melamed

It is cherry season in Israel and when I went to the shuk (carmel) I bought myself a kg of sour cherries. With these I was intent on making Persian cherry safron rice (albalu pelow). I used a combination of recipes, including the tip Shaya gave us about stacking the rice in a pyramid and waiting for the steam to escape before adding the cherry syrup and covering with a towel and top. The tah-dig was good but had to scrape it off the bottom. I took me an hour pitting all the cherries - in most recipes I saw they use either dried cherries or jarred cherries in syrup. I would make it again-next cherry season.

thanks for your version of mansaf, Maher. Jameed was sold in every little grocery store I went to in Jordan, so Mansaf is indeed very popular. There is a Christian Arab butcher in Jaffa, called Hinawi, I think I will go there and see if he has any good quality lamb for this dish.

I seemed to have missed the second fruiting of the pitango tree but salvaged a few almost black pitango, they were fantastically sweet and sour, some even tasted like purple grapes. There was not enough to actually puree them but I tasted the pitango with dark (70%) chocolate and I think it goes extremely well together. You should try it out.

I never had lovage with anything but good romanian ciorba. my secret ingredient is dried black persian lemons -omani lemons.

New Orleans. Oh, you mean my family? Near Ramallah. I could I would hop over to Ramallah to check out the culinary scene. If you get a palestinian cookbook together, I will be the first one to buy it! There is only one other that I know of in English by Christiane Dabdoub Nasser which I noticed on amazon. I am sure there many religios specific recipes in the area as well. do you have the exact recipe for the meat stuffed grape leaves? thanks!

Nolafoodie! You are fantastic, thanks for the recipe. I have eaten mansaf but it wasn't an authentic recipe with yogurt, (it was kosherized using tehini paste) Now I am thinking, how can I get myself invited to an authentic bedouin dinner, I would love to taste real mansaf before I attempt it at home. (I have only one galil bedouin connection). Is mansaf a dish very popular with the Palestinians? I know it is typically considered a bedouin dish. I suppose the bedouins like it so greasy is because it is not something they eat everyday, their regular food would have been more basic- camel yogurt perhaps.

I usually use limequats but regular lemons are fine . I cut an X on each one, put them in a clean jar and cover with about 10% brine and lemon juice (about 1:1). I also add a tablespoon of harrissa for taste and cover the top with olive oil so it doesn't spoil. I use it to accompany Morroccan food and cook with it as well. I rinse them off and eat the entire lemon, including the rind.

according to our bedouin guide, this yogurt is made by boiling and removing the liquid which floats to the top, it is strained, shaped into balls and left outside in the sun to dry completely. It can be stored at room temperature for up to a year.

I would caution that if one is going to use this method, and the container has been opened, first bring the cream to 180 degrees (F.) then cool it and store it in a sterilized glass container. Otherwise one can find the product has developed some uninvited and unwanted "guests" and will be a total loss. There are many mold spores that are always floating around in the air and which are more than happy to invade dairy products of any kind and which grow readily at refrigerator temps. All of these are not pathogens but some are and it is better to be cautious than end up in an ER or worse, make a guest ill. Oddly enough, the ones that look the worst, black, green or blue molds, are not as dangerous as the innocent-appearing pink colonies. The latter is not at all good and can also attack sourdough cultures and if one sees it, toss it immediately and sterilize the container. ← Thanks for this information. I have always been too careful about diary products and often throw them away even when they are perfectly edible. My friend from Moldavia makes blini using slightly soured cream cheese and it always comes out fantastic. I will need to practice my yogurt making skills.

While shopping for groceries in Madaba Jordan I noticed something that looked like sesame halva. When I asked the grocer he told me it was dried yogurt (jiben?). I was told that it is used to make the traditional Bedouin Mansaf. Mansaf is a dish made of lamb cooked in yogurt on a bed of aromatic rice and pine nuts. It is eaten with flat bread. Does anybody have a good recipe for mansaf and is there any other uses for the dried yogurt. (I was told it is diluted with water and mint for stomach ailments) thanks

I am just back from a trip to Jordan and did not find a maqlouba pot with slightly sloping sides like you described. Seems that in Jordan at least they just use a regular aluminum pot. The maqlouba in Jordan was delicious but an everyday one without being molded or decorated.

Interesting, I am familier with the rice/ground meat stuffing but have not heard of baking only meat stuffed grape leaves. I have several Arab-Israeli cookbooks as well as one from Jordan and none of them have this recipe. There are many recipes which are specific only to one community and even to one family. People who are intimate with the various communities here can tell where a person comes from only by their food. Where do you come from?

thanks for the recipe nolafoodie! it is interesting to see the mix of Persian and Iraqi influences in the recipe. Also thanks for your discription of the maqlouba pot, next time I go to Lod shuk I will keep my eyes open for it. I would think that the merchants would sell this type of pot because many Arabs and Bedouins populate this shuk. I will keep my eyes open!

Here is a comprehensive list of wild edible plants in Texas http://houstonwildedibles.blogspot.com/,

Cooking on the Saj is very common in Lebanon. You even find very fancy local chains now serving a variety of Manaish on the saj like the place called 'Zaatar W Zeit'. Their stuff is pretty good, even though it is served in a hip environment that reminds me of Starbucks. The dough is usually hand rolled to be very transparent and then placed on the Saj. What is unique in Labib's case is his method. His dough is very wet and soft and cannot be handled. He told me he has semolina in it as well as whole wheat. It's that process of spreading it AFTER putting it on the wok like griddle that gives his pies a unique and amazing texture. ← Interesting, this reminds me of the way warka (Moroccan filo pastry) is made, by using very wet dough and spreading it around. I tried doing it once but it was horribly messy and the dough stuck to everything. I wonder where he learned his technique.

Qawarma or Awarma is a traditional ancient Lebanese pantry item dating back to the days when mountain residents had to endure all winter with limited access to fresh foods and meats. Just like confit or other charcuterie it is a method of preserving meat for the winter and it is still done today because it is so tasty. The lambs found in Lebanon are typically the ones with a fat tail (liya). The tail alone is a huge lump of fat that weighs several kilos. When the lamb is slaughtered the fat from the tail and other places is rendered and is used to cook minced pieces of the lamb's meat along with spices and salt. This then is kept in crocks under the rendered fat for the winter. Qawarma is used sparingly to flavor soups, mixed with scrambled eggs or labneh, as a topping for Mana'ish or really as a fat/salt base for anything. It is usually on the salty side and has an assertive lamby/gamy flavor. ← that sound like what the kurds call Kalia (I think that means fried?), they would fry chopped meat with salt and fat to preserve it and store it in clay jars. This they used to stuff their kubba (dumplings). what does Qawarma mean in Arabic?

I agree with you about the hummus, it is associated more with Lebanon than with Egypt. What I must have been eating is the lebanese foul variation which is not cooked with garlic but it is always served with garlic/lemon sauce and green chili peppers.

wow! I am jealous Have a fantastic and safe trip. Is the hummus/foul (mudammas) originally an Egyptian dish? "Bribe Muhatta employee for shawarma recipe."- if you do get the recipe I hope I don't have to bribe you for it! loquots are indeed in season, it is the end here but in Syria it is probably just the beginning. Sagzi says that in Turkey they stuff them with meat and grill them. What do you do with Akub?( Gundelia tournefortii ?), have not cooked with it yet but it is popular in some of the Arab villages here. Melouchia will soon be in season, I know that it is eaten in cyprus.

I think most breads freeze pretty well, pita goes stale very quickly so I usually stash it in the freezer the moment I buy it. Never froze prepared sandwiches before.

That is a lovely way to present the rice and I am going to have to try your technique. What is a maqlouba pot and where can I buy one? I have made maqlouba, or attempted to (with eggplants and chicken) but perhaps with a special pot I would be able to turn it out properly. Where did you learn how to make zereshk polo ba morgh, looks delicious!

today I made harissa using my Tunisian neighbor's recipe. dried hot and sweet chili (long thin ones) a few tiny dried chili peppers fresh garlic salt olive oil (she used vegetable oil) She doesn't add cumin, coriander or caraway seeds although these are common additions. I split, seeded and removed the tops of all the chilies then soaked them for about 1 hour in water. Meanwhile I peeled the garlic cloves (about 4 heads fresh garlic to 400 grams dried chilies). Using a food processor I ground everything into a paste-like consistancy and added salt and about 1/2 cup of olive oil. I soaked the peppers for too long and they lost some of their pigment but besides that it turned out well and hot! Hotter than I expected since I removed all the seeds. Now I have enough harissa for 20 years. Last time I made this I added a few dried tomatoes.

Wow, lior, where did you learn all this? I learned something new today.

I find that lemon verbena stores much better, retaining its aroma even after it is dried, so this would be my alternative in Canadian winters. Agree with nakji with the amount of lemongrass to use. I just take 3-4 small pieces that fit into my teacup then pour boiling water over them.

What I would do is brew a super concentrated tea using boiling water to release the full flavor and then dilute it with cold water as needed. This is how my grandmother makes her tea, first making a concentrate and then adding water, either hot or cold.

I have lemongrass growing in my front yard and all I do is add some of the green leaves to boiling water and sweeten with honey or sugar. Lemon verbena has a similar flavor. Try it with fresh mint, it goes well together.