We need to move by July the 1st due to our building being sold. The housing in this city has risen in price by so much it's shocking. After seeing a virtual tour at a high rise near by, we were set to sign up right away. We gave them our budget which was way beyond what we have ever paid. We made an appointment to view 2 places. They said May is free if you move in right away. That was perfect for us. We want to get something for June 1st so we have a month to transition. When we got there we saw one apartment. It was occupied. It was not at all like the virtual tour. The kitchen was smaller and ugly. The bathroom was smaller and ugly. The place smelled like an ashtray.
We went to the first floor. It was the same kitchen and bathroom. The walls and the ceilings were stuccoed. It was small and over our budget. It was nothing as great as our current place. It was disappointing as we were hoping we would seal a deal and not have to search anymore. We came home in disbelief at how different the photos and information were.
When life gives you lemons, you use them to make middle eastern inspired food to calm the soul and travel through the taste buds.
After getting home it was time to relax and forget our troubles. The best way to do that is through food.
It was going to be a feast of Lebanese and Egyptian kind of food. For that I would need to make pita bread. I know that for pita it has to puff up which I've never been very successful at.
Pita bread
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup warm water
After putting the yeast with the sugar and warm water to proof and bubble, I added the flour. I don't consider myself a baker so each time I make bread, I cross my fingers and hope for the best. After mixing the dough and kneading by hand for around seven or eight minutes I set it aside to rise.
After it had risen I made small portions flattening them with a rolling pin.
I put the first one in the toaster oven at 450 F. I have no bottom element in my big oven. This was a flop. I threw it out and opted for the stove top method. The pan was on medium high. I added the pita and flipped back and forth every five seconds or so.
I was amazed and excited to see these things puffing up. It was like watching a sports game and seeing your team win. (I don't watch sports, but I've watched people watching sports).
My pita making was a total success!
For the Lebanese part I made a plant based chicken dish that I last had years ago when I ate chicken. For this I used vegan chicken.
The dish was called Shish Tawouk which should be on a skewer and grilled but I did this in a pan.
I marinated it the night before.
Marinade
1/4 cup vegan yogurt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 garlic cloves
Juice of a lemon
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon toasted cumin
1/2 teaspoon tasted coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine everything into a paste and coat the chicken (mine was plant based) and let it marinate for a few hours or overnight.
This would normally be grilled but I just pan fried it with onions.
I placed it on a pita instead of stuffing the pita. I have always broken the pitas when I do that so I don't bother. Even though the whole point of a pita and puffing it is to stuff it. The satisfaction of having the option is enough for me.
When ever I had this in the restaurant in my hometown, it always came with Lebanese garlic sauce. This is like gold in my opinion. If you don't like garlic look away. If you're afraid of it being too garlicky, don't worry, there's something that happens in the process that takes away the raw garlic edge. It just becomes a beautiful creamy tasty sauce. Removing the green vein in the middle of the clove is important to get rid of a bitter flavor.
Normally it would not have tahini in it but I didn't have the patience to emulsify slowly so a little tahini did the trick without taking away from the traditional taste of the sauce. I used a neutral tastin olive oil even though it would most likely be made with a neutral oil other then that.
In the past I have had this sandwich with the addition of pickles but I didn't have any. Not that it was necessary.
I also have not had it with lettuce but I like lettuce in my sandwiches.
I had recently seen a food travel show on Egypt where the person ate street food. We have been to Cairo and Aswan Egypt and had not found any food that we could rave about. At the time we were pescatarian but opted mostly for falafels and hummus. Nothing was outstanding. In fact the falafels and hummus that I had eaten in my Canadian hometown Lebanese restaurant, was far better.
On the show they ate a traditional food called Koshary. Where was that when we were there? I decided to attempt to make something like this, so I could try real Egyptian food. I have to say though, that Koshary is a very strange combination of things. Although each component is regular kind of stuff that everyone has.
I studied many recipes and took the basics doing it my way. I won't include a recipe, since there are many on line. It is quite a process to do it the traditional way so I simplified it. This may be frowned upon by a professional Koshari maker but I was doing this for the first time. I also made too many other things so this was a simplification of this dish.
The dish consists of lentils, rice, pasta (macaroni and vermicelli), chickpeas and topped with fried onions. The flavor in this dish in my opinion comes from the sauce. The common sauce is tomato.
This is not like a pasta sauce you would have for Italian food. It includes vinegar, which sounded strange to me but with the addition of cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and chili, it was the perfect thing to drizzle each layer of items involved in this dish. I used red wine vinegar. It ends up being a unique aromatic tomato dressing. This is only one sauce. There are others but I didn't bother.
We were surprised at how much we enjoyed this. It really presented an Egyptian story that we never got when we spent two weeks there.
To add to our table I roasted cauliflower, that was tossed in olive oil, salt,pepper and paprika.
I made a Lebanese salad called Fattoush which is simply lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, fresh parsley, fresh mint and fried pita croutons. The dressing is made with olive oil , lemon juice, garlic,dried mint, salt and pepper. You can add sumac and pomegranate molasses but I just added a dash of agave nectar.
I made enough to feed a large group but there is only the two of us so leftovers for the work week is always welcome.
Next week the apartment search continues. Hopefully we won't have to eat our troubles away, but instead eat to celebrate.
Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.
