Lets see, where to start... This isn't going to be a typical write up, as I usually only make one thing, take loads of photos of the steps and walk through the steps. But because I made several things, I am going for a different angle. I hope you like it, its a huge post.
The menu consisted of two dips (baba ghanoush and muhammara), falafels, kibbeh, tabbouleh, sambousek, pitas and halloumi. It was originally going to include lahm bi ajeen but I ran out of time so will be making this in the next few days. Confused yet? Don't be, I will explain everything.
Baba ghanoush - Basically eggplant dip. And very easy to make. Score some eggplant, bake in a 'really hot' oven, pound or process the soft cooked flesh, add a bit of olive oil, tahini, parsley, lemon juice and garlic, and voila.
Muhammara - spicy red pepper dip/sauce. Also easy to make, use about 7 red peppers, roast them, and throw them in a food processor. I know this is cheat but red peppers are very expensive, so I opted for a jar of roasted red peppers, which were lovely and only $3. The recipe said for a jar anyway but I still feel like I cheated. Anyway, I threw in some fine breadcrumbs, some walnuts, lemon, garlic, loads of chilli and some olive oil. The recipe also called for pomegranate molasses, unfortunately my muhammara had to go without. Maybe next time, as I will definitely make this dip again. It was awesome.
Falafels - quite easy to make but rather time consuming for some reason. Soften onions and garlic in a saucepan. Throw chickpeas, parsley, garlic, tahini, soft onion mix, crushed cumin seeds & coriander seeds, turmeric (which unfortunately I didn't have so that had to sit out), chilli & lemon juice into the food processor. Be careful not to over process it! Take out, mix in egg and breadcrumbs with a fork, roll into balls, and cook.
Kibbeh - a meat stuffed meat ball, what makes this one strange is its stuffed with the same meat but cooked?! Anyway, I went for a beef version as lean mince beef was $5 for 500g, where as lamb was $11, and I don't know about you but if you are willing to pay $11 for ground lamb, why not just upgrade to lamb cutlets and change the menu?! Back to Kibbeh. So much fun to say, haha. Basically I separated about 1/5 of the mince - used the smaller portion to cook up with some onion and toasted pine nuts and added sumac and some all spice, let that cool and prepped the bigger portion of mince by adding half a grated onion, some burghul wheat, some all spice and seasoned lovingly with salt and pepper. Roll into balls, press finger into centre, stuff with cooled cooked mix, and round into a small fat sausage shape. Try not to confuse the fat sausages with my fingers:
Tabbouleh - Honestly this is one of my favourite things ever, every time I eat it I get fond memories of hummus & tabbouleh in Falls Creek. No idea why. Anyway, I roughly chopped up a whole bunch of fresh parsley and mint, chucked it in a bowl, added some softened burghul wheat to some lemon, olive oil, salt & pepper & let it sit until just about ready to serve. When ready, I threw in some spring onions chopped up, some tomato, mixing it a little bit at a time. Squeeze some more lemon over the top, and voila, awesome tabbouleh.
Sambousek - meat or veg triangles/dumplings. I opted for the veg one, going with spinach and feta, and instead of making them in heavy dough, I went with some filo. Very very easy stuff, I guess once you take out the dough making that's what happens! Time saver 2000. Anyhoo, I cooked up some onion & garlic in a saucepan, added fresh spinach until it wilted, then cooled a little. I added the feta, then made the triangles.
Halloumi - Ahhhh... my good friend halloumi cheese, how I love you. Ok, so all that I did was buy a chunk of halloumi, cut it into thick slices, sliced a lemon, got the lemon going on my brand new skillet (see falafels above), once the lemon was all nice and glossy & grilled, chucked on the halloumi for about three minutes a side, served with lemon (grilled and fresh to squeeze over the top). Simple, and simply beautiful. I love you halloumi!
And how it came together? Well, it was enough food (even with the missing lahm bi ajeen) to feed an army. We had Mike and Heather over, and it was a great feast. My first cooking challenge to be enjoyed by an audience! And to be honest? While all of this was rather easy, it was definitely time consuming, I spent about 4.5 hours in the kitchen (I blame the dishes), so really really good to sit down and enjoy it with a crew. Thanks for coming guys!
The Table
Baba ghanoush, falafels & muhammara
Everything but the pitas
Sambousek and kibbeh
So what did I learn? Loads - spices are everything. This type of food is so simple, and so filling! Doesn't look like much but it honestly could have fed 8 people. Also the power of a food processor, my gosh I am glad that The President took some time out of his busy day to help me today. Was a nightmare to clean every time but still, saved me loads, definitely an AA+ performance (see what I did there?). Also, I think my next kitchen purchase will be a mortar & pestle. Coriander seeds all over the kitchen when trying to 'roughly ground them'. They kind of make Star Wars shooting noises *pichew pichew*.
And to top the whole evening off, Heather bought some dessert. I didn't even know these existed... Illegal!
And at the end? Well, the end looked like this, so not too bad really. Thanks for voting everyone, I think this one was my favourite so far! Will be eating the leftovers all weekend. xxx
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