Baba Ghannouj (Baba Ganoush)
August 26, 2010 by Andrea 
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Filed under Appetizers, Featured, Grow Your Own, Middle Eastern, Vegetables
My first taste of baba ghannouj was at the cafeteria on the Saudi Aramco compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and I could easily make a lunch out of their hummus, baba ghannouj, and flatbread. Baba ghannouj is a traditional Middle Eastern dish made from eggplant that has been grilled or roasted, and the smoky flavor carries over to this simple dip that’s popular all over the Middle East. Depending on where you eat, it will probably have eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt, olive oil, and parsley, and may also have chopped tomatoes, cumin, mint, onions, yogurt, or mayonnaise. So consider this a base recipe, a jumping off point to play with and have fun experimenting with the flavors. Read more
Slow Roasted Tomato Hummus
January 8, 2009 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Appetizers, Condiments, Grow Your Own, Middle Eastern
In the summertime we grow tomatoes in our garden, and sometimes we get a bumper crop like we did this past year. We ended up with so many tomatoes we couldn’t eat them fast enough and I slow roasted a few batches to put away for the winter. If you look up “slow roasted tomatoes” on Food Blog Search you’ll find several blogs have written about it, and I chose to follow the instructions at A Veggie Venture. After roasting I packed the tomatoes into jars with the olive oil and spices leftover from roasting and topped off with more olive oil. The jars keep well in the freezer.
We’ve used them in several ways, and last week we opened another jar and added some to a batch of hummus. It only took a few bites for Michael to proclaim this the best-tasting hummus we had ever made and we quickly went through it and made more. This makes a great healthy dip that I like to nibble on for lunches, but we also like to spread it on sandwiches. Read more
Tabouleh (aka Tabbouleh, Tabouli)
July 21, 2008 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Grow Your Own, Middle Eastern, Salads
Early today I returned home from 10 glorious days of vacation to find our garden in full production mode. All the tomato plants have green tomatoes, teasing, making me wait until they ripen. I could pick some of the green peppers to encourage more flowering, and I probably will as I find it difficult to wait for peppers to fully ripen to a beautiful red, yellow, or orange.
The parsley is very bushy, even though I trimmed it back before we left and made fresh tabouleh with the leaves and stems. Tabouleh is one of the healthiest salads you can make; the parsley alone is bursting with 13 vitamins and minerals and even supplies protein; the bulgur provides fiber, protein, and potassium; the tomatoes are rich in vitamin C and lycopene; and the scallions are a significant source of vitamin K, about 250% of the daily requirement. Somehow knowing that the salad is so healthy makes it taste even more delicious.
Recommended Article: Cooking in Hunza
May 29, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Announcements, Middle Eastern
Having spent a few years in the Middle East, I have an interest in the foods of the region. Saudi Aramco World magazine’s May/June edition has an article about the first-ever cookbook from Hunza, a high northern valley in Pakistan. If you are interested in traditional international cuisines, the article is definitely worth a look.
“Using their local ingredients, generations of women in Pakistan’s northernmost valley developed a remarkably imaginative culinary repertoire. Recently, some 25 women pooled their talents to produce the first-ever Hunza recipe book—and many of its offerings adapt easily to modern kitchens almost anywhere.” Read more
Moroccan-Style Chicken and Lentils
April 26, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Middle Eastern, Poultry
My mouth started watering when I read this recipe in Bon Appétit a couple years ago, and I fixed it for dinner the next day. Because we had no brown lentils on hand, I used a bag of red lentils from the pantry. I had what I initially thought was a flop when the red lentils turned into a mixture with the consistency of watery pureed potatoes. I wasn’t too worried since this was not being served to guests, so I just skimmed off the excess water and stirred in some of the dressing. What started as a flop eventually turned into our standard way of fixing the lentils, and this dish has become a permanent fixture in our kitchen. I cut the amount of water for cooking the lentils in half, and they became that we think is amazing comfort food. Read more
Hummus bi Tahini
March 29, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Appetizers, Middle Eastern
I was first introduced to hummus while working in Saudi Arabia. The cafeteria cooks on the Saudi Aramco compound made some really excellent hummus. The color was almost like alabaster and the texture was very smooth. The local pita was very thin, and we would take a torn piece between the thumb and index finger and pinch up the creamy hummus.
Party fare always included hummus, and I asked the other teachers how to make it. The answer was almost always the same: garbanzo beans, lemon juice, garlic, tahini. No amounts included. So I started experimenting and reading many different recipes for hummus, and after many experimental versions I finally hit the nail on the head. When I taste it I can close my eyes and imagine that I’m back in Saudi Arabia—it’s that close to the stuff I remember. Read more
