Delicious Dozen - Bite Four

Right, I need to get this off my chest as soon as possible folks... this month I had the single biggest baking disaster of the last 15 months of baking and cooking challenges! This went so badly wrong that we suspected there might be permanent damage to our floorboards...

As you know this month's delicious dozen was inspired by my visit to the Middle East last month to see my in-laws. This was not my first trip to the Gulf States though, I was born and spent the first six months of my life in Saudi Arabia so it really was about time I learned a bit more about the food and cuisine culture of the place where it all started for me.

I haven't had the chance to go back to where I was born, it's all a bit tricky with visas and things so this month I wanted to find out about the eating culture rather than just googling recipes like I usually do. So off I popped to Blackwells in search of more than just a cookbook. The choice was limited but I finally settled on the aesthetically pleasing Olives, Lemons & Za'Atar by Rawia Bishara because it had a bit of story about each of the recipes and also it had lots of photos.  I have probably said it before but I really don't like recipe books without photos, how are you supposed to know how it should look? Anyway, full of enthusiasm I cracked the book open as soon as I got home and with the help of my good friend Jen I started this bite of the challenge in a thoroughly successfully way... it went DRAMATICALLY downhill after that.

Hummus

With my new handy-dandy food processor this was a breeze! Just chucked it all in and there we go. I think I whizzed it for a little bit too long because it was a little bit too runny but that could have also been the juice of the 800 lemons you had to squeeze! OK so it wasn't 800, it was about seven or eight but was seriously lemony! I really liked it but it was a bit much for some of my colleagues who tried it at work. Two important things to note about this recipe, firstly you need Tahini paste (sesame paste) to make any kind of Hummus, which living in the leafy Scottish suburbs is tricky to get. I had I had to venture further afield than normal for that but I could probably get it online in future. Also, this recipe makes enough to serve all your guests at a large housewarming party (or a small hummus lovers' convention), it was good but the quantity was a bit ridiculous, it must have been the equivalent of about five of the tubs you get in the supermarket. I have tried freezing a few portions (Jen's advice) so let's see how it turns out when we next have people over for drinks and nibbles.

Recipe

Sooooo many lemons

Arabic bread (attempt 1) (Kmaj in Arabic)

I don't even know what to say... I didn't make bread I made a sloppy, gooey beige monster some of which could be growing into a Pillsbury Doughboy under our lounge radiator as I write this. I followed the instructions and I was excited to use my new hand mixer with its dough hooks but no amount of mixing was going to make this into bread. I had a feeling that the quantity of liquid going into the mixer seemed a bit high but I did what I was told and went ahead with it. I must have had it mixing for 15 minutes and it still looked like a cake batter rather than bread dough. So, in my wisdom (utter stupidity) I thought I would just leave it to prove and see if it might come together/stiffen up over the hour. 

I was WRONG! I stupidly put the very full bowl of dough mixture on the floor by the radiator and forgot about it for an hour. When I came back the dough was oozing out from under the tea towel and creeping all over our lounge floor under the radiator and between the floor boards. Well, needless to say the cleanup operation was extensive, especially because Dave was laughing so much and taking photos of me that he couldn't be of much help!! We had to scoop the monster into a cardboard box and throw it away, I didn't want to try to wash any of it down the sink, goodness knows what would have happened to the pipes!! This was the first recipe I have done through both challenges that has totally defeated me and it felt rubbish. I think my mistake might have been using quick acting yeast rather than normal yeast but I won't be trying it again to find out. 

P.S I am not even going to give you the recipe for this one because it was so terrible.

Mixing the dough A.K.A the monster in waiting!!

Kmaj disaster!

Arabic flat bread (attempt 2)

http://www.sooogood.org/iraqi_food_recipes/arabic_flatbread_recipe.html

It was time to get back on the horse as they say and tackle flat bread again. I decided to go back to my usual tactic of googling the easy version of what I wanted to make and this recipe didn’t disappoint. I also went back to basics and made it by hand instead of using my mixer. The dough was quite sticky so I couldn’t really knead it for very long (only about 3-4 mins instead of the recommended  10)  without having to add more flour so it might have actually been a good idea to use the dough hooks afterall. Anyway, it was a real dough and it baked beautifully and tasted delicious.

Second time's the charm!

Baba Ghanouj

I would say I am an aubergine fan  but I don’t usually think about cooking it so this recipe looked like a winner. Unfortunately, this was another first for my 15 months of challenges, I REALLY didn’t like it, so much so I only had a little taste and then gave up. It also had Tahini in it which made the texture and taste a bit like peanut butter and I just didn’t like the feeling of it sticking to the roof of your mouth... urgh! On the plus side Dave loved it so he got stuck in.

Recipe

Chicken Kebabs

Very lemony but seriously tasty. When I make these again I will probably add some veggies onto the skewers for a bit of variety but the combination of spices was flavoursome and felt very authentically Middle Eastern. 

Recipe

Tomato salad (Salatet Bandoora in Arabic)

Apparently this salad is usually found on dinner tables every day during the summer in many Gulf states. Fresh and minty sums this one up for me. I really liked having it with the kebabs but the red onion was a little overwhelming, apologies to my work colleagues who had the smell of it wafting through the office!

Recipe

The feast!

Falafel

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5605/falafel-burgers

For my final weekend of this month's challenge I have been down in Yorkshire catching up with one of my besties, Louise. We were having a quiet night in so I thought we could do some adventurous cooking while we were at it. According to my cook book falafel is to the Middle East what the hamburger is to America. This BBC recipe was quick, easy and actually quite good for you because they are shallow fried rather than the usual deep frying technique. They took a bit longer to cook than expected but once they were stuffed into pita breads with salad, halloumi and hummus they were sooooo good. I will be making these again for definite. 

Lovely Lou in charge of the falafels

Quite the spread....can you see the traditional Arabic Doritos on the right?

Halloumi

We ate loads of halloumi when we were in Doha and I have pretty much just  added it to all the recipes I’ve done because it is just so darn tasty. I have just grilled it and served on the side of everything. Delicious!

My culinary tour of the Middle East hasn’t been plain sailing but I am glad I gave it a go. The spices from the region are definitely to my taste, lemony, flavoursome and spicy without being hot like some of the Indian spices I used last month.  

So, onwards and upwards, from where I was born to where I call home, Britain. April is dedicated to British Classics.

As of next month I am going to try to blog as I go instead of saving it all up to the end of the month so we will get to chat a bit more often!

Happy eating xx Linds xx

P.S I did a bit of baking too, I know you are shocked! Sticky toffee cake A.MA.ZING.