A new Egypt and traditional kosheri
I usually keep a travel journal when I go to a new country but when I visited friends in Cairo, the total sensory overload meant that I barely had the energy to pick up a pen at the end of each day and anyway there was no way I could remember all of the extraordinary things that we saw and did. However, it was all so vivid that some things are indelibly burnt on my brain.
Live is hectic and hard in this city but there is a frenetic human endeavour to squeeze something out of every patch of land, every space, every activity. Homes are built on top of family crypts in graveyards, the smallest piece of land is cultivated – often with a cow grazing, tiny flats are painted in vibrant colours.
In the back of the guidebook I took with me I’d scribbled some notes:
- Illegal brick works along the banks of the Nile
- Colour amongst squalor
- Brick-built dwellings that looked as though they teetered on the edge of collapse
- Families washing pots and clothes in a tributary of the Nile. A naked young man dripping by the roadside.
- Trucks in front of us overflowing with garlic – the scent permeating our car
- A camel with a palm tree on his back, bent under the weight
- A man strolling with a taxidermied fox tucked under each arm
- A police escort to an outlying pyramid, then onto lunch where they waited for us.
- Lush greenness giving way abruptly to harsh desert
- Waving towering palms
- Most cars have sagging or zero wing mirrors (due to the impossible driving)
- Donkey carts vying with Mercedes
- A dead horse in the canal
- Duck sellers swinging the ducks round on strings to attract the attention of buyers
- A balcony with a stuffed goat – its hooves up on the ledge with a stuffed kid peeking through the railings.
The scale of antiquities is hard to comprehend. I expected a few mummies in the museum but there were hundreds and this is probably the tip of the iceberg of what is in store. It’s alarming to hear about the recent raids and I hope that the precious artefacts are preserved. My first thoughts are with the Egyptian people and they deserve to have hope, stability and decent human rights.
The recent events and ‘visiting’ Egypt through Foodalogue’s virtual trip around the world made me think back to our experience in Cairo in 2006 (before I had a digital camera!). Amid this polluted city – where your lungs gasp at the amount of dust, traffic fumes and cigarette smoke – the fruit, vegetable and produce stalls glowed and gleamed with freshness. Food is celebrated with the same gusto that Egyptians have for life.
Baking bread in a clay oven and the fresh fish stall in Maadi
This week, I cooked one of Egypt’s most popular dishes to celebrate a better future for this amazing country. Kosheri (or kusheri) uses very humble and inexpensive ingredients which are transformed into a feast. It’s easy to make although there are a few stages involved – don’t stint on the fried onions. You might also be interested in another traditional recipe ful mudammas which Joumana from Taste of Beirut made recently.
Kosheri (adapted from Ottolenghi – the cookbook) Printable version
Serves 4 very generously
Ingredients
300g green lentils
200g basmati rice
40g unsalted butter
50g vermicelli noodles, broken into 4cm pieces
400ml chicken stock or water*
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons salt (less if using a stock cube)
½ teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 white onions, halved and thinly sliced
* I used a Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon stock cube to make the dish vegetarian (available in Dubai from Organic Foods and Cafe).
For the sauce
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 hot red chilies, seeded and finely diced
8 ripe tomatoes, chopped (I use tinned unless you can get really ripe ones)
370ml water (refill the tin of tomatoes)
4 tablespoons cider vinegar**
3 scant teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
20g coriander leaves, chopped
** Note for Dubai-ans: As cider vinegar is not in the shops, I use apple vinegar that I get from Organic Foods and Cafe.
1. First cook the lentils. Place the lentils in a large sieve and wash them under a cold running tap. Transfer to a large saucepan, cover with plenty of cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes (test at 15 minutes). The lentils should be tender, but far from mushy. Drain in a colander and leave to one side.
2. While the lentils are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onions and sauté over a medium heat for about 20 min, until dark brown. Transfer to kitchen paper to drain.
3. To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan (the one you fried the onions in), add the garlic and chillies and fry for 2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, water, vinegar, salt and cumin. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until slightly thickened. Remove the sauce from the heat, stir in the coriander and then taste. See if you want to add any salt, pepper or extra coriander. Keep hot, or leave to cool; both ways will work with the hot kosheri. Just remember to adjust the seasoning again when cold.
3. In a large bowl, cover the rice with cold water, wash and then drain well. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the raw vermicelli, stir and continue frying and stirring until the vermicelli turns golden brown. Add the drained rice and mix well until it is coated in the butter. Now add the stock or water, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and then reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the lid, cover the pan with a clean tea towel and put the lid back on. Leave like that for about 5 minutes; this helps to make the rice light and fluffy.
4. To serve, lightly break up the rice with a fork, and then add the lentils, and most of the onions, reserving a few for garnish. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Pile the rice high on a serving platter and top with the remaining onions. Serve hot, with the tomato sauce. This also goes well with a cucumber, tomato and yoghurt salad.
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- Rinsing the lentils
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- Finely chopped red chillies make the sauce spicy
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- Apple vinegar
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- Slice your onions as finely as you can
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- I love how this…
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- ..can turn into this.
I ‘visited’ Egypt as part of Foodalogues’ Culinary Tour around the world. Joan has taken us to Panama, Alaska, Turkey, Japan, Thailand and next we are off to Nigeria. Foodalogue has a delicious round-up of other recipes inspired by this virtual trip.
White chocolate mint mousse and what I didn’t get for Valentine’s day
No flowers, no chocolates, no card, no swanky meal out, no champagne. Not on February 14th anyway. KP is an easy-going chap with a very sunny disposition but there are two things that make him dig his heels in. Valentine’s day is the first. Not a hearts and flowers type of man in the first place, he rebels against being forced to make a grand gesture on an appointed day (by marketing people in his opinion) and I don’t feel at all hard done by on this point. I adore surprises and I’d rather go out on the day of our choice when prices in restaurants are not inflated and love to receive a gift when I’m least expecting it.
His second turn-off is tiny food. If we are invited to a party he will always quiz me about what I think the food will be like. He hates ‘nibbles’ and canapés; hearty food is his choice and he perks up if he spots a shawarma stand or a curry when we arrive somewhere (especially where he’d been expecting vol-au-vents or spring rolls all night). Beautiful dainty morsels on spoons or on cocktail sticks leave him cold.
The only dish that he really gets excited about in a small format are these white chocolate mint mousses. They are my stand-by dessert and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t scrape the glass and lick the spoon. I always make spare because they are so tempting just one more tiny taste is called for.
So what did I get on Valentine’s day? A happy KP and lots of love and appreciation – we went on a nice walk together with the dogs. The mousse is all gone.
This recipe is hardly adapted at all from Nigella Lawson’s Express, except for maybe a drop or two more of peppermint essence. It’s readily available on the internet on the BBC food site and you can print off a copy there.
White chocolate and mint mousse
Ingredients
250g/9oz white chocolate, broken into small pieces
250ml/9fl oz double cream
1 free-range egg white
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
6 fresh mint leaves to decorate
- Put the white chocolate into a heatproof bowl and sit the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water until the chocolate melts, stirring gently with a spatula every now and then. When it’s melted, stand the bowl on a cold surface to cool down a little. If you try melting it in the microwave be extremely careful – it can seize in an instant!
- In another bowl whip the cream, egg white and peppermint essence together (I wouldn’t do this by hand). You want a softly peaking, rather than stiff mixture.
- Add a large dollop of cream to the slightly cooled chocolate and mix together to loosen. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the cream.
- Divide the mixture among six small glasses with a capacity of about 60ml. My shot glasses are smaller than this and I get about 9 mousses in all.
- Chill the mousses in the fridge or give them a fast icy zap by putting them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Once chilled, if using mint leaves, decorate each top with a leaf just before serving.
I’m sending this into the Monthly Mingle – the brainchild of Meeta from What’s for lunch, Honey? and hosted by Paulchen’s food blog this month. Astrid’s theme was Small bites – soul food for your loved ones….well, you can imagine how flummoxed that got me until I remembered these! Do you revel in small morsels or is your idea of food fuelled romance more substantial?
My Benihana experience – to support Mark in Kuwait
This is quite different from my usual items but I’ve made the decision to post this in exceptional and worrying circumstances not just for bloggers; I hope you will read it as it has disturbing implications worldwide for freedom of speech.
David vs Goliath
Mark Makhoul, a blogger living in the Middle East, is now the subject of a US$18,000 lawsuit filed by the Kuwaiti franchisee of global Japanese restaurant chain Benihana. Mark’s crime? Posting a mildly critical restaurant review on his blog. You can see a full breakdown of events on the UAE community blog. I am reposting Mark’s original piece today, along with many other bloggers around the world, to offer support and raise awareness about this. For more about the way this has been handled on a marketing level visit Fake Plastic Souks.
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is not the right to libel or use ‘hate speech’ and is quite rightly subject to limitations. However the right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR recognizes the right to freedom of speech as “the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression.”
Here is Mark’s original post. Thank you for reading and I hope you understand why I’ve decided to take this action today.
My Benihana Experience
“A few days back I posted about Benihana opening up at the Avenues and yesterday night I decided to pass by with Nat and try it out. The service wasn’t too bad for a restaurant that’s just been open for a few days and the staff were really friendly. The restaurant itself is made up of islands and bars with a grill in the middle of each one. You sit around the grill and the chef will come to your table and prepare the food right in front of you which makes things entertaining. It’s actually why I prefer sitting at the bar in Japanese restaurants in general, since you can talk to the chef and watch them put your dish together. The problem with my experience last night though was with the food, it was disappointing to say the least.
We ordered beef negimayaki for starters followed by an Orange Blossom maki and a Hibachi Chicken. The negimaki arrived looking good and was probably the best thing we had there even though I prefer Maki’s negimaki which has a richer teriyaki sauce. The Orange Blossom was very ordinary, wouldn’t order it again. Now the Hibachi chicken which is basically grilled chicken, that was the worst. The chicken was very chewy (I could swear it was undercooked if not raw) and tasted terrible. Even after I had the chef add some more teriyaki sauce in hopes of improving the taste it didn’t work. I tried to dip it into the sauces that came with the chicken but it was hard to figure out if they were actually making things worse or not. Nat only ate one piece of chicken and left the rest while I needed my protein since I’m on a strict diet and forced myself to eat my whole plate (I can do that) but the after taste was really bad. Even the rice and the veggies that came with it tasted bad AND were under cooked. Once we left I considered picking up a frozen yogurt from Pinkberry even though I hate frozen yogurts but I just needed something to get rid of the aftertaste. A few moments later we ended up at Chocolate Bar ordering the gooey chocolate cake (bye bye diet).
I shot the two videos above of the chef preparing our meal. Benihana are known for the live shows they perform when preparing your dish so I was expecting to see [This] but ended up with the above . Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn’t. Their sashimi and maki’s are pretty cheap (KD1.5 for 5 pieces of Salmon sashimi for example) but there are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues, Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.
Thai fish cakes with spicy cucumber relish
I’ve just spent over an hour looking through scores of photo albums and a big pine chest stuffed full of albums to find some photos from my holiday in Thailand in 1997. I found four but can’t believe that I didn’t take more than this. But maybe it’s true – in photographic terms it seems like the dark ages. Everything after 2004 is neatly catalogued in folders and searchable in seconds (and backed up online on Picasa).
I can’t say that we saw much of the real Thailand; travelling with a rather active and vocal 1 1/2-year-old, we booked a package holiday – a rare occurence. The resort was a three-hour drive from Bangkok and a rep met us at the airport and travelled the whole way there with us in a car. We stopped at an open air motorway cafe en route where she and my husband tucked into a Thai curry. About 30 minutes later on the journey she ordered the driver to stop and violently vomited onto the road. ‘I’m better now’ she said and off we went.
The wrong kind of fish
Club Aldiana turned out to be the German equivalent of Club Med – a bit organised for our tastes. The next day’s activities were announced by tannoy as we arrived ‘aqua-aerobics at 10am in the pool’ etc. etc. Feeling gloomy we wandered to the beach. People were leaping into the waves energetically and then emerging with huge red wheals on their bodies; it was jelly fish season and these monsters were washed up along the shore, the size of dinner plates. The Thai staff were very nice and all predicted that my next child (I was visibly pregnant) would be a boy (I actually had another girl). The saving grace was the food; there were eating opportunities of top-notch and varied cuisine from dawn til dusk. We only ate in neighbouring Hua Hin once and that was at an excellent Italian restaurant recommended by an Italian lady who we made friends with on the beach. While in this restaurant we saw an elephant walk by and did the tourist thing of buying bananas from its herder to feed to it. I carefully peeled the banana while the Thai lady laughed and pointed and the elephant looked at me – I’m sure it rolled is eyes. They eat bananas whole!
The right kind of fish
The fresh, clean tastes of Thai food, the combination of Kaffir lime leaves, galangal and chilli is so fragrant and stimulating. I made these fish cakes to go with a Thai green chicken curry and rice for supper with friends, this week. The food was just perfect for a relaxed evening mid-week sitting in the garden, the wind rustling the bamboo.
I ‘visited’ Thailand as part of Foodalogues’ Culinary Tour around the world. Joan has taken us to Panama, Alaska, Turkey, Japan and next we are off to Egypt. Foodalogue has a delicious round-up of other recipes inspired by this virtual trip.
This is an excellent recipe adapted slightly from an encyclopedic cook book on Thai food by Vatcharin Bhumichitr. They would be great with green papaya salad too.
Thai fish cakes (Tod man pla)
Fish cake ingredients
5 dried red chillis
3 spring onions
2 garlic cloves
2 coriander roots (or, if unavailable, a small handful of fresh coriander)
1 tablespoon of chopped galangal
6 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
480g firm white fish fillets, minced (I used a fish they describe as sole in Dubai – nothing like Dover sole)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
60g fine green beans, sliced finely lengthways
vegetable oil
Cucumber relish ingredients
120 ml rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cucumber
1 small carrot
3 spring onions
1 fresh red chilli
1 tablespoon of ground roasted peanuts (optional)
Start by making the relish. Heat the vinegar with the sugar, stirring until it dissolves, then boil (for 6-7 minutes) until you get a thin caramel. Take off the heat and leave to cool. Quarter the cucumber lengthways and slice finely; halve the carrot and also slice finely. Chop the spring onion and chilli finely and add all the ingredients to the cooled syrup, mixing well. Serve with the ground peanuts scattered on top.
Put the chillis, spring onion, garlic, coriander, galangal, lime leaves and salt into a food processor and whizz to a paste (or pound with a mortar and pestle. Add the fish, fish sauce and green beans and pulse to combine (or mix together in a bowl). Form into about 20 little cakes about 1.25 cm thick.
Heat the oil to about 200 C and deep fry the fish cakes for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown on both sides.
The Thai chicken curry recipe I used was not as authentic – Nigella Lawson’s curry in a hurry – but perfect for a quickly prepared week day supper.
How much love can you put into chocolate mousse?
Is it higher self-confidence levels or just a trend that has turned all the teenage girls I know (including my own) into rather demonstrative drama queens? In my day cool meant a measured voice, a sardonic or witty one-liner, icy nonchalance, a faraway look, a raised eyebrow. We were posers (or poseurs) of the highest order. Shopping in Oxfam, swathed in Grandpa’s long coat and Grandma’s old shoes; David Bowie spoke of Kierkegaard and ‘a kettle of poissons’, Sid Vicious sneered at the world and New Romantics took posturing to another level. You wouldn’t have seen Siouxsie Sioux grinning.
Now cool is exuberance, over-the-top exclamations “O!M!G!”. Hugs all round with arms thrown dramatically apart. The smallest occurence becomes a monumental event to be repeated and exaggerated often at volume. However there are some universal truths. Parents are still mortally embarrassing when you are with your mates and there’s more than a touch of self-obsession about every teen.
It was ever thus as I remember, to my mortification, asking my Mother to park the car round the corner when collecting me from the disco. It took me over half an hour to put on my elaborate eye make-up and fewer things were more important than getting the next record I was obsessing over from Driftin’ (Albion Street, Cheltenham).
So driving my daughter to the coach for her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh desert challenge early Friday morning went like this: “We mustn’t be late”….”Nobody’s here – can we drive round a bit?” …”oh so-and-so’s arrived”…. quick hug … “love you Mum – you can go now“!
Collecting her the next day is another matter. A night in a tent on the desert floor, 24 kilometres of trudging through sand with a heavy backpack after eating Pot Noodle (don’t ask!) means she is extremely pleased to see me. ‘I’m so tired Mum – what’s for supper?’
This is where the maximum amount of love goes into cooking. I’d spent a couple of hours in the kitchen the day before making a huge simmering pot of ragout for spaghetti Bolognese so the flavours could improve overnight and some sweet little chocolate mousses which also benefit from the same treatment.
“Love you Mum”.
These mousses are a Nigella Lawson recipe meant for children, but the milder taste appeals to non-dark lovers, my husband thinks they are the best ever…
For more seductive chocolate recipes inspired by La Lawson, pop over to Maison Cupcake around February 22nd-ish for her Forever Nigella Seduced by Chocolate round-up (worth reading Sarah’s exuberant blog at anytime actually).
These ingredients and recipe for this mousse are so simple I’ve hardly tinkered – you can find it in Nigella’s seminal ‘How to eat‘ (I always want to answer ‘with a knife and fork’) one of my most well-thumbed and cooked-from tomes.
Children’s chocolate mousse – (slightly adapted from How to eat by Nigella Lawson)
Serves 4
Ingredients
100g good quality milk chocolate (try to get over 40% cocoa solids)*
1 1/2 tablespoons boiling water
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 eggs, separated (organic, free-range recommended)**
- Put the chocolate, broken into pieces, boiling water and golden syrup into a large heatproof bowl. If you measure the boiling water first and then quickly follow with the golden syrup it will just slide off the spoon.
- Microwave on medium heat for about 3 minutes until the chocolate is melted (or suspend over a pan of hot water).
- Whisk the egg whites until stiff, beat the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture one by one until well combined and smooth.
- Put a dollop of the whisked egg whites into the chocolate mixture and stir fairly briskly to loosen it. You can then gently fold the rest of the egg whites in using a metal spoon. Be quite thorough and you need to scrape along the bottom of the bowl to combine properly, but don’t stir all the air out, you want to keep the lovely bubbles in.
- Use a spatula to ease the mixture into a clean bowl or spoon into individual ramekins or tumblers. Leave for at least 6 hours in the fridge.
* Note: I used Valor chocolate from Choitrams.
** It is not recommended that raw eggs are eaten by pregnant women or vulnerable people due to the risk of salmonella. As for feeding to children, personal choice prevails (there are egg-less mousse recipes available).
Serve and wait for the hugs.
Happy birthday and a big thank you
Baking day – my first ever post on My Custard Pie
Happy birthday to me – actually to My Custard Pie’s first blogging anniversary. So much has happened in the last year since I wrote a few tentative words and uploaded some images. Who knew that through this blog I’d make new friends online from all over the world and meet some here in Dubai, become more confident in my writing, cooking and even photography skills….but I’m getting ahead of myself.
One thing I’ve learned is that you can’t hide behind social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.). Even Twitter’s micro-blogging 140 character limit reveals a lot about a person’s true character. There are some people you just warm to and Marian Schembari is one of them. She calls herself a social media ‘thug’ and her tag-line used to be ‘telling like it should be but isn’t’ which sums up her direct, refreshing and honest approach. She issued a 7-link challenge in October which I think is the perfect way to look back over the year.
1. My first post
A Baking Day. I didn’t have any clear direction but had a lovely time in the kitchen (see picture above) and wrote about some things that mattered to me too. My first comment came too….from my sister – thanks Anna.
2. A post I enjoyed writing the most
Banana bread for adults and how I learned to tinker
Always happy to change and adapt savoury things but I’d always stuck to baking recipes to the letter. Inspired by a post on Chez Pim, I suddenly saw the light and couldn’t wait to get stuck in. I literally flew back up to my computer to write my account, the finished banana bread was all that I’d hoped for, the flavours working together as scrumptiously as I’d imagined – I was so proud of myself! One of my favourite food writers left a really nice comment too – deep joy.
Tennessee banana bread
3. A post which has great discussion
There are lots of very perfect food blogs out there showing ‘food-porn’ images and exquisite recipes. But a couple of my baking challenges had gone very wrong and I faced a dilemma. Would anyone trust recipes from someone who didn’t get it right all the time in the kitchen? I could have hidden the burnt bottom of my walnut loaf and pretend all was well but instead I discussed it in the post. The comments section was overwhelming in support of telling the truth – and let’s face it – imperfection is interesting.
The finished loaves – who would know about their secret?
4. A post I wish I had written (actually two)
There are many blogs I admire – the warm, openess of Meeta of What’s for Lunch, Honey?, the simplicity and happiness of Tiina from Sparkling Ink, the honesty and intelligence of Ms Marmite Lover on the English can cook and the culinary integrity of Sarah at Foodbridge (Food Stories, Lost in the Larder and Things we make must be mentioned too). But posts I wish I’d written come closer to home when writing about a shared experience.
Image from Dubai-ified
Enter Fooderati Arabia, the fabulous group of UAE food bloggers that is growing everyday, each person passionate about food experiences in a unique way. When I wrote about our trip to Oktoberfest and then read Arva’s funny stream of conciousness report on In a Frying Pan, I was revealed in all my English politesse. And Sarah from Dubai-ifed is just so witty when she writes about Gourmet Lafayette and it’s quite obvious she whipped out her camera and chose all the best angles where I discreetly took a few snaps in the cheese department then slipped it back into my handbag, cheeks flushed with British stiff-upper lip embarrassment. The lesson here is to be brave and honest. Watch out for new developments with FIA too – with all this latent talent, 2011 is the start of something.
Home-made pretzel
5. A post with a title I’m proud of
I usually tell it like it is but never able to resist an awful pun – Going back to my roots – Barszcz (get it?!) satisfied my Beano upbringing. Counting the nights with Preserved lemon chicken made me proud in a different way as the author of the book in the title left a comment – wow!
My illustrated beetroot soup
6. A post I wish more people had read
As only in my second month of blogging the Top 10 cookbooks that have influenced me has been a bit overlooked. The post was prompted by a discussion with @highandwild on Twitter in the context of the Emirates Festival of Literature. I’d like a few more visitors to that post because, in the same way nosey way I look at people’s bookshelves when I enter their home, I’d love to hear about what fires up your culinary juices in a bookish way.
10 cook books that have influenced me
7. My most visited post ever
How excited I was when I visited the Nazwa Farm Shop on its second day of opening. I can still remember the strong scent of fresh basil and it was such a pleasure to talk to Elena and understand her passion for the project. The amount of people searching for an organic farm shop in Dubai means that I get a lot of visits to that first account and how disappointed they must be when they read that this beautiful little shop, brilliant concept, passionate project with fresh, local, impeccable produce has closed. I still feel sad when I drive past and see the shutters down.
Frondy fennel in front of print lined walls
And finally the thank you, a massive thank you, especially if you’ve read all this way down to the bottom. To everyone who has searched, browsed, visited, subscribed, cooked from recipes and commented, I really am grateful – it’s such a privilege to write and be heard. Sorry if this sounds like an Oscar’s speech but it honestly makes my day, puts a spring in my step and spurs me on to be bolder, braver, work harder, and enjoy life more. A taste of what is to come.
A cake to celebrate
Do any of these links strike a chord with you? Love to hear in the comments.
Tea ceremonies, happiness and keema
Before setting off to visit a new place, as well as a guide-book, I try to read some fiction from the country that I’m going to. It gives an added dimension to the journey and a context that I might not have taken in by reading bare facts. Driving to Palmyra in Syria wouldn’t have been the same without imagining Lady Jane Digby on a camel emerging from the hills, eluding brigands. In the Country of Men painted a picture of life in the early days of Gaddafi’s regime in Libya, where neighbours distrusted one another and people disappeared, which was important to remember when I saw his face emblazoned on every street in Tripoli proclaiming his 39th year of power.
I love the illustration on the cover of one of my childhood favourite reads (and equally dislike the updated cover)
Japan seems so exotic and such an alien culture to me that getting my nose into several books would be essential prior to a visit. I’m currently reading Dance, dance, dance by Haruki Murakami (author of Norwegian Wood) and the social conventions of Japan are coming across loud and strong in this off-beat novel where brand names and fast food have been adopted with gusto. The first book I read about Japan (and reread over and over again) was Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden which took me into an elegant world of good manners and tea ceremonies. My daughters also enjoyed this wonderful tale of a child’s experience in a cold foreign land and how the dolls helped her to feel less home-sick and lonely.
Japanese section in my supermarket and curry blocks
Dubai is not like a foreign country at all in some ways. The street signs are in English and there is a huge range food stuffs on offer. Living in Japan as an expat must be pretty daunting. A friend told me how going food shopping was incredibly difficult. It’s hard to imagine feeding your family when you can’t read or speak the language and you don’t recognise a single thing as edible in the shops. I am even fairly mystified by the Japanese section in my local supermarket. My friend did go and visit lots and lots of beautiful temples while she lived there. For some lovely pics visit this post by White on rice couple.
Sushi, sashimi, teppanyaki and the satsuma have been successful exports but just as the Japanese have embraced many Western things from Burberry to Manchester United Football Club, they have also taken to a culinary import with enthusiasm; curry. According to Madhur Jaffrey, (who is at the Emirates Literature Fest in March) most Japanese families eat curry at least once a week and like us Brits (whose enthusiasm for curry has made it our unofficial national dish) they have adapted recipes to their tastes.
Most Japanese cooks use a ‘roux block’ as the base for the sauce and add vegetables (which are already chopped and bagged as curry packs), meat and possibly curry powder. Fruit and cream are also popular additions. They also like keema often with the inclusion of tofu. I searched for a recipe for Japanese curry that appealed to me but in the end fell back on an old favourite. I don’t pretend that the recipe below is a Japanese version in any way shape or form, but I make it at least once a fortnight for my family (who would rebel at tofu). It’s the ultimate quick to make, satisfying to eat comfort food, while dreaming of cherry blossom and tea ceremonies.
I ‘visited’ Japan as part of Foodalogues’ Culinary Tour around the world. Joan has taken us to Panama, Alaska, Turkey and next we are off to Thailand. Foodalogue has a delicious round-up of other recipes inspired by this virtual trip to Japan.
The character on the bowl is probably Chinese!
Keema (adapted from recipe in Nigella Lawson’s Feast)
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced, grated or finely chopped
- 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 2 and half centimetre piece of ginger, finely grated or chopped
- 2 small, hot green chillies, finely chopped with seeds
- 1 and a half teaspoons sea salt
- 11/2 teaspoons garam masala
- large bunch chopped coriander
- 700g lamb mince
- 250g frozen peas
- some boiling water (I fill half the tomato tin and rinse it)
- Juice half a lime, or to taste
Method
- Heat the oil in a wide pan one big enough to take everything comfortably later (I use a Le Cruset cast iron pot) and add the onion and garlic. Cook on a high heat until they become golden brown.
- Turn the heat down, and add the can of tomatoes, ginger, chilli, salt, garam masala and a handful of the chopped coriander. Stir until the mixture becomes shiny, and then add the mince breaking it up with a fork in the sauce.
- Add the boiling water. Bring the pan to the boil and then turn it down to a very gentle simmer. Half cover with a lid.
- Cook for about 20-30 minutes, by which time most of the water should have evaporated and the lamb will be tender.
- 5 minutes before the cooking time, cook the peas in a generous amount of boiling water for about 3-4 minutes (I use the microwave). Stir the peas into the keema.
- Squeeze in some lime juice to taste and sprinkle the remaining chopped coriander over the top.
- Serve with plain, fluffy basmati rice and some mango chutney, with some lime quarters on the side.
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- A bit of theraputic chopping
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- A couple of hot chillies
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- Veg knife was a Christmas present from hub
Naked enthusiasm for pizza
The opening of Naked Pizza in Dubai – January 18th 2011.
It’s hard not to get excited about the opening of Naked Pizza (actually the self-censored N_k_d Pizza) here in Dubai. The Twittersphere has been a-tweet with it for months, with tantalising snippets of treats ahead, whispers of how impressive the operation is and a countdown to opening (a tweet-up of course). Then there’s Jeff Leach, one of the co-founders, who is positively evangelistic about ‘the worlds healthiest and best tasting pizza‘. He replied personally within about a minute when I sent a ‘would-you-like-some-food-bloggers-to-come-along-to-the-opening?’ e-mail and simultaneously tweeted the gist of our conversation. But, after all, it’s just another pizza delivery company right? Well, according to Jeff they’re a social media company which happens to sell pizza. In other words they are a very focussed and marketing-led company which is expanding at a phenomenal rate of knots. There are 400 stores under development in the US, current plans include six units in Dubai by the end of 2011, and they’re looking at several other markets throughout the Middle East, in addition to India and South Africa.
Into the kitchens.
Jeff Leach and Randy Crochet (the co-founders) gave us an extremely warm welcome when we arrived and Jeff let us poke our camera lenses into his kitchens while talking with huge enthusiasm at a hundred miles an hour. The kitchen was bright, clean and streamlined with screens showing the orders. Naked Pizza strive to make pizzas in less than 2 minutes, they then cook them for 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Since opening, the average ‘out the door time’ for a pizza order has been 13 minutes. From time of phone call (or hitting the submit button on online ordering) to delivery to customer’s front door has averaged 25 minutes since opening.
Jeff, an anthropologist who studies ancient diets and nutrition, spent three years developing the special flour and base to make pizza that is healthier for you; he believes that by adopting a sustainable business model so that they can rival the traditional ‘bad’ purveyors of pizza they can have an influence on eating habits that have led to obesity and other disorders related to bad diet. No wonder they chose Dubai as their first place to launch outside the U.S. where 25% of the local population are said to have diabetes.
What makes Naked Pizza different? As understand it:
- The health benefits of the special Ancestral Blend® dough that the crust is made of (see nutritional info here)
- There are ‘no additives, preservatives, colorants or weird chemicals of any kind’
- They make everything fresh and get it out superfast.
So the verdict from me…. I couldn’t help but admire the energy, intelligence and drive of the team especially Jeff who blogs passionately about digestive health, glycemic response and the urgent need to confront the obesity epidemic. This sort of operation is exciting to watch and if you have shares in Naked Pizza I think there is no doubt that they will soar.
A matter of taste
I loved the tasty crust and agree totally that we should be eating less refined foods – the dough is made of their special flour and left to rise slowly in a cold room for four days. This means improved flavour and the need for only a small amount of yeast. This is the method that craft bakers use.
The freshness and speed of delivery was also impressive – it did taste fabulous very hot from the oven (I burnt my mouth). The two ovens are hi-tech gas-fuelled – to ensure they can meet demand – and at 13,ooo US$ each they’ll have to sell a lot of pizza. The margherita and the pepperoni served at the launch were extremely moreish.
But… in their zeal for standardising the quality of the ingredients, Naked Pizza look at what they can source locally very closely. Jeff explained that they had tasted the local mushrooms (grown in Oman) and they ‘grew funny things’ after just a couple of days. He looked at us as though we’d mad to eat them. I personally would rather risk my health (a claim I would dispute anyway, I could find nothing about farmed mushrooms being harmful) than consume a single, slimy canned mushroom which they use. I ordered an ‘Omnivore’ to take home for my husband. I was very surprised that the olives used were the stoneless sliced ones, the ultimate, nasty, flavourless ingredient in my book. The flavours didn’t balance that well – it was a bit of a hotch-potch but then I think it’s the style of ‘more = better’ toppings served in America. For pics of the pizza view Naked Pizza’s Flickr page.
About getting Naked.
You may think Naked means organic; it doesn’t and Jeff is very clear that organic is not proven to be healthier and it would not be compatible with their business model (e.g. charging the same price for their product as their less-healthy competitors) and supply chain. He raises the point that an Oreo cookie with organic ingredients is still a processed food, high in sugar and no better for you than a non-organic version. I can see Jeff’s point here and you can explore his views further on the livnaked section of his blog. On his stance on genetically modified ingredients however I differ. His approach is the same i.e. whether the ingredients are GM or non-GM has no effect on your health. This may be true but where Jeff and Naked Pizza rally against large corporations (sausage-making by Don Draper) and their persuasive methods of getting consumers to eat processed unhealthy food because of the high profit margins it makes, isn’t it a bit out of kilter to have no issue with GM which is driven by some of the most cynical and profit-driven corporations of them all? The practises of huge companies who have owned the debate about GM, like Monsanto, discourage bio-diversity, and if they are allowed to have their way, maybe some of the ten grains and seeds that are in Naked Pizza’s special dough won’t be available in the future – or certainly not at an affordable price. Apparently Jeff has strong views on this – and so do I!
The big fast-food producers have woken up to the health concerns too, take McDonalds recent change of strategy for example. But the NP team believe in what they’re doing at a grass-roots level and Randy Crochet says “Nobody believes Domino’s and Papa John’s when they try to tell you they’re giving you healthier options. That’s the invisible barrier against our larger competition trying to get into what we’re doing. We’re ahead of them, and we’ve got the rocket fuel.”
Fellow foodies enjoying pizza in the Naked Pizza office
Overall verdict?
I would recommend this pizza for its speed, freshness and the delicious crust. My daughters, enjoyed the pizza but said they still favoured the thin, crisp Italian-style ones we usually order. I have written to Pizza Express to see if they use added sugars, transfats or chemicals (such as dough improvers) and while they don’t have pre-biotics in the crust they do offer a wholemeal version. I’ll let you know if they reply, I’m sure Jeff would have tweeted the answer by now!
And the excitement about the opening? Well-deserved. It’s great to see people with a passion and zeal succeed and Naked Pizza seems like a very credible David versus the Goliath of the food industry with a good product and thinking outside of the pizza box.
Naked Pizza is located in Marina View Towers, Dubai. To order phone: 04 453 4313 or via their website Opening hours: Saturday – Wednesday: 10:30 am – midnight, Thursday – Friday: 10:30 am – 1:00 am. And of course you can follow them on Twitter! (Facebook, Flickr, foursquare)
Garlic bread – Khrushchev-style
Silvia and Ivan are perfectionists. I’m a big fan of their jewel of a blog mushitza. Silvia explains what the name means in Bulgarian:
Mushitza is my nickname and it means a midge, a little fly. Something so small but full of life and dreams, always flying in the clouds dreaming and creating impossible things that at the end turn out possible and full of passion just because of a strong will and a simple desire.
They spend hours setting up a single shot and they explain things in detail. I do not have their level of patience and I’m not very neat – I think that’s why bread making appeals to me so much. It doesn’t matter if your loaf is a bit wonky – it’s the home-made charm.
Mushitza set the recipe for Fresh from the Oven this month. They encouraged us to pitch in with our ideas for Khrushchev dough, said to be the favourite of Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev. The instructions for the dough were as precise as you would expect – invaluable as, if man-handled, it could have melted into an unworkable mess. But guided by S and I it was extremely simple. Then came the creative part – engage brain and think of fillings and shapes. They helpfully provided a link for inspiration (do take a peek).
Butter studs this dough like rough puff pastry in bread form which cried out for a garlic and parsley filling; little Bulgarian garlic breads. I played with the shapes and added some brie-like soft cheese to some. Tapenade from a jar came into play on one batch of dough in tiny pinwheels. I haven’t had a good potter in the kitchen like this for ages.
Thinking of another great bread and butter marriage, I used blackcurrant jelly in crescents sealed with the tines of a fork. Sadly, even half a teaspoon was too much and the filling leached out on the baking sheet to make lacy caramel. They tasted pretty good but wouldn’t be suitable to serve to the Queen if she came round for tea.
The teens swooped – the garlic buns and swirls were a hit and didn’t last long. I had to fend them off the black olive curlicues which were their favourite – I had plans for them with ‘un piccolo aperitivo’ (as Lucia would say).
This is really good-tempered and versatile dough. It would be great for pigs in blankets (or franks in blanks!). I thought the nibbles were nicer than pastry ones – and excellent with a martini, sipped early evening in the garden at the end of a long week (Russian vodka of course).
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- Roll out the dough, cut into shape and fill
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- I tried many different shapes – what fun!
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- I loved making the jam crescents
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- …especially with blackcurrant jelly
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- Not very neat – but they tasted great.
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- Krushchev dough
Khrushchev Dough (adapted from a recipe by mushitza):
Ingredients
40 g fresh yeast (or 10 g powdered dry yeast + 30 g water)
10 g sea salt
250 ml cold milk (directly from the fridge)
150 g unsalted butter, cut in small cubes, room temperature (NOT melted)
1 tablespoon sugar
500 g plain (all-purpose) flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 egg yolk and a little vegetable oil
For the parsley and garlic filling
1 bunch of flat leaved parsley, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic (or more, to taste)
Olive oil
Sea salt
Method (you can also visit Mushitza)
If using fresh yeast: Using an ordinary tablespoon rub the salt through the yeast block until it becomes liquid.
If using dried yeast: Mix salt and dried yeast, then add the cold water.
Add in the milk, butter, sugar and sift the flour on top. Mix with an electric mixer equipped with a dough hook until all the ingredients are combined and a soft dough forms. Alternatively you could use a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with an airtight lid or plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
The dough becomes firm in the fridge (since the butter goes firm) but it does rise slowly.
The next morning, take the dough out of the fridge, divide it in two and return one of the parts in the fridge. Start working with the dough immediately.
Dust the counter with flour and roll the dough out to 3 mm thick rectangle. Cut it lengthways and then widthways into rectangles. Place some grated feta, cheddar or other cheese you have in the fridge and roll the rectangles up into tight rolls (the same method that I used for the kiflice works well).
For the parsley filling, chop the parsley and garlic finely and mix with a dribble of olive oil and the salt to make a fairly firm paste (or blitz in food processor). Roll out your piece of dough in a rectangle, spread half the filling along one long edge and roll up like a Swiss roll. Slice into pieces. Otherwise fill little buns with them as before.
Arrange them in a baking pan leaving some space between them since they rise in the oven. Brush the rolls with a mixture of egg yolk, a few drops of water and a few drops of vegetable oil.
Bake in an oven, preheated to 180C, for around 15 minutes or until golden brown.
What other shapes and fillings did the Fresh From the Oven gang come up with? Take a look.
Turkish poached eggs
When I’m tired, really hungry or suffering from a bit of a late night, I crave a poached egg on toast. The pleasure of cutting into the soft centre and letting the yolk spill over the crunchy bread (brown with butter) is sublime in my book. Now, I’m a big fan of Lakeland, the UK kitchenware suppliers, as you probably know, but I cannot fathom why one of their best sellers is an egg poaching pod. What makes putting an egg in a pod less arduous than putting it in a pan? Poaching an egg is so simple. And it’s not really a poached egg this way is it? – more like coddled. Anyway – if you are a fan of these pods I’d love to hear from you – but in the meantime back to breakfast.
I’m in Turkish food mode all of a sudden and can’t think why I haven’t really explored it before. Since my virtual culinary tour with Joan of Foodalogue my eyes have been opened to a great treasure of new recipes, Çılbır (pronounced “chilber”) being one of them a.ka. Turkish poached eggs.
The slightly salty yoghurt mixed with the soft egg is ….I’m searching for the right superlative here…heavenly (it’ll have to do). I used Greek-style yoghurt which added a fabulous creaminess but ordinary would do. I’ve also seen versions with dried mint (authentic from Almost Turkish) and sage (from Eat Like a Girl – probably not as authentic but still excellent). I took my inspiration from Claudia Roden but scaled it down from a serving of six eggs to one. It’s a luxurious breakfast and I do urge you to try it. I mopped up the velvety mixture on the plate with my usual brown toast but Arabic bread would do very well.
See what Joan of Foodalogue got up to in Turkey as well as everyone else on the virtual culinary tour. Next stop is Japan – hope you can join me.
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- A few simple ingredients
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- There would be no liquid if the egg was really fresh but I have no choice if I want free-range organic in Dubai
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- Slide the egg into barely shivering water
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- Assemble quickly…
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- admire for seconds…
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- …then dive in.
Turkish Poached Eggs with Yogurt (Cilbir)
(adapted from A New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden)
Ingredients
1 egg
a dash of vinegar
Salt
About 4 tablespoons of plain yogurt
A knob of butter – about thumb-size
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Use fresh eggs and poach them in the usual way. Bring a medium sized pan of water and the vinegar to the boil and then reduce the heat so the water just shivers. Break the egg onto a plate and slide into the pan of water. Remove the pan from the heat and leave it, covered, for 4 minutes or just leave on a very low heat until the egg is set to your liking. The water must not boil or the whites will break up. Remove the egg with a perforated spoon. Do not attempt to poach more than 2 eggs at a time.
Arrange the poached egg on a warm serving dish or plate.
Beat the yogurt with salt and spoon it over the egg. Melt the butter and stir in the paprika. Dribble over the yogurt and serve.
Stick your knife into the centre and watch the golden yolk meld deliciously with the yoghurt. Bet you close your eyes in bliss as you eat it.
My Custard Pie 