middle eastern

easy imam bayildi

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This aubergine recipe is absolutely one of my favourite things ever. It’s an ancient Middle Eastern recipe that is so delicious I could eat it every day, normally it’s made with scooped out roasted stuffed aubergine halves which can go a bit too leathery. I serve it with warm flat breads, Greek yogurt (or Oatly crème fraîche if you are dairy free) and salad and it’s the perfect lunch or starter. It’s brilliant with my Baked Falafel too. Sometimes I add toasted pine nuts on top with the mint and parsley leaves. My friend Giada and I had it for lunch on toast with hummus and it was delicious.

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caramelised pumpkin salad with beetroot and goats cheese

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I love warm salads and this one is particularly autumny but I could eat it all year round. It’s got the creamy goats cheese with the beetroot and pumpkin which are a marriage made in heaven, then you have the crunchy almonds with pea shoots. It’s perfect as a light supper with some crusty bread to mop up the vinaigrette, with my Manoushe or any of my Middle Eastern recipes on here. If you press on the word vinaigrette in the ingredients bit it takes you to the recipe.

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roasted aubergine and chick pea shawarma with forbidden rice

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Belazu sent me a jar of their spicy shawarma paste and I immediately thought of roasting aubergines and chick peas with it. To that I added their forbidden black rice and a little salad and garlicky yogurt it became a shawarma bowl. You can also serve this in a warm flatbread wrap with tahini or humus instead of the rice. It’s Middle Eastern and spicy, creamy, salty and super healthy.

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manoushe

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I love Lebanese food and tasted manouche for the first time in Covent Garden the other day with my Lebanese friend Ralph at The Lebanese Bakery which is worth a visit if you want proper fresh Lebanese flatbreads. Manoushe is freshly baked flat bread with Za’atar on it and it’s a delicious combination of Middle Eastern flavours with thyme. The bakery put hummus and parsley, rocket and pine nuts on top, but you can have it as is or dipped into baba ganoush with salad. It tastes amazing with any mezze.

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neon pink pickled turnips

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These delightfully neon pink pickles are a Middle Eastern speciality and a staple in all Middle Eastern households. They are served with falafel, madjadura, humus, kebabs and roast meat or as nibbles with drinks and olives I even put them in salads and sandwiches. They taste salty and vinegary with the flavours that you add to the jar.

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spiced Turkish mushrooms and eggs on rye

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This take on what is essentially a classic of mushrooms on toast with soft boiled eggs is deliciously flavoured with allspice and coriander seeds so it tastes much more Mediterranean or Middle Eastern. The mushrooms once cooked create their own unctuous sauce which you spoon over the crunchy bread and then you have the creaminess from the eggs with the fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon to finish it off. It’s delicious I promise.

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creamy egg curry with a coconut sauce

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This recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook Simple Indian Cookery. I have made a few alterations to the recipe, like removing the dairy and chicken stock, and replacing them with coconut cream and coconut milk. I have also used an assortment of different eggs and put less oil in so it’s healthier. It is an excellent dinner party recipe and I would serve it with freshly made wholemeal chapatis from the Indian section of my supermarket in the freezer (Shana)as they are a great combination with this curry and super easy. I also would add a salad with wedges of lemon and my {okra} and or basmati rice. My friends think this is the most delicious curry ever, see what you think. I love it.

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baked falafel

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These slightly sweet falafels are soft and moist. They are perfect with humus, pita bread and salad, but I also like them warm with Apple sauce which I first had as a starter at the restaurant Caravan in Exmouth market and still remember it as a surprisingly brilliant combo. You can double or triple the amounts from the recipe and bake them in batches if you want to make more. My friends who I’ve tested this recipe on said that they’re the best falafels they’ve ever had!

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potato tagine

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While I was in Morocco recently I was hoping to learn to cook new amazing dishes but our food was cooked for us by a cook who didn’t speak any English so I didn’t learn much. Since I got back I wanted to put more Moroccan and moorish dishes on the blog, so along with my Moro cookbooks which I adore and a new book I bought, Orange Blossom and Honey by John Gregory-Smith from which I am learning new recipes that he bought back from Morocco I hope to enthuse you as much as possible with the fragrant flavours from the souks.
This potato tagine is delicious with couscous ,salad and roast meat if you eat meat.
I also like a dollop of garlic infused Greek yogurt on top, but you could use soya yogurt if you prefer. Continue reading →