes and try to slice the garlic as thin as you can. In a pan, heat the olive oil and fry the onion on medium heat till soft. Add the garlic, tomato and red peppers and cook for 10 minutes or till fully cooked. Add the chopped coriander leaves and season with salt.

Add the fried aubergines and mix gently so you don't break the aubergine slices. Cook for further 5 minutes.

Let cool down and serve with flat Arabic bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 22. Tabbouleh

I don't know how did I manage to go over a year of blogging without a recipe for Tabbouleh. After Hummus and the inaccurately named Baba Ghanoush, Tabbouleh is The Levant's third biggest culinary export to the world.
Like all other dishes that moved from local to international status, the tangy parsley-based salad has been bastardised and adapted in endless ways. My friend Tammam has had a "tabbouleh" dish from a supermarket in Geneva withe the ingredients: couscous, raisins, onion, chicken and basil!
Admittedly, not all adapted version are as bad. In most cases of "supermarket tabbouleh" the main ingredients of the original dish are the same but the balance is completely skewed towards Bulgar. Authentic Tabbouleh should be three quarters parsley and one quarter everything else.
In my recipe I tried to use as accurate quantities as I could, so any body trying the recipe can get a taste and feel of what an authentic tabbouleh is. To give tabbouleh its characteristic spicy edge I like to use finely ground black pepper. You can use allspice, mixed spice (baharat) or as they do in Aleppo, Aleppo peppers! 

Edit 29/09/2014
In my recipe I use fine Bulgur wheat which you need to buy from Middle Eastern shops. The grain is very small so you don't need to cook it. Just soak in water for 30 minutes will do. However Bulgur bought from high street supermarket has medium size grain and will not be soft enough just soaked. You will need to boil it for 10 minutes then drain and let cool.

Here is my tabbouleh recipe:
Flat leaf parsley 250g (before trimming the stalks) Mint leaves 30g Fine Bulgar wheat 50g Small red onion One tomato Sumac 1tsp Black pepper 1/2tsp Lemon 1-2 according to taste Salt Olive oil 4-5 tbsp
Start by washing and soaking the Bulgar wheat in cold water for 30 minutes.
The secret to nice crisp tabbouleh is a very sharp knife to chop the parsley without bruising the leafs. Chop the parsley, mint, onion and tomato finely. Drain the Bulgar and squeeze the extra water. Squeeze the lemons.
Mix all the ingredients. And leave for around 30 minutes before serving.
We like to serve tabbouleh with lettuce in Syria. We use lettuce leaves to make small wraps full of the tangy salad.

Enjoy!

One Hundred and One Mezze: 21. Stuffed Vine Leaves

The love of stuffed vine leaves extends way beyond the borders of the Levant. People from The Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and all the way to Middle Asia enjoys the tiny tangy wraps. I tried to do some research into the dish origin but I found it difficult to accurately identify where it was first cooked. Many different nations make a claim but without a doubt the Turkish voice remains the loudest. The name most commonly used in all of these countries "Dolma" or a variation of it. Dolma is Turkish for "stuffed".

The dish is most likely invented or at least developed into its current form in the Ottoman Empire. At one point it was one huge country extending from Central Europe to Central Asia and including most of North Africa. Food, ingredients, recipes and even chefs moved freely around the empire. No wonder there are so many similarities and common dishes in all these countries cuisines.

In Syria we use Turkish names to call stuffed vine leaves but interestingly it is not Dolma. We cooked vine leaves in two ways one with meat and rice stuffing, served hot and eaten as a main dish. This dish is called Yaprak, Turkish for "leaf". The other is the vegetarian variant most people know, served cold as a starter or part of a Mezze spread. This version is called Yalangi, Turkish for "fake". Fake because it doesn't contain any meat of course!


Here is my Yalangi recipe:

Vine leaves, preserved 300g
Short grain rice 200g (paella rice works very well, or the more authentic Egyptian rice)
One large tomato
One small onion
One lemon
Chopped parsley 2-3 tbsp
Dried mint 1tsp
Salt
Allspice 1/2 tsp
Olive oil 3-4 tbsp

Wash the rice and soak in cold water for around 30 minutes.

Finely chop the onion and tomato. Sweat the onions in olive oil on medium heat till soft and translucent. Drain the rice and add to the pot. Stir well till the rice grain are heated and coated with the oil. Add the chopped tomato, parsley, mint, allspice. Season with salt and add the juice of half a lemon. Mix well and remove from the heat. Taste the rice mixture for seasoning.

Spoon a small amount of the mixture into the centre of the leaf. Fold the edges and roll as in the picture. If this is your first time, it will start slowly but don't get disheartened. You will soon be much quicker and the roles will look neater.

Cover the bottom of the pot with the left over leaves or sliced potatoes to prevent the wraps sticking to the bottom of the pot. Arrange the rolled leaves in layers. They need to be fairly compact to prevent them opening or breaking. Once you arranged all the wrapped leaves put a small plate on the top preferably with a small weight to keep the vine leaves compact.

Add the juice of the other lemon half and cover with water. Start cooking on a high heat. Once started boiling turn down the heat to medium and cook for another 20-30 minutes. Cooking time will depend on how soft the leaves are. Keep an eye on them.

Once cooked transfer carefully to a plate and let cool down before serving.

There are countless variations to stuffed vine leaves recipe. You can replace the lemon juice with pomegranate molasses. Greeks use dill instead of parsley. Turks add currents or raisins sometimes. Iraqis cook their dolma with tamarind. Feel free to adapt the recipe the way you like it.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 20. Hummus with Sujuk

It just occurred to me that it took me a year of blogging to reach 19 Mezze dishes. If I am ever to reach my target of one hundred and one it is going to be years on this rate. I obviously need to do much better. So April is going to be Mezze month. The target is ten but I am not sure if I will be able to achieve that with a busy on call schedule this months. In fact I am on call today and I just came back from hospital after we spent the day saving a patient life (You don't get to say that much in my specialty so it feels good to brag about it when it happens). So as you can imagine I am quite tired and I am choosing something easy to start with, Hummus with Sujuk.

I first tried this dish in Narenj, my favourite restaurant in Damascus. It is a simple but delicious combination of hummus and Damascene style Sujuk. A spicy cured(ish) meat I posted a recipe of few months ago. Sujuk is easy to prepare and will last in the fridge for a good couple of weeks. I usually make a patch, split it to individual portions and freeze it. It last for months.

Here is my recipe:

Hummus
Sujuk meat

Make sure your hummus is room temperature before you top it with the sujuk. Other wise the fat from the meat will solidify and become very unappetizing.

To serve, spread the hummus on the plate and top with hot Sujuk meat. You can add some toasted pine nuts for extra level of flavour.

Serve with Arabic flat bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 19. Fried Aubergine

Before I posted my fried cauliflower recipe I was sure if I should post it or not. I didn't think people will be that interested in some fried vegetables recipe. Because I liked that dish so much I decided to go ahead and post it. I will have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the response. Nineteen comments in total, some loved it, some never heard of it, it was taste of home to some and some put links to the way they make their cauliflower.

Some times the simplest things in life give us most joy!

This positive response encouraged me to share with you another favorite of mine, Fried Aubergine. As with its cauliflower counterpart it usually forms part of nice summery Ma'ali (fry up) lunch. Served along a bowl of fattoush, some mutabal and chips. Alternativly it could be served as part of mezze spread.

Here is my recipe:

One large aubergine
One tomato
Garlic 5-6 cloves
Parsley
Salt 1tsp

Slice the aubergine into thin slices, 8 - 10 mm roughly. Deep fry in hot vegetable oil. When nice and light brown remove to kitchen towel to absorb the extra oil.

Slice the tomato and chop the parsley.

In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic cloves with the salt till you get a white smooth paste.

To eat, spread a tiny amount of the garlic paste on a piece of Arabic bread with a slice of aubergine and some parsley. Wrap and enjoy with the tomato slice.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 18. Hummus with Meat

I decided to use the name Hummus with Meat for this dish rather than the name used in Levantine restaurants here in London, "Hummus Kawermah". Kawermah (or awerma or qawerma) is an almost extinct form of preserved meat while the topping of this dish is obviously not that. It is fried meat. In Syria the word hummus kawerma doesn't exist and the dish is called "Hummus bil Lahmeh" which literally translates to Hummus with Meat.

This dish was one of my favourite suppers when I was young. Possibly beaten to first place only by Shawerma. This dish was my dad specialty. He would never buy a meat ready prepared by the butcher to make hummus bil lahmeh. He would buy a nice cut of meat and clean it and chop it himself to get a perfect lean pieces of meat as we liked it.

If you want to make this dish chose a good quality cut of meat. You need something lean and tender with very little fat. I personally go for a beef fillet but a lamb neck fillet works equally as good.

Here is my recipe:

Beef Fillet 250g
Pine nuts 50g
Ghee butter 1tbsp
Salt
Pepper
Hummus

Start by frying the pine nuts in the ghee butter till nice and golden. Remove to the side.

Cut the fillet into small pieces (as in the picture). Fry in the ghee butter. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Spread the hummus in a plate. Top with the cooked meat and pine nuts.

Serve with Arabic flat bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 17. Fried Cauliflower

Today's dish is simply deep fried cauliflower. Deep frying vegetables is a unique method of Levantine cuisine ... I wrote the last sentence and immediately realised that it is not that unique. I just remembered Japanese Tempora Vegetables and Indian Pakoras. I decided to stick with the word unique as we don't dip our vegetables in batter as the Japanese and the Indian variety. We simply slice them, fry them and serve them.

Fried cauliflower can be served as part of "Ma'ali" meal. Ma'ali is Arabic for "fry up". But unlike English fry up ours is totally vegetarian. Different types of different types of fried vegetables served with salads, herbs, tomatoes and Arabic bread. Ma'ali is especially popular in summer months in Syria and a must for family picnics.

In restaurants ma'ali are usually served as part of mezze spread. Although many small family run restaurants in Damascus country side would be more than happy to serve you a full meal of ma'ali with their finest salads.

I like to serve fried cauliflower with a tahini based dipping sauce. Alternatively you can serve it simply with a sprinkle of salt and a squeeze of lemon.

Here is my recipe:

Cauliflower
Vegetable oil
Tahini 3tbsp
Half a Lemon
Cumin 1tsp
Salt
Garlic 2 cloves crushed

Cut the cauliflower into small florets. Heat the vegetable oil and fry the cauliflower till golden brown.

Mix all the sauce ingredients and wisk. The tahini wil become stiff and lighter colour. Add a little water and wisk again. keep ading water till the tahini sauce loosens again. Add enough water to get a runny consistancy.

Serve with fresh Arabic bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 16. Sujuk

Today's main ingredient is Sujuk, Lebanese style this time as opposed to the Damascene version I posted a recipe of couple of months ago. I talked a lot about sujuk at that time so I will not repeat the whole thing to avoid boring you away.

Sujuk is a spicy sausage introduced to the Levantine cuisine through the Armenian community in Syria and Lebanon. The classic way to use sujuk is fried with eggs. Alternatively it can be used in a variety of stews. As a mezze I like to slice the thick sausages and grill or fry them.

You can buy Lebanese style Sujuk in London from Green Valley on Edgware Road.

Alternatively you can buy them from Omnia Deli. I highly recommend this place. It is a nice deli, butcher, bakery and a small food counter with couple of tables to eat in. They serve all kind of Fatayer (pizza-style pastry with different toppings), the usual grilled meats sandwiches and a selection of mezze. They have a new chef (I forgot the name, Abo Abdo, I think! sorry) who joined from the previously very popular Middle east Food Market in Acton. The best thing in the shop is their beautiful sausages and pastirma. All home made and all really good. The only down side to this place is their location in Park Royal. It is out of most people way and you need a special trip if you don't live close by.

Here is how to prepare sujuk for mezze:
Three Sujuk sausages
Rocket leaves
Tomato

Slice the sausages diagonally to get long pretty strips. Grill on a very hot griddle pan till slightly charred on the outside. Serve on bed of rocket leaves and tomato slices.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 15. Beetroot Mutabal

This dish is not a traditional Syrian mezze. It made its way onto the menu of few Damascene restaurants in the last few years. Travel guides favourite, Lailas, serves a version of this dish that was much appreciated by ABC reporter on her visit to Syria.

I will have to admit that I never tried this dish in a restaurant so I don't have a reference point. I just made up this recipe the way I like it. It is essentially the same recipe I use for Mutabal but I use beetroot instead of aubergine. The combination of the sweet taste of the beetroot, sour yoghurt and the earthy flavour of tahini works surprisingly well together. This dish works very well served next to lamb kebabs.

Here is my Beetroot Mutabal recipe:
Cooked Beetroot 250g
Tahini 2tbsp
Yoghurt 2tbsp
Lemon
Salt

In a food processor start add the beet root tahini and yoghurt. Process till fine and well mixed. Add a squeeze of lemon and salt to taste.

Spread in a plate. Decorate with pine nuts and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with Arabic flat bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 14. Barasia

Barasia is Syrian for Leek. Baby leek to be precise as large leek as we know it in Europe is almost non-existant in Syria.

Today's dish is one of a large group of vegetable based "in oil" dishes. In Syria and the rest of The Levant, most vegetables are cooked two ways. One with meat, mostly as a tomato-based stew, served as a main dish with vermicelli rice. The alternative is vegetables cooked in Olive oil without meat and eaten with Arabic bread. They are served as a side dish or part of a mezze spread. They could be eaten hot, cold, room temperature or at their best slightly warm.

Barasia is almost always cooked in Olive oil. To be honest with you, I am not sure if a meat version does exist. I never tried such a dish. So, If you know a Syrian or Lebanese recipe for leeks cooked in meat please let me know and I will give it a go.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe given to me by fellow Syrian blogger, Maysaloon.

Here is my Brasia recipe:

Three large leeks (or a bunch of baby leeks)

One carrot

Olive oil 4-6 tbsp

Cumin 1/2 tsp

Coriander 2tbsp

Salt to taste

Clean the leeks by cutting the green ends and peeling the outer layer. Chop the leeks into 1 cm pieces. Slice the carrot very thinly to make sure it cooks at the same time as the leeks.

Heat the olive oil in a pot and add the leeks and carrots. Cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Add the cumin and salt to taste and turn down the heat. Cover and let cook on low to medium heat for 20-25 minutes or till the leeks fully cooked. Add the coriander few minutes before the end to keep maximum taste.

Drizzle with some olive oil if you wish and serve slightly warm with Arabic flat bread.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 13. Allspice Tomato Salad

Although the salad market in Syria is dominated by Tabouleh and Fattoush, many others are making presence. In restaurants in Syria people will order one of the many other options available on the menu. Olive, rocket and zaatar salads are as popular as Tabouleh between punters. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean the demise of the famous two. You will still get at least one of the two as a matter of default on your mezze spread. At home Tabouleh and Fattoush still dominate the table by a long way.

Today's recipe is a simple tomato salad. Needless to say, you need good quality tomatoes to get a decent tasting salad. The allspice dressing brings an extra depth and warmth to the simple flavour of tomatoes.

This salad can be a great mezze dish especially if you are serving grilled meats and kebabs. Another way I like to serve this salad is as a side to dry(ish) rice based dishes like Riz bi Bazalyah (peas rice) or Riz bi Foul (broad beans rice). These dishes are traditionally served with cucumber yoghurt sauce (tzaziki), but a bit of tomato salad could be a nice alternative.

This recipe is adapted from Po0pa Dwick's excellent book Aromas of Aleppo, The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews.

Here is the Recipe:

Three ripe tomatoes (or good quality cherry tomatoes)

Allspice 1/2 tsp

Aleppo peppers 1/4 tsp (chilli flakes)

Juice of 1/2 a Lemon

Olive oil 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Parsley (optional to add some colour)

Chop the tomatoes and sprinkle with some chopped parsley leaves. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients. Dress the tomatoes and serve.