Swisskaese

Do you typically just add them into cooked rice or they toasted first in butter/oil before the rice and liquids are added? Is the finished dish considered a pilaf? It is a wonderful looking display and I love the concept. Any other comments you might have on the mixes are appreciated! Since I know you have a sweet tooth and like to bake, will there be any time in your schedule for baking this week? ← I typically use persian rice. I put a cup of persian rice and two or three tablespoons of the rice spice in a pan with hot oil. You could use the traditional ghee, but I can't use if I am making a meat dish. I stir it for a couple of minutes and then I add two cups of water and cook for about 15-20 minutes on low. Yes, it would be considered a pilaf. I will take some pictures of the mixes I use. I think I have bukharan mix and persian mix in the cupboard. I am planning to bake some bread this weekend. I want to try a recipe I haven't tried before. You will be my guinea pigs. The surprise I am planning to make with the tehina is a dessert.

I didn't know about Wednesdays. My son-in-law's Mom is Moroccan and she makes couscous for lunch every Friday, as do other Moroccan ladies I know. I've wondered why myself. It's a lot of work, and very filling - not a good idea to me, as Friday night's Sabbath meal is always varied and big. Although I've always eaten couscous any time it's been offered. Michelle, doesn't Jerusalem grill have other lovely tidbits like turkey testicles in it? That's what I've been told, once when I fished out a round little piece of dark meat that was sort of gamey tasting from a pita filled with Sima's grill. ← Turkey testicles! I don't know, but I nothing would surprise me. The spleen tends to be a bit gamey. I forgot to mention I have tried it a couple of times, but I really don't like innards. My neighbor is a lovely Moroccan family of 13. One of these days I am going to ask for a couscous lesson. I just have to get my nerve up.

Yes, we went to a Kurdish restaurant. The restaurant is quite modern. The restaurant is called Cube 18. I don't know what is Kurdish about the name, but restaurant names in Israel don't always match the cuisine. Overall the food was just ok, but one of the starters was very good. Roasted eggplant with orange tehina. This dish was very good. I can't figure out how they flavoured the tehina. It did not have orange juice in it, nor did I see any bits of orange rind. I am guessing orange oil, but I am not sure. Any ideas? Sambusek with chickpeas and onion. Served with a side of herbed tehina. Very nice and oniony, not oily. I had mousakka. It was ok. Not the best I have ever had. A friend of ours had stuffed red peppers with rice and herbs. Tapenade had a dish of eggplant, meat, tomato sauce and herbs. Neither one of us remember the name of it. It began with an A. You have to forgive us, but we are not completely with it right now. Normally, he would have written it down.

The shuk is very, very loud. You have the fruit, fish, halvah, etc. sellers screaming out their prices all at the same time. I have a funny story about the shuk. My parents came to visit last year and I took them to Shuk HaCarmel in Tel Aviv. My mother and I had walked a good distance ahead of my dad and he was trying to get my attention, so naturally he called out my name, but I didn't hear him. The fruit sellers noticed and starting singing out my name all the way down to the end of the shuk. It was very funny and I bowed to them in thanks. There is no haggling over prices. You pay the listed price. On Fridays, the shuk is too claustrophobic for me. It is loud and everyone is crowded around each stand; lots of pushing. It can really get on ones nerves. The tehina is made from toasted sesame seeds and it is creamy and sesamany (is that a word? ). It is really hard to describe. I will show you in a special surprise I have planned. All of the best restaurants, felafel, hummous and shwarma stands buy Nablus tehina.

Now for some more pictures from Mahane Yehuda.... Tapenade and I went on our first vacation in two years in June. We went to the South of France for 10 days and had an amazing time. We has socca while we were there and I wanted to try and make here. Socca is a pancake/crepe made from chickpea flour. It is made on very large copper trays. I am not sure that I can get my oven hot enough to make them, but I am going to give it a try. I am not sure if I will have time this week. If not, I will write about it on a another thread. Anyway, the best place to find chickpea flour is at an Ethiopian shop. This is not the entrance to the Ethiopian shop I bought the flour from, this is another shop that just sells drinks, but I loved the sign. You can buy all your Ethiopian beans and lentils here. They also sell flour to make injera and raw coffee beans. The owners are very nice and they are happy to give you tips on how you should prepare something. This gives you an idea of how crowded it can get. This is really light in comparison to Friday. Food of Gods. I love figs! Fish. A lot of it is farm raised here. Plums, peaches and cherry tomatoes For all of you halvah lovers. The famous Marzipan chocolate rugelach ready for baking. They didn't have one left, not one to taste. All sorts of pastries. These are Eastern European pastries. I will show you Middle Eastern pastries later in the week. More pastries All sorts of spice, nut and dried fruit mixtures for rice dishes. I use these almost everytime I make rice. All sorts of salads. Kubbeh and sambusek on the top. Tapenade didn't take a closeup. We didn't buy a lot. We bought chickpea flour, nectarines, peaches and the best tehina in the world.... Nablus tehina. It rocks, nothing compares and I will have to meet you in the ring over this tehina if you think yours is better.

Before I go back to Mahane Yehuda.... Here is the promised picture of my breakfast this morning. I also had a cappucino at work. Sorry for the blurry picture. I had lunch at my company's cafeteria. Today I had a Palestinian/Jordanian dish called Siniya. It is a layered dish of sliced potatoes, ground beef and it is topped with tehina. It was the best I have ever had. I also had a green salad and corn. One thing I do miss in the States is good corn. We do not have silver queen corn here. One of my colleagues had chicken schnitzel, potato salad and roasted peppers: And, another colleague had today's special, hamburgers: The food changes from day to day, except for couscous. Couscous is always served on Wednesdays. Moroccan families always have couscous on Wednesdays and Fridays. I once asked a few friends of my why and they said "because". If anyone knows why, please enlighten me.

Believe it or not I have never tried to make felafel. There are so many places that make great felafel that I have never bothered. Her kitchen table was used a lot. I cleaned the fridge just for you. I will post a picture later.

Nutella and srichacha (forgive my spelling ..this word sounds like a latin dance to me) ... ← I am back now. No, and this time you are not even luke warm.

I am off to show you a little of my hood. I will be back a little later to show you more of the Shuk and the meal we had afterwards. The restaurant specialises in food that Chufi recently wrote about. Any ideas?

The restaurant looks very nice. Looks like home.

I meant the sweet man. You are absolutely right, it is not sweet at all and it is an acquired taste. Some people say it is an acquired taste like vegemite. Don't get me started on vegemite. Sorry to all you Aussies out there.

Mahane Yehuda is the largest outdoor/indoor market in the middle of Jerusalem; outside of the old city. It was established in 1928 and named after the neighborhood where it is located. It is hopping on Thursday night and Friday because people come there to buy items to prepare their Sabbath meal on Friday night. You are all invited to my home on Friday for a Sabbath meal. This market has gone through a revitalisation (not exactly aesthetically) in the last few years. You will find cafes, restaurants and specialty shops in and around the market. Some of the shop keepers have been there for 40 years. Others are second generation who have opened more modern cafes and specialty shops. Before entering the market, Tapenade and I saw a famous Jerusalem institution, Sima. Sima is a very simple restaurant that is famous for its Jerusalem Grill. What is Jerusalem Grill? It is chicken hearts, livers and spleens and bits of lamb fried with generous amounts of onion and garlic and a secret mixture of spices. Hopefully Daniel Rogov will chime in and explain that secret mixture. He is going to be upset with me when I say that I don't like innards. So, I don't have a picture of it for you. I only went to a small portion of the market. You can find just about every culture represented in this market. And an example of this is the sweet Amba man: This nice Iraqi man sells pickled vegetables and something that is very important in the Iraqi diet, Amba. Amba is a condiment made from pickled mangoes. It is a liquidy spread that is traditionally put on Sabich. Sabich is a breakfast pita served traditionally on Saturday morning filled with: peeled fried eggplant hard-boiled eggs (browned) Hummus Tahini Simple vegetable (tomato and cucumber) salad Amba (condiment) (a mango pickle) chili sauce (optional) Minced onion Amba is also great on felafel and shwarma. More to come.

Sure. You can make shwarma from just about anything. You can buy cornish hen, lamb, turkey or goose shwarma.

I just happen to have some photos, just for you Jason. :-) I will post them when I get home. I don't have any plans to go to a swanky restaurant this week. How about goose shwarma?

David Ben Gurion's home in Sde Boker? ← Yes. That is correct. As your prize, is there anything you would like to see foodwise? David Ben Gurion was the first prime minister of Israel Sde Boker is located in the Negev which is in southern Israel. I will write more about this later. I have to go back to work. While you are waiting, and especially for all those scientists out there, take a look at the Sde Boker website.

That looks very interesting. I will have to think about that one.

Thanks for bringing back nice memories and showing us the New Moscow. Congratulations on your pregnancy. I hope it is an easy one.

Hi Miriam, No, it is not Golda, but you are on the right track. Miriam, my David and I met for the first time on Friday. We had a Israeli eGullet brunch at a very nice dairy restaurant. I will tell you more about it in due course. Here is a preview of our visit: Miriam is a lovely person and very interesting. She makes Meade and fruit wines and she gave me some of her sourdough starter. I am currently looking for recipes. Anyone have any suggestions?

Hi Rehovot, I am really sorry we missed meeting each other in Israel. But, there is a trip to Prague in my future. No, it is not Chaim Weizman's kitchen, but you are definitely in the right direction. This kitchen is actually a step up from old Israeli kitchens. The typical kitchen had a hotplate and no oven. People would cook their meals in something called the "Wonderpot". I will try and take a picture of one. They would make soup, meat, vegetables and dessert in this one pot. Then, tabletop oven became available and some people still have this setup, tabletop stove and oven. The table top ovens are a little larger than American toaster ovens.

I will add a picture later, but this morning I had sheep yogurt with walnuts and carob honey that I buy from a lovely woman who comes every weekend from the North to sell her honey at a local food fair. I will show you the food fair on Friday. But just as a teaser, I am going to show you a typical Israeli kitchen...... This kitchen belonged to someone famous in Israeli history. Any guesses?

Boker tov (Good Morning) everyone. I would like to thank Susan for starting this blog this morning. As Susan explained, I was suppose to do this blog in June, but due to personal circumstances, I had to postpone. When everything began, I consulted with Susan about whether to cancel or not and I decided I would carry on. I want you to know that this is not a celebration of any type. There is nothing to celebrate at the moment. But, I am going to try and show you a variety of food cultures that make up the Israeli table. It is not fancy food; it is comfort food. I would like to add that you can ask me questions at anytime, but let's try and keep it to food issues. So, I hope you will join me in discovering the Israeli Table. Let me begin with explaining where I live. I live 50 miles south of Haifa, 10 miles north of Tel Aviv and 4 miles west of the West Bank. It is a town of 45,000 people which is made up of four former farming communities. As I explained in my previous blog, there are still some orange groves in the middle of town. And, there are small moshavim (cooperative villages) that grow fruits, vegetables and flowers five minutes from my house. Last blog they were growing strawberries. This blog, I am going to take some pictures and see if we can figure out together what they are growing now. Shortly, I will show you what I am having for breakfast and then later I will take you to Jerusalem where you will meet this man and see Mahane Yehuda Market:

Todah Ohev Ochel for the info I must I eaten something else. I am familiar with Basma, it wasn't that. Although, I really like it.

The ones I have seen are not made with Kataifi. It looks more like a shortbread.

After a little bit of research, I realise that the dough for this pastry is not phyllo dough. Would a mamoul dough work for this dessert?

Gorgonzola dolce? That would be my choice. Wow. That sounds promising. And thanks to Ling too. ← Yes, gorganzola dolce. Abra, get out of my head. I was going to say chestnut honey, but I wasn't sure if it would be too strong.