israeli food

Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah

I have blogged about so many overseas trips but it just occurred to me that I never blogged about my Israeli food experiences from May 2007! I am well overdue!

I was very fortunate to visit Israel on a business trip where I managed to see the bustle of Tel Aviv, the quiet charms of Jaffa, Arab food markets in Ramla, agricultural and industrial kibbutzim in the Golan Heights and Galilee, and the crowning jewel: Jerusalem.

Such a new country is naturally comprised of many migrants and Israel is certainly a multicultural environment. Jews from Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and the Americas have melded (or not) with Armenian and Greek Christians, local Arabs and other indigenous groups such as Samaritans (yes, these people aren’t just a Biblical footnote). With them have come a multitude of interesting and unique culinary habits.

For the most part, Middle Eastern and European recipes prevail. Falafels, hummus and tahini are everywhere, as are savoury pastries and breads for Shabbat. In Jerusalem the large Armenian population have also coloured the food landscape and I tried some gorgeous lamb and yoghurt dishes (certainly not Kosher).

Israelis always claim their falafels are the best in world and I was initially sceptical, but I have to say they were the best I’ve ever tasted with crispy, brown crusts and soft, moist, green interiors.

I wasn’t so keen on the local hummus, as they seem to use more tahini than the Lebanese styles I usually eat in Australia. Although I did try some interesting dishes of runny tahini with whole chickpeas that I enjoyed.

Israeli pickles were fantastic! And I mean fantastic! There were so many different kinds and they were all superb: mildly sour and salty with perfect crunchy textures. One of the best I tasted was a deep purple, soft ball which I think was a fruit of some kind (found out it's eggplant!).

So, what surprised me about Israel:
• Secular Israeli people were much more liberal, pragmatic and open-minded than we are led to believe by the news. This was true on almost everything, including Palestine, Lebanon and everything in between. From what they told me, it seems Jews outside Israel are more hardline about these subjects than people inside Israel, which really surprised me.
• I felt safe the entire time I was there. Not a care in the world. Really.
• There were less security checks in obvious places (airports, stations etc) and more security checks in random places (cafes, entertainment areas etc). I guess it’s a reflection on who the real terrorist targets are: civilians.
• The only time I got nervous was at the Wall when an old woman (tourist) started photographing people praying on Shabbat (a HUGE no-no) and a few Hassidic men got very, very angry at everyone and started chasing her. That was quite terrifying.
• For some reason I imagined Israel to be very Western (European/American) but it definitely felt like a Middle Eastern country.
• It seemed like a much more patriarchal society that I had expected. In general, women definitely seemed more submissive than the fiesty stereotypes on TV.
• Muslim Palestinian women seemed to have less community-imposed social restrictions than Orthodox Jewish women. That really surprised me considering how the media portrays women in Islam. Perhaps that's a reflection of my own naivety about both religions.
• After spending time in Jerusalem, the three religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam don’t seem very different at all. Perhaps I’m being trite, but from an outsider's perspective they’re so alike I can’t understand what all the fighting has been about these last few thousand years.
• The country was comprised of soooooo many ethnic groups. It's a visual feast.
• There were soldiers stationed at every bus stop and teenagers wield automatic weapons. It’s quite surreal to see a red-head 18yr old girl careering around on top of a jeep with a massive machine gun in her hands.
• There were so many half-constructed buildings around the country. People had started to build houses and then run out of funds (or security) and abandoned them. It made areas seem like ghost towns. I know this isn’t uncommon in the Middle East, but I guess this goes back to my incorrect assumptions that Israel was going to be more like Europe or the US.
• The Armenian Orthodox priests I met in Jerusalem were very friendly. The Armenian Quarter had warm vibe and I felt quite comfortable there despite it's ultra-traditional slant.

Overall, I had such an enjoyable time and all the people I met (Jews, Muslims and Christians) were all warm, friendly and inviting. I highly recommend visiting Israel if you can.

Following are some of the scenic and foodie highlights.

A typical alley in the Jerusalem’s Old City. This one is part of the Muslim Quarter.

I got lost in the Muslim Quarter and surfaced from an alley-way at Damascus Gate. Clearly I looked out of place so a sweet old man, selling these semolina & almond cakes, gave me free dessert and some directions.

Northern Israel, near the Sea of Galilee and borders with Jordan and Syria, consists of rolling hills and beige colour schemes.

At Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda markets, European-style pastries are extremely popular among Hassidic families on Shabbat. The market was so vibrant and it was hard to decide what to buy.

Souq spice shop with an amazing, elaborate decoration. They had everything in there!

Tel Aviv beach culture. Just don’t take your laptop to the beach to do some work in the open air or gigolos might offer you some “company”, as my colleague unfortunately discovered.

We went for dinner in Jaffa and decided to get some kebabs with salad.
These are 17 of our 25 dishes we received as our salad course. It was so much food I couldn’t get over it.

Lemonade stall at Ramla markets

Damascus Gate

Clumps of dry yoghurt for cooking.

Sesame loops

Wonderful pickles from the Arabic Souq in Jerusalem. Don't know what that
mysterious dark purple pickle is, but it's my favourite. Turns out it's eggplant, .

 

View from Jerusalem’s walls out to the newer part of the city.

Lunch of falafels, chopped salad, tahini with chickpeas and a very delicious spicy sauce.

Pastries with za'atar

Beautiful Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, or Dome of the Rock was finished in 691 and is the oldest existing Islamic building in the world. It’s also contentiously built on the Temple Mount, Judaism most holy site.

Lonely Planet recommended the Armenian Tavern in the Old City where I ate this amazing Khaghoghi Derev. Minced meat is spiced then wrapped in vine leaves and served in a type of yoghurty broth. It was good.

Armenian salad with yoghurt dressing. Those purple wedges are the pickle I mentioned earlier.
My favourite all time pickle but I have no idea what it is. I've since been told it's eggplant dyed with beetroot juice.

 

View over Jerusalem

This young baker was up early making fresh pita and I asked if I could take a photo.
Not only did he let me snap him in action, but his father gave me some fresh bread, hot from the oven.

Wailing Wall on Shabbat

You’re not allowed to take photos at Shabbat because you’re not supposed to do work and pressing the button on your camera is technically work. It's also respectful not to as well, I suppose. But I did leave the square and took this photo of the Wailing Wall from a high rise very, very far away. It's the most my camera can zoom in (hence blur). The black figures are mostly Hassidic Jews, whereas the swirl of white is young Orthodox Jews singing and dancing in a big circle.

Mezze - stuffed vine leaves and cabbage rolls

I couldn’t believe how many different flavours of halva there were.
This dessert is made from sesame paste (tahini) and is almost like a slab of nutty, dense fairy floss.

roasted pepper soup

Firstly, I have never felt prouder to be an American. Yes, I am American (well, half) and after last night's election results, I am happy to advertise that fact more prominently!!!

Now, onto the food!

~~~

I made this recipe a while ago, but hadn’t posted it until now.

I'm not sure why I delayed, but I guess there was always something else I wanted to post first.

Then I saw the snarky blog, Thursday Night Smackdown, and Michelle's First Thursdays event and I knew there was a reason I'd held off.

This First Thursdays theme is “An ingredient you think you don’t like” and since I detest capsicum (peppers) I knew it was exactly what Michelle was after.


I hate capsicum. Always have for as long as I can remember.

Every month I try it again, just in case, and the results are the same: no me gusta.

I like chillies, because the heat disguises the capsicum flavour, but if they’re too mild and I taste the capsicum, I’m not happy.

When I first saw this recipe in Tessa Kiros’ Falling Cloudberries, a cookbook I adore, I knew that if anyone could make capsicum tasty it would be reliable Tess.

It was a success.

For some reason, I really, really enjoyed this soup. I ate it all and went back for seconds.

I was so excited that I’d overcome my dislike of capsicum, that I tried some sweet, roasted pepper the next day and blah! Yucky, yucky, yucky!

Who knows what’s going on, but all I can say is that this recipe works for me and I enjoy it.

I think this is the spirit Michelle was aiming for when she encouraged us all to try cooking with an ingredient we don’t like.

Roasted Pepper Soup
Recipe from Falling Clouberries by Tessa Kiros. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
4 red peppers (capsicum)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small onion, chopped
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
300g plain Greek yoghurt
40g pitted black olives, chopped
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
Leaves from 2 rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

Method:

1. Cut capsicum in half, lengthways, and remove seeds.

2. Preheat grill. Line an oven tray with foil and arrange peppers skin-side up in a single layer.

3. Grill for 30 minutes until the skin has darkened and swelled and the capsicum is soft.

4. Put hot capsicum in a plastic bag and seal. Leave for 5 minutes as the sweating helps to remove the skin.

5. Peel skin from capsicum.

6. Heat olive oil in a large pot and sauté the onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until soft.

7. Add tomato and cook until it bubbles.

8. Tear capsicum halves into large chunks and add them to pot. Season with salt and pepper.

9. Add 750ml water and bring to the boil, then lower heat, cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes.

10. Remove from heat and purée. The soup should remain thick, so if it’s watery simmer uncovered to reduce. Add more water if too thick.

11. Check seasoning then serve with dollops of yoghurt and sprinkles of lemon rind, rosemary and chopped olives.

Variations: add chilli while cooking or shelled, cooked prawns before serving.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes capsicum soup pepper soup soup capsicum peppers pepper recipes capsicum recipes soup recipes mediterranean recipes mediterranean food mediterranean cuisine

cucumber limeade

 
This drink is simply delicious.

It's an iced cucumber drink apparently from Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the unfortunate epicentre of the 2004 tsunami.

The cucumber adds a cooling, melon flavour while the lime gives zing. It was so good that I can honestly say it could be my new favourite drink.

Es Timun Aceh (Aceh-Style Cucumber Limeade)

Based on a recipe from The Art and Science of Food. Makes 2.
Ingredients:
2 cucumbers
Juice of 3 limes
100ml kaffir lime syrup
Crushed ice

Method:

1. Halve cucumbers lengthwise and scrape out seeds.

2. Coarsely grate cucumbers, reserving juices.

3. Combine cucumber juice, lime juice, kaffir syrup and ice. Shake vigorously.

4. Stir cucumber pieces through and pour into glasses. Drink immediately.

Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are related to squash and muskmelons, growing from creeping vines with curly tendril and leaves that form a canopy over the elongated fruits.

Green cucumbers are the unripe fruit whereas the ripe, yellow stage is too bitter for consumption.

In the past I have always argued that cucumbers have a slight melon flavour, depsite many people scoffing at this observation. Having done my research I am pleased to report that this is not my imagination and that cucumbers indeed have a “watery, light melon taste”. Interestingly, however, a minority of people will report a “highly repugnant taste some say almost perfume like” due to the “presence of the organic compound phenylthiocarbamide”

There are many varieties of cucumber, the most interesting being the Indian dosakai which is spherical and yellow and commonly used in soups, pickles and chutneys.

The large genetic varieties of cucumber present in India leads botanist to believe it was native to the subcontinent. It has probably been cultivated in Western Asia for more than 3,000 years and was recorded in ancient Ur and the ancient saga of Gilgamesh.

Romans were very keen on cucumbers and Emperor Tiberius ate them daily. The Bible gives cucumbers two shout outs (Numbers 11:5 and Isaiah 1:8) and French emperor Charlemagne grew them in his 9th century gardens.

England had two introductions, the first in the 1300s and then again in the 1500s and Christopher Columbus introduced cucumbers to Haiti in 1494. In 1535 explorer Jacques Cartier discovered cucumbers growing in the area which is now Montreal and the Iroquois were already growing them when the first Europeans arrived in what is now upstate New York.

According to Wikipedia “The Romans are reported to have used cucumbers to treat scorpion bites, bad eyesight, and to scare away mice. Wives wishing for children wore them around their waists. They were also carried by the midwives, and thrown away when the child was born.”

Cucumbers are 96% water, making them ideally hydrating, but they also contain some vitamin C and caffeic acid which soothe the skin. Hence cucumber eye presses in beauty treatments.

Cucumber skin is rich in fibre, silica, potassium and magnesium. Silica is important for connective tissue (eg muscles, ligaments, cartilage and bone) and cucumber juice is said to benefit the skin’s complexion and relieve dermatitis and sunburnt.

The fitness worlds uses cucumbers are a diuretic and for weight loss although cucumber seeds and skin can give some people gas.

Cucumbers are flavoured by their seeds and age faster when stored with tomatoes, melons or apples. 60% of world cucumber production comes out of China, with the next largest producers being Turkey, Russia, Iran and the USA

Our family has always loved to eat cucumbers sprinkled with salt, vinegar and olive oil but there are many other ways such as pickles, tzatiki, stuffed with seafood or puréed into a cold soup.

Weekend Herb Blogging host for this week is Wiffy from Noob Cook, so be sure to visit her blog for the recap.

References & Photo Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber
http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/cucumber/cucumber.html
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=42
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ARS_cucumber.jpg

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb drink beverage lime cucumber es timun aceh lime recipes cucumber recipes beverage recipes drink recipes indonesian recipes indonesian food indonesian cuisine

fig, hazelnut & chocolate fudge cake

 

This is my 400th post. Yippee!

It's also the Three Year Anniversary of Weekend Herb Blogging, my favourite food blogging event.

We have been asked to post about our favourite herb, fruit or vegetable for 2008 and I have decided to go with a recently found love: figs.

This year I have managed to access a bounty of delicious, fresh figs for eating as well as chowed down a load of quality dried figs. I also made the best jam I've ever tasted, as well as this ridiculously good cake.

This cake was part of a feast I prepared for some former colleagues and the recipe, which I found in Australian Gourmet Traveller, was simply exquisite.

I love dried figs and chocolate. I think it's a match made in heaven. The nutty richness of the figs combined with the bittersweet chocolate is just superb.

I can highly recommend this sticky, nutty cake. It certainly has a fudge-like consistency and would be excellent alongside a tokay or, even better, a glass of pedro ximenez sherry.

Fig, Hazelnut & Chocolate Fudge Cake

Recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller, July 2007. Serves 14.

Ingredients:

Cake:
250ml Muscat (or brandy)
300g dried figs, coarsely chopped
420g hazelnuts, roasted & peeled
250g unsalted butter
300g caster sugar
6 eggs
250g dark chocolate, melted
35g fresh breadcrumbs

Ganache:
75g white sugar
125ml pouring cream
150g dark chocolate, chopped

Method:

1. Combine Muscat & figs in a saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 mins or until figs have softened and absorbed some Muscat. Cool.

2. Preheat oven to 160’C. Grease 26cm spring-form cake tin. Line with baking paper.

3. Process hazelnuts in a food processor until coarsely ground.

4. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy.

5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to ensure they are completely combined.

6. Add fig mixture, hazelnuts, chocolate and breadcrumbs and stir to combine.

7. Spoon mixture into cake tin and bake in oven for 55 minutes or until an inserted skewer withdraws clean.

8. Cool in pan, remove and place on a wire rack over a tray.

9. To make the ganache, place sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and melt over a low heat without stirring.

10. Add cream and stir.

11. Add chocolate and stir over a low heat until melted and mixture is smooth.

12. Pour over cake, smoothing with a palette knife. Cool.

13. Serve cake at room temperature with double cream and candied oranges.

Note: I used 200g hazelnuts and 220g pecans.

The genus ficus (from the family Moraceae) contains about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs and vines.

Distant cousins of the mulberry, breadfruit and jackfruit, figs are believed to originate in Western Asia and taken by humans throughout the Mediterranean.

The genus ficus is at least 60 million years old and possibly as old as 80 million years. According to Wikipedia, there is evidence that “the Common fig (F. carica) and Sycamore fig (F. sycomorus), were among the first - if not the very first - plant species that were deliberately bred for agriculture in the Middle East, starting more than 11,000 years ago. . . . This find predates the cultivation of grain in the Middle East many hundreds of years.”

In Ancient Egypt, latex from the soft fig wood was used for mummy caskets whereas in present-day Uganda it can produce barkcloth as well as decorations in Cambodian architecture.

The figs that we eat are consider fruit, but they are technically the flower of the tree.

Figs have a unique pollination system involving wasps who crawl into the fig fruit to lay their eggs. The wasps hatch inside the fruit and the larvae are nourished on the flesh before emerging, covered in pollen, to fly off and pollinate other trees. Scientists believe figs and wasps are an example of coevolution.

I learnt this as an eleven year old child and ever since have always cut fresh figs open to check for wasp larvae. I have never found any, mind you!

Figs must be allowed to ripen fully before they are picked as they will not continue ripening if picked immature. It’s interesting to note that any rain during the period of fruit development causes the fruits to split and spoil.

There are so many varieties of figs, and some have some cute names like Archipal, Flanders, Brown Turkey, Spanish Dessert and Persian Prolific.

A high energy food and an important food source for many wild animals, figs have always been at the centre of religious practices. In the Torah they are listed as one of seven important foods to be found in the Promised Land, figs are one of the two sacred trees of Islam, Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) found enlightenment meditating under a Sacred Fig (F. religiosa) and in Hinduism the Ashvastha, or "world tree", was a fig.

Other famous fig fans include Cleopatra, Odysseus, Adam & Eve (for clothing purposes) and the Greek god Dionysus.

Figs are grown in many places such as Iran, the Mediterranean, USA, Mexico, Australia, Chile and South Africa. In 2005, Turkey (285,000 tonnes) and then Egypt (170,000 tonnes) were the world’s top fig-producers, followed by other Mediterranean countries.

Figs have a good source of calcium and fibre and dried figs have excellent levels of copper, manganese, magnesium, potassium, calcium, vitamin K and antioxidants.

Figs are keystone species to many rainforest ecosystems, being a main food source for fruit bats, monkeys, birds, caterpillars and beetle larvae.

Interesting, two types of ficus (Weeping Fig F. benjamina; Indian Rubber Plant F. elastica) are proved powerful air-cleaning plants from the NASA Clean Air Study.

It was very interesting to learn that the word “sychopant” comes from the Greek words σῦκον, sýkon, "fig", and φαίνω, phaínō, "to show". It was used in Ancient Athens for the people who informed against fig exporters, since figs were so valuable that all fig growers were forced to sell their crop to the state. To accuse someone falsely was a method of defamation and potential personal gain.

This has been my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging for another week. It's also WHB's Three Year Anniversary so you can vote on your favourite herb, fruit or veggie for 2008. Check out the recap by WHB founder, Kalyn, at Kalyn's Kitchen!

References
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html
http://foodforest.com.au/figFactSheet.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Fig

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb dessert chocolate chocolate cake fig hazelnuts cake dessert recipes cake recipes hazelnut recipes fig recipes chocolate recipes