arbuclo

You know, in doing a bit more research, I think that it was barberries instead of dried pomegranate seeds in that salad. How would I tell? I was thinking that pomegranate seeds have hard pips in the middle but the stuff in the salad did not. You reckon that points to barberries?

Thank you, therese! They were pretty good but not great, the tomatoes.

I’ve decided to make my own ricotta because I couldn’t find anything other than small tubs of it and it was rather expensive. I took a cheese making course in October where we made fresh goats cheeses (a couple types of fetta, ricotta, fromage frais) so that got me interested. I had to make it a different way than we did in class because in class we made it from the fresh fetta whey. You can also make it by heating milk and then adding vinegar to coagulate it, so I tried that last week since I was making some lasagne for a couple of families. (Incidentally, this is extremely close if not identical to the process for making paneer in my Hare Krishna cookbook!) I think last week the liquid actually cleared instead of staying milky. Regardless, this is what the curds looked like before scooping them into a colander to drain. I drained it for about 10 minutes then squeezed a little more whey out and put it in the fridge to cool down. I want to find some raw milk or unhomogenised milk here so that I can try some rennet based cheeses (which I believe don't work as well if milk is homogenised). As yet I'm not sure where to find something like that. Certainly not in any supermarket I've been to. I was also surprised that I can't find goats milk; I'd really like to use that to make cheese. I'll give the camel milk a try, though I've heard that it doesn't curd up very well. My ciabatta didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to. Gonna have to give it another try. It wasn’t a wet enough dough, I’m certain, after reading about it in another eGullet topic today. Also I don’t think my oven was hot enough. At least I know what to correct for next time! So, I’m embarrassingly posting these pics. Dough straight from mixer (this dough felt so light and fluffy after the first raising; it was amazing. Oh, that rhymed!): Just before going into oven: And this was dinner with the ricotta and bread, white radishes, rocket/arugula, tomato and two olive salads I got from Goodies on Saturday. The one at the bottom of the picture is with pomegranate seeds (semi dried?), I think, and the other is with mushrooms.

Here’s a picture of the dairy items that I bought on Saturday. The bottle on the left is, yes, obviously, camel’s milk. You can buy it everywhere here and it’s supposed to be extra good for you. Middle in the pic is the mango shake I had for brekkie. And on the right is milk with dates squooshed in it. It’s very sweet but we’ve discovered it’s excellent in coffee when you want a dash of sweetness. When I drink it straight I have to cut it with regular milk. I thought I should do a milk taste test for you using regular cow milk and camel milk. Here’s a pic of them poured into glasses. Not sure if you can see it but the cow’s milk, on the left, is more yellow than the camel’s milk. The camel milk is very very white. I’m unsure how to describe the taste of the camel’s milk other than it’s more savoury to my palate. It definitely tastes different when compared side by side with cow milk but not unpleasantly. We buy camel milk now and then just to feel like we’re happenin’ and healthier! Oh, and I thought one of the cats should do a taste test for you too. She went straight to the camel’s milk but she didn’t check them both out before she dived in. I think we can disregard the results of the Great Cat-Tastes-Milk Experiment! Another thing I've really noticed here is that meat and milk have very soon to be reached use by dates. The use by for milk is normally about 3 days from when you purchase it and meat is 2 or 3 days.

Here's the picture of part of my breakfast. Nasty lookin' ain't it?

I wondered if they were plantains. The plantains I've seen before seem less "delicate" than these, somehow. They weren't overly sweet but I wouldn't have called them savoury. Well, perhaps I've just invented a new recipe, plantain breakfast bars!

Holy cow! I can't imagine!

Actually a couple hours later I was ready to eat them again! The sukery ones are dry but not too chewy and also not overly sweet. I like 'em because they're quite different to other dates I've tried. I got to try some nice fresh dates there too, though I didn't buy any because I have some at home. And when I was there I noticed that they stored the fresh dates in a small freezer. They don't freeze solid, presumably because of the high amount of sugar? Hadn't realised that I was a supposed to be storing mine under refrigeration. I imagine the asfar adds a pretty colour to things. What sort of taste, if any, do you think it has? I loved the kibbe, thanks for asking! Yes, a time trying to figure out flours; there are so many I haven't heard of before. I'll be posting some more "what is" and including flours. As for labna, I've seen it in a lot of variations. I always have labna savoury but I'm sure many people go the sweet option. I'll give that a try when I have some plain labna next. The flavours I've seen in the shops, that I can think of: chile, zaatar, and mint. I'm certain I saw about 4 more flavours the other day but the types slip my mind!

Brilliant Googling, daniellewiley! Thanx!

andiesenji, that info on the asfar is really interesting! Thank you!

Thanks for the info on asfar. I bought it as a substitute for saffron but then went out and bought some saffron today anyway! I'll buy some of those superseeds next time. I think I'd probably like 'em!

The flat bread recipe I used was kinda like this one. However my recipe used plain flour instead of barley flour, no baking soda and no yogurt! (I don't think I'm allowed to put my actual recipe here copied from the book, am I? If I am, let me know and I'll do it immediately because it's seriously good!) Since there's only the two of us I put the extras in the freezer and take them out as needed.

A quick question about the "super seeds" (and yes I am disappointed they don't come with a cape and a side kick), what "flavour" do you think the orange Iranian ones would be?!

Really, miramiya is sage? It kinda looks like it, I guess. Would you use it for more than just tea? Does it taste like regular sage?

Today, Monday, I started off the day eating breakfast over the course of an hour while doing other things. ! I started out with a “mango shake” that I bought to try. (It was OK-too sweet really.) Also had about 3 of those little bananas. (So so cute!) Lastly a piece of the bread from last night slathered with chile labna and more chile paste. (I love to make my own labna (sounds exotic but it’s only drained yogurt!) and have been doing it for quite some time. (click here to look at the technique for labna) This, however, was purchased from a shop and seriously needed more chile!) Lordy the food I eat is ugly! (will post picture later) Lunch was left over kibbe and a couple of those Lebanese sweets. No picture because the kibbe is uglier than what I had for breakfast! I'd hoped to go out to lunch and/or dinner today but hubby has the flu. So, dinner tonight is going to be leftovers plus the ciabatta, which I needed to make today as the starter was ready and...some home made ricotta. Stay tuned!

I’ve got another “what is” for you. It was labelled asfar (Arabic for yellow, I believe). Would you use it just to add colouring (it didn’t have much of a scent)? I thought it might be the poor man’s saffron.

Dinner was Middle Eastern. I hadn’t tried making kibbe yet and I was intrigued by a recipe in one of my books for kibbe balls in yogurt sauce. The yogurt had to be stabilised in order to heat it without it curdling. (The recipe called for eggwhite and cornstarch to do the job.) The balls were lamb, onion, bulgur and spice mixed together and “torpedo” shaped. (Sadly my torpedo shapes were a bit lame especially when compared to the ones in the link above!) Some garlic and mint was added to the sauce before it was finished. I also made some flat bread today using my fave recipe; a chewy bread cooked in a fry pan. Gosh that was tasty! However, for the picture I shoulda put some colour into like a sprinkle of parsley and mint on the top!

When I got home I needed to make up a batch of iced tea. I’ve been drinking this tea after seeing it in one of my Middle Eastern cookbooks. Though I’d not have thought of it was ME since it’s green tea based… I shove a bunch of mint stalks into the pitcher and smash ‘em a bit to release the mint oil. Grab 5 green tea bags and put some hot water to cover. I leave it until I have a sec to take care of it (ie 15 minutes to an hour I steep it!). Then I remove all that, add a dollop of sugar and fill with cold water. Then since I needed to use up some bananas I thought I’d make some “breakfast bars”. The recipe comes from delicious! magazine. (An excellent magazine!) The ingredients and the finished product (The little can is baking soda but I actually should have photographed baking powder. I put the right stuff into the mix, tho!): Maybe some one can tell me about the bananas. I think they were identified as "Indian" on the tag. They look normal from the outside but have quite a yellow coloured flesh not the pale yellow of bananas I’m used to. Also, you can see that they look like they’re really ripe. However, the flesh is still very firm. In fact I couldn’t really mash it with a fork and instead put it in a mini chopper to puree it!

As I was driving around today I looked for food stands and local grocery shops, since people were asking questions and did indeed see a few. There just aren’t any down near where I live as it’s all really new. (We only have the chain grocery stores.) One of these days I’ll go have a good look. I did stop by another grocery shop on the way back. Hadn't been there before. It’s located in an area where there are a lot of UK and US expats. Therefore nearly all the food in there was imported from those two areas and most of the shoppers were from the US or the UK. I enjoyed having a look around at other products I’ve not seen before. (Hey, Australia is "sheltered"!) I was excited to find smoked baby clams which my dad’s kept me supplied with while I lived in Australia and couldn’t find them. A pork “warning” sign. I find it amusing that they have to put “for non-Muslims”on the sign. Wouldn't the word "pork" be enough? I bought a small bottle of Laban (yogurt drink) to try. Hmm, well, it’s just not my thing. Gonna have to cook with it!

After I left the date shop (gosh that could sound bad ), I spotted this shop across the street. I almost walked past but decided to go in. I didn’t take any pictures inside since almost all the lovely trays of pastries were empty. Of course, the owner/pastry maker (who was missing digits on his right hand. Wonder if he did that while making pastries? shudder...) made me taste one. They were so yummy and fresh, nice crispy filo. Much better than the ones I’ve bought from the grocer recently. I bought a few (don't know what they're called in case anyone asks!): Thought you might also enjoy seeing the local rival to American companies selling fast food chicken: The shops are on a street that is palm tree lined and at the end is a massive Emirates flag:

I wondered about the subtleties and whether you could use your left hand at all. Thanks!

left hand/right hand...what did I write? Aaack! Thanks for correcting me. (If you think that hand mix up was bad, you should see my driving!)

That looks really yum. Was it particularly vanilla-y having used 2 beans? I'm happy to cook more stuff from BWJ. [edited to remove pic to save space]

M. Lucia mentioned dates earlier and what kind we can get here. I really don’t know the answer but decided I should go to one of the best date shops in town today (Sunday). I headed there this afternoon. Found the small shop and had a great chat with the guy that works there (I guess he’s the manager). Filipino boy who worked in the shop in Saudi and a year ago came to open the shop in Dubai. The shop sells only dates from the holy land (ie Saudi). And he told me all about the assortments they had and had me taste nearly every type of date and mamoul (date filled pastries) in the shop! M. Lucia, after that I didn’t know whether to hate you or love you for the suggestion since I was so hopped up on sugar and feeling rather ill! (Don’t worry I don’t hate you. I actually had a smashing time! ) This is what the outside looked like: Dates and date paste selections: Mamouls: And they even had a good selection of chocolates: I bought a half kilo and he generously gave me a good price even though I’d already eaten my body weight worth of dates! The packaging is as beautiful as the dates: And this is the selection of goodies I bought, identified as follows: bottom layer starting at 10 o’clock-Sukary dates-dry dates not too sweet, tahini covered “croc” (cookie around date paste then coated with tahini), pistachio “croc”, Shanteel (date paste) rolled in chocolate, Shanteel rolled in cinnamon (which was my fave, though, I haven’t tasted the chocolate ones yet or the crocs) top layer starting at 6 o’clock-nut mamoul, two types of dates stuffed with whole almonds, dipped in honey (oh, yeah, like the need to be sweeter!) and rolled in sesame seeds, cinnamon coated mamoul and date filled cookies. not visible-Agaivat (holy dates-from Mecca) the most expensive ones in the shop and not too sweet or sticky; Segay Toz some light tan soft dates. [edited to add pictures and more info]

Every part of the banana tree can be used. The leaves, the flowers, fruits(even the unripe banana) and yes..the 'stick'..which is nothing but banana stem. It is basically the 'trunk' of the tree and you have to keep peeling the layers to get the clean creamy white centre.. I recall only one recipe. Julienne the stem after you remove them as layers. Drop them in acidulated water so they wont discolour. Cook them well. We use a pressure cooker. Simply steam them or cook them in the water. In the meanwhile, grind coconut, cumin, green chillies and some coriander seeds(dhania in hindi) together into a paste like consistency. Oil+mustard+urad dhal. Mix cooked julienned banana stem and the coconut paste. Add a splash of sour buttermilk(or cream with a squeeze of lemon) Simmer. Curry leaves towards the end. There are basically several variations to this recipe where other vegetables are substituted for the banana stem. I think the same treatment can be meted out to the banana flowers. They can be retrieved after peeling the purple 'petals' and removing the stamen like 'fingers'. Drop them in acidulated water. Dice them or slice them lengthwise before cooking through. They will be discoloured otherwise. ← Thanks! Perhaps I'll do that next time I make a curry.