Chicken fillets pounded thin and fried are shnitzel in Israel. Miriam serves a healthier, herby, baked version. Sizzling summer weather takes away our appetite for anything but light, nutritious food. Coming in from the street feeling broiled ourselves, a quick, home-cooked meal is the answer. Like these organic chicken fillets. They’re more interesting than the […]
Folks seeking new taste sensations are going wild over the flavor of freekah, frikeh (Arabic: فريكة) or farik, an Arabic smoked green wheat – a staple in the Middle East for thousands of years. Where wheat grows in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, people set aside part of the harvest to make freekeh. Its young […]
Figs come into Middle Eastern markets twice a year, in July and in September, but their seasons are always short. There are about 750 kinds of figs in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey and Iran.
Meeting an emperor or a sheikh? Here you have a great herb, with medicinal uses beyond the kitchen! Image via elenadan Spices are so versatile, if you have a look around your kitchen, you will find many spices have more than a simple culinary use. One of these amazing spices is cloves, and while you […]
Summer time is tomato time, and not just for salads. Slow-roast some to taste the depth and sweetness of all their flavors. In Middle East open-air markets, we now see piles of ripe tomatoes. And since they’re seasonal and cheap, we enjoy them raw and sliced into all kinds of salads, sometimes cooking them when we […]
Baba ganoush, baba ghannouj or baba ghannoug (Arabic بابا غنوج ) is an Arab dish of eggplant (aubergine) mashed and mixed with various seasonings. It’s one of the best flavors the Middle East has to offer. Scientists say after seven or so years your body’s bones and organs regenerate, meaning most of us are a […]
Some Aloe Vera gelato I saw in Milan…but I wasn’t brave enough to taste it! You’ve heard of aloe vera gel, aloe vera cream, but have you ever head of aloe vera ice cream? Well maybe the Italians have got it right with this uniquely flavoured gelato, since the health benefits and general uses of […]
You can add some milk or oat milk, but typically Turkish coffee is always drunk black.
June 21 marks a celebration that mankind and paganic traditions have noted for eons: The Summer Solstice. Your green love columnist at Green Prophet wants to give readers a simple gift this year: a recipe for an eco-sexy lip balm you can make in your own kitchen. All you need is sweet almond oil, rose […]
The fragrance of roses is a Middle Eastern favorite for pastries and delights. This old-fashioned recipe shows how to make it yourself. In the Middle East, rose water scents pastries like Ma’amoul cookies, puddings, and clothes. It comes in tiny glass bottles if it’s concentrated, and in larger plastic bottles if it’s not so strong. […]
It’s Slow Food defined, but worth it. Miriam winds down the sourdough series with a plan. It’s true, sourdough takes time. So do all good things. But once you’ve established your starter, a world of delicious home-made breads opens up to you. And the good news is that sourdough also makes quicker breads like muffins, […]
Finally, the recipe for sourdough bread! We’ve broken it up in parts, because it’s complicated, but today we’ll put it all together so it’ll makes sense if you’ve been following the parts. Last week we started with making a sourdough starter, and dedicated a whole post on how to care for and feed your sourdough […]
Make your own healthy summer ice cream
You can bake a sourdough corn bread like this, too. our 4-part series on baking with sourdough starts here. People have relied on wild yeasts to ferment their bread doughs, beer, and wine for thousands of years. By contrast, commercial yeast has only been around for about 100 years. It only became possible to culture […]
The Middle East’s daily bread, easily made at home. In the Middle East, here is always pita. Pita sops up humus and sauces; opens up to enfold falafel or shwarma; serves as a base for all kinds of spreads (like muhamarra). We take this homely bread for granted, but if it were taken away, we’d […]