Nicolai

Aaahhhh Purslane. Why you no say so before? You can point at Moscow Road off Queensway or Abu Srour off Kingston Vale or wait when I come back and send you some sealed with a Rose. The salads are Lebanese and Fattoush is first followed by Zaatar (Thyme) and the simple one is Tomatoes+Green Onions+Purslane+S/P and EVOO. No lemon juice or vinegar allowed. But I suppose you know that.

What a beautiful story. I wish you happy memories of Situ....always.

Halwa or Halawa حلاوه derives from Hala حلا or al Hala الحلا which is Beauty. The common derivative is Female Beauty or any sweet preparation. When you address a woman in Egyptian Arabic (slang) you say Halawa حلاوه and in Levant Arabic Halwa حلوه. The person who prepares/sells Halawa is Halawani حلوانې. Therefore the root is: Hala حلا . I assume as it is dificult to pronounce the letter "wah" i.e "W" و then people shifted to the letter "V" and pronounce the word Halva. Because the letter "W" و preceeds the letter "T" which changes the spelling to "WAH". So in fact letter for letter it is Halawat but read Halawa. And yes you are right as it is an elaborated cooking process.

OK, so here is how the program is constructed: 1- What we saw yesterday was... 2- What we will see today is.... 3- What we are looking at is..... 4- What we just saw is.... 5- And tomorow we start the same again with the moronic voice over telling us what we see/saw/seeing/haveseen/willsee/expect tosee/haveseen but onemoretime/see again/just in case you not see.... Anyway who cares as long as the UK taxpayer is footing the bill and pass the salt pluease! Next series are Food Writers followed by Food Critics or is it Food Writers vs Food Critics. So if you can write 100 words article without anyone understanding what you talk about and squeeze few words about food which is not easy for a genouiane food writer then apply in confidence to BBC for Morons at Suckers Lane and make sure to put your bank details and Tuscany prefered hang out. Woo Hoo Simon Cowell. Ere I c0me.

Oh No not the Tabouli thread again! For the millionth time, Tabouli ingredients are as stated by many above: - Flat Parsley - Green Onions - Mint leaves - Tomatoes (Rock hard) - Fresh Lemon Juice - Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Salt & Peper - Burghul (fine and crunchy do do not over soak) That's it. Any other addition or substraction of ingredients is not Tabouli but a variant. Also note that Tabouli is not a dish which keeps for few days and should be eaten as soon as ready. The best Tabouli is to be found in Lebanon. The further you go out of Lebanon, the more soggy is the Bulghur and the more they splash on Burghul. Some people in Ehden/Zghorta/Koura add a pinch of powder chilli which does lift the taste but check the acidity of your Lemons before using red powder chilli as the taste may fight. Syrian - Jordanian - Turkish...etc Tabouli is a far cry from the real Lebanese one and generally it is accepted that the acid Test of a Lebanese restaurant is to try the Tabouli and the Hommos.

Yeahhh, you got it. Two things: 1- You can check consistency as you go and decide when to remove. 2- Wash and rinse thoroughly. 3- When do we get a tasting?

If you want to use kiliss at the top end instead of bottom end then you need to soak the Ara'a in Pickling Lime (few hours) and wash thoroughly. What you will be doing is adding Calcium to the Ara'a and make it more firm. So you can try either methods and see which one work best.

The way to use Kiliss is at the very end of the process in order to dehydrate the Ara'a chunks. Some people do it at both ends as well. So you proceed in creating your jam chunks any which way you like but as you know you have to follow set rules when heating/cooking with sugar. Once your jam with the Ara'a chunks is done. You remove the chunks and spread on a non-reactant surface and place Kiliss at the bottom and seal the whole contraption until the moisture has been absorbed by the Kiliss. This depends on the quantity of Ara'a and Kiliss and V V. Once the Chunks are dry and crunchy to your liking, you replace in the jam sirup. The reason why the Chunks are as you say "The best part is the texture. When you bite into one of these chunks, it is surprisingly crunchy. The texture is similar to a very ripe watermelon. Until you get to the core that is. The core of each chunk it soft and gooey as if it is filled with pumpkin jam". This is precisely the degree of dehydration with the Kiliss as the surface is dry but did not reach the core of the fruit chunk. Happy eating.

Tonite at 18:30 BBC2. Great British Menu for seven weeks. Top chefs compete for the honour of cooking a dish for the Queen's 80th birthday. Tonight: starters. John Burton Race and Michael Cain doing the Starters and the judges are: Oliver Peyton - Prue Leith - Matthew Fort You have less then than one hour to program your Sky box.

Ritz of course and Sketch and Lanesborough and Dorchester or the nearest pub with some IPA.

Don't forget that Sketch is two different restaurants. You could start with drinks downstairs and have dinner upstairs and finish the party downstairs again at the Gallery. So entertainment wise I would go for Sketch as I dread getting stuck in the same seat for all the evening. Have fun wherever you go.

Hehehe, poor poor Andy. Put your apron on, Cilla Black coming to town. New program on BBC2: Eating with... starting March 29 06 @ 20.00pm and for eight weeks. A new series explores famous people through the food that has flavoured their lives. The BBC will have us gasping with Cilla Black, Ronnie Corbett, Oona King, Sadie Frost, Nigel Slater, Minette Walters, Malcolm McLaren and Tom Parker Bowles. Yes you read right Tom Parker Bowles for crying out LOUD. Just in case you missed it. Tom Parker Bowles in da flesh!?!?!! Everybody hold on to your Cringometers. Gonna be a rough ride. Master Chef, please come back, everything is forgiven. We are not worthy!

You can call Mr Steven at The Teddington Cheese shop: 020 8977 6868 They have few lumps weighing few Kg each. Or you can go direct to the importers: Food House UK and contact Mr Bentsik (morning): 020 7263 9170 for a full wheel of Approx 35Kg. You might ask him to rent you one for the shoot. Leave me some crumbs for my morning roll.

The BBC have got lot of explaining to do. The simple title of "Master Chef" is a slap in the face to all Chefs and future chefs slaving away from Switzerland to US culinary schools. It is not doing a favour to the industry who is either teaching or training Chefs and not even to the self taught maveriks behind their stoves in their heated up kitchens. Being a food lover does not make you a Chef and being a good cook does not make you a Chef either! So much money went into the making of this program from studio set up to outdoor mobile units to on site shooting. And for what? Two jokers and few amateurs cooking by numbers. If Daksha can do a Soufflé by number then it is time to hang up our aprons and head for the nearest golden arches. But at the end of the day, the budget for such production is coming out of our pocket so that the BBC can have one hundred channels and spend good money on rubbish programs and presenters....and be proud of it!

Traditonally you serve parslied potatoes with Wiener Schnitzel as you know that Spaetzle is not an Austrian dish. Last time I was served Wiener Schnitzel with Rosti and a salad, although Rosti is also non Austrian dish but there you go.

Ohhhh, so much to do around Bond Street. 1- Walk down Bond Street and you will hit Fortnum & Mason on Picadilly Street, continue walking down to King Street and you might attend an auction at Christies. Bear right and up to St James Street and you will hit many restaurants and of course the St James club followed by Tea at the Ritz before you are back to Bond street via the Burlington Arcades. 2- Walk up Bond Street to hit Oxford Street and a splash of shopping at Selfridges and a bite or coffee at St Christopher Place. 3- Bear bottom left on Bond Street and you will be at Cecconi for lunch or a drink before bearing left to walk up Jermyn Street and bear right on New Burlington Street for another drink at Sartoria. Now you either go straight across Regent Street to end up in Carnaby Street or Soho or you bear right again in Regent street and right again to hit Heddon Street in the evening with many restaurants and bars e.g. MoMo - Zinc...etc Or bear to the left and left again to Conduit street at the one and only Sketch restaurant (P. Cagnaire - Mich star). 4- Finally bear right on Bond Street and you if you cannot make it to Hyde Park at least you can hit the Dorchester or Nobu at the Metropolitan Htl or some gambling at Aspinal. Happy Birthday!

Interesting post. Albeit a tad exaggerated. Of course restaurants catering for a mix of locals and "tourist" has to adapt the menu and tone down the cooking method to suit the clientele for financial considerations to say the least. But this is not applicable to all restaurants in Paris and even less the more you circle out from the egostronomic center. It is a world of difference if one considers French dining as strictly an egostronomic experience or a lifestyle, a Joie de Vivre. Now try explain that to your friendly "tourist".

Is is a wee bit perplexing when the title of Master Chef will go to anybody who can read a recipe IN DETAIL and executes the dish. Is this really what being a Chef is about? To prepare a recipe by numbers! I think not. More like a one trick poney or three to that matter! Aaarghhhhhh

oh i quite agree east european corner shop groceries - a happy by-product of new accessions to the EU - are one of london's hidden gems. pierogi, bigos, gulyas and chlodnik/bortsch (sp) are GREAT and wonderfully moreish, particularly in the cold months i have to say though, on the world-class dumpling front a properly done crabmeat filled shanghai soup-dumpling (or its bastard half-child crispy panfried equivalent) kicks pelmeni and ravioli ass any day l8tr J ← Love Pelmeni and wouldn't mind shanghai version but would have Uzbek Manti anytime. Now this really kicks ass

Waitrose is good but stands in between: I am a supermarket but I dream to be a Delicatessen store which seems the way St Subery is going as well. I was schoked to find Iberico de Bellota at St Subery. What next? Poulet de Bresse, Kobe beef, Tramezzini and Pelmeni?!?!?!

Sou Berag is an a savoury Armenian Phylo cheese turnover. Of course the original recipe does not call for Phylo but home made pastry base which brings us to the term Borag or Burak or Burek or Bureg. This is the Armenian/Turkish definition of filled pasties ad eternum. A famous Libano/Syrian dish is Shish Barak or Burek or whatever the phonetic variation is used. It is a very fine dish of meat filled "Bureg" in a Yoghurt and Garlic preparation.

Wendy's @ Shaftstbury closed and replaced by golden arches.

My question was in relation to "Kibbet El Rahib" and not "Adas Bil Hamud". As for "Adas Bil Hamud" you positioned the dish as Lebanese while I simply pointed out that it is found in a wide area ranging from Syria where the dish is claimed to originate up to Greece who prepare it with the addition of Tomatoes. I have enjoyed "Adas Bil Hamud" in Syria - Lebanon - Greece -Turkey and other countries albeit in private houses as such dish is more of a home cooking offering and not a restaurant one. Apart the degree of garlic - lemon and the change in the balance of ingredients. The common factor was the pureing of the lentils which quite nicely blends with the other ingredients. Try it. None used the Kibbe you mention and hence my inquiry on this particular recipe version.

"Adas Bil Hamud" is a very nice wintery soup. However the version in your pic shows split or whole lentils. The more common version is the pureed lentils with cubed potatoes and carrots. This dish is not restricted to Lebanon but to the area ranging from Syria to Greece. As for "Kibbet El Rahib". The dish origin is a fasting dish for Lent and is available with different recipes. Where did you get yours from? Is it your version or inherited from family and did you introduce any changes to it?

The Egyptian pickled lime you mention are called Torshi which are pickles in Egyptian Arabic and yes they are locally grown. As for Lemons and Limes, this is as follows in Egypt: Laimoun Baladi=Yellow Lemons (Meyer - Eureka...etc) Laimoun Benzahir=Limes As for Dried Lime, they are called Lumi or Lumee or Loomi "لومي" in the Middle East and India/SriLanka. These are, as you say, sometimes called in Iran "Limu Omani" in reference to Oman where they are also called Lumi as well. It is essentially Limes boiled in a lot of salted water and sun dried to became blackish in color. You add Lumi to some stews to give added flavour and a strong sour note. I personally like to enjoy Basmati rice with Lumi. It is either a dish from Sri Lanka or the Philippines? I think they also mix in Cloves - Cinnamon sticks - Cardamom pods - Chilli and Turmeric for color. Very tasty dish which beats the hell out of Kashmiri rice. And if you have the guts, you end up chewing the cooked Lumi to extract every last bit of sour juice.