WORLD CUISINE - WEEK 4

World Cuisine Week - 4 

We are still in the cuisines of the middle east. These are a few interesting dishes from this weeks class.

Tapauch Ets Im Mits Tapuzim:

Um...yeah. That basically means apples in orange juice. This is a sweet desert dish that is basically apples simmered in orange juice until tender. There are also raisins included as you can see, and it was garnished with mint. This actually tastes much better than to be expected. It is quite good and very easy to make.

Samke Harrah Al-Sahara:

This is a dish of baked fish with a hot chili sauce. The sauce wasn't really that hot, but it was pretty good. It had some interesting flavors to it that we in the U.S. are not used to eating. The sauce is made with tahini and the flavors made by tahini, lemon juice, and peppers is a bit different. It is served with rice and some bread as seen in the photo. The bread has some lima bean puree on it that was absolutely delicious.

Fattoush:

A toasted bread salad. Here I added some dried fruit and a mango vinagrette to "americanize" this dish. It is very good and very simple. The freshness goes well with the flatbread. I also made some of this at home last week just because I liked it so much.

Shurabat Al Kibbeh:

This is a soup made with lamb meatballs. It was very good. It had great depth of flavor to it and a very pleasing aroma. The meatballs are nice as they give some real texture to the soup. 

Besara:

Lima bean puree dip that sounds awful but is surprisingly wonderful. I took home this side dish and wound up eating all of it in one sitting. My chef used it for his superbowl party. With garlic and spices there is an almost rustic flavor to it but at the same time it taste fresh as can be, it is very hard to describe.

Muhammara:

I should have rotated this photo, but I'm way too lazy a this point to do so. Anyhow, This is a red pepper and walnut dip processed into a flavorful puree. It was good, but next to the lima bean puree it didn't get eaten. Here it is served with flatbread.

Tan:

Tan is a yogurt drink that is basically yogurt and water mixed together to be a liquid consistency that is drinkable. It is really, really bad. I tried to make mine taste better by adding sugar, honey, and cinnamon. It did not work. It may have been a little better than plain tan, but if i never had it again that would be too soon. It is pictured here served with a cinnamon stick and mint for garnish.

The flavors of the middle east are quite different than anything we are used to, but many of them are very good. With a little creativity they present the foundation for something new and exciting to the american chef.