For this delicious and sometimes gassy levantine dip you need chick peas, tahina(sesame seed paste),garlic, lemon juice or citric acid.and olive oil to top it off.
chick peas-
Tahina –
garlic-
lemon juice
soda bicarb
salt- to taste.
method.
soak the chickpeas overnight with soda bicarb and plenty of water. the next day the soaking and soda will have softened the skins of the chickpeas.
These then should be drained and washed very thoroughly. Put it with some fresh water and cook, for really very long. Chef ibrahim hadla, would famously take one chickpea and throw it on the wall. it should be cooked so much that it will stick to the wall.
after they are cooked till really soft and mushy. drain and wash these very well in water.let them soak in a bowl of cold water and let the skins float on top.take these skins off and discard.
Then you need a good food processor.like a food chopper, moulinex or any similar ones. at work we used one called robot coupe, which is the Mercedes Benz of food processors. start to blend .also add a few crushed ice cubes to the mix or really chilled water about 20 mls or so..
this will make the mixture very light and airy and fluffy.add in the tahina and garlic,salt and lemon juice.it should be slightly garlickly , and lemony, but most importantly very very creamy and smooth.
arrange in a flat- ish sort of dish nd then top it with some fruity good quality olive oil, and enjoy with pita bread.
this can be topped with toasted pine nuts or small cubes of lamb/ beef sauteed with onions garlic and some lemon juice as well.
Sahten as they say in arabic, or Bon appetit.
Dedicated to le petit fleur de liban!!!! god how much we laughed when chef ibrahim used to say that.
Dina, who is a childcare educator at Viraajs day care , is an ex-chef and had this recipe which wowed all the children, so this post is dedicated to her .
Ingredients
To cream together
125 gm butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 +3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
Sour milk
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Dry ingredients( sieve twice to ensure they get well mixed)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
pinch of ground cloves( here ive reduced the qty which dina had)
2 +1/4 cups plain flour
4 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
To add
2 cups of grated zucchini
1/4 cups of dark chocolate chips
method
preheat oven to 180 C/ 375 F.
cream butter, sugaroil then add in eggs and vanilla till well blended
Mix in milk and lemon juice.( the acid in the lemon juice helps the baking soda to act). +the baking soda when used with cocoa powder gives it a richer darker colour.
Add in the dry ingredients to the creamed mix.
Stir in the zucchini.pour into large cake tin or 2 loaf tins, and bake for 40-45 minutes.
Check that’s done by inserting a toothpick or wooden skewer in the center, it should come out clean.
Cherie Green is/was one of my fellow tutors at Whitireia, and she had made some fabulous anzac cookies one day very very long back. after much persuasion and bribery she kindly parted with her recipe, which is what im sharing down here.Since that time cheries mood on literally to greener pastures and has her own farmland or section as its called in New Zealand
Anzac biscuits
Mix Flour -50 gm
Sugar- 75 gm
Coconut dessicated- 2/3 cup
2/3 cup rolled oats
MELT Butter- 50 gms add
Golden syrup- 1Table spoon
Dissolve Soda bicarb- ½ teaspoon in 2 Tablespoons of Boiling water.Mix in with the dry ingredients.
Form into round biscuit shapes and bake in pre-heated oven at at 180C 15-20 mins.
A take on a classical italian dessert- pana- milk , cotto is to cook so literally cooked milk, set with gelatine and creamy, this one is flavoured with sitafal, an amazing fruit from india, there is a caribbean relative called soursop, but sitafal is sweeter and creamier.
cream- 500 ml
milk- 500 ml
sugar- 100 gm
gelatine- 15-20 gms depending on which country you are making it in.
water – to soak the gelatine- 50 ml
sitafal puree/ pulp- 750 gms
cardamom powder- large pinch
Method
Soak gelatine in water.
heat milk and cream, add sugar and stir until dissolved.
add in the sitafal pulp and gelatine and whisk well. depending on how sweet the sitafal is you might need to slightly increase sugar quantity.
flavour with cardamom and allow to cool down. set in individual glass bowls of small plastic shot glasses like i did( 80 x 60 ml) + got some extra.
chill for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight
stories of foods from the world over, laced with a hint of sarcasm and some black humour, its not for everyone, but then never was meant to be..