Tag: Middle Eastern Food

They Came To Baghdad – Cabbage Rolls

Hello, crime readers and food lovers! In today’s Dining With The Dame, we are heading to Iraq. They Came to Baghdad is a standalone thriller from 1951.  I am not a fan of Christie’s adventure novels, I far prefer the mystery puzzles and, honestly, I didn’t love They Came To Baghdad. However, this is offset by the menu item. I LOVE Middle Eastern Food and today’s recipe for Cabbage Rolls with Merguez Sausage is no exception.

Cabbage Rolls with Merguez

They Came To Baghdad – The Plot

“The belief in a superstratum of human beings – in Supermen to rule the rest of the decadent world – that Victoria is the most evil of all beliefs. For when you say, “I am not as other men” – you have list the two most valuable qualities we have ever tried to attain: humilty and brotherhood” 

Agatha Christie – They Came to Baghdad

Our heroine, Victoria Jones meets the handsome Edward Goring in a park in London where she is eating a lettuce and tomato sandwich.  He invites her to the pub for a sausage lunch.  I swear, I disliked both of these just based on their eating choices.  Who eats a lettuce and tomato sandwich?  And “Hey love, want a sausage? is no kind of chat up line – now, in 1951 or ever. 

Victoria who is later described as “An amiable nitwit with a lot of common sense” decides that she is in love with Edward.  (So maybe the “Hey love, fancy a sausage?” line is not as bad as we initally thought.  Who knew?)  Only thing is…He’s off to Baghdad on the morrow.  Undaunted Victoria decides to travel to Baghdad to find Edward and true love.  

Cabbage Rolls with Merguez2

Unfortunately, she finds a lot more.  We have:

  • A world wide summit of superpowers about to occur in Baghdad
  • A secret organisation trying to destroy the political status quo
  • A mysterious blonde called Anna Scheele
  • An explorer found dead in the Nile
  • A nearly dead spy in Victoria’s bed whose last words are ” Lucifer…Basra…Lefarge” 
  • Victoria being chloroformed, kidnapped and waking up with platinum blonde hair

This is not anywhere near the best Christie novel I have read.  BUT…it travels along at an abolsutely rollicking pace so even while recognising some of the silliness, you are also kinda, sorta gripped by the story.  And the saving grace is Christie’s absolutely vivid scene descriptions which put you EXACTLY into the time and place:

Outside in Bank Street it was sunny and full of dust and the noises were terrific and varied.  There was the persistent honking of motor horns and the cries of vendors of various wares.  There were hot disputes between small groups of people who seemed ready to murder each other but were really fast friends; men boys and children were selling every type of tree, sweetmeats, oranges and bananas, bath towels, combs, razorblades and other types of merchandise carried rapidly through the streets on trays.  There was also a perpetual and ever renewed sound of throat clearing and spitting, and above it, the thin, melancholy wail of men conducting donkeys and horses amongth the stream of motors and pedestrians” 

They Came To Baghdad – Agatha Christie

They Came To Baghdad – The Covers

They Came To Baghdad

Sadly no Arabic covers but these are all brilliant!  I really can’t pick a favourite! 

Cabbage Rolls with Merguez3

The Recipe: Cabbage Rolls

They Came To Baghdad Cover (1)

Fermented Chilli Sauce Recipe

I love the funkiness that a fermented chilli sauce brings to this recipe but you may choose to use a regular chilli sauce or, leave it out altogther.  If you are making your own, please bear in mind that it you need to let it ferment for around a month.  This recipe which comes from Eat California by Vivian Lui is absolutely deicious at any time and defintely worth the effort (and the wait) to make it!  And, as an added bonus you also get one of my notes to self about the recipe!

Fermented Hot Sauce

Victoria started by drinking a large glass of water and then fell to the rice, the bread and the cabbage leaves which were full of a rather peculiar tasting chopped meat.  When she had finished everything on the tray she felt a good deal better” 

They Came To Baghdad – Agatha Christie

Links to the Christieverse

Nothing that I found.  Please let me know if you found anything. 

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  They Came To Baghdad

October’s read will be A Murder is Announced.  

Have a great week!

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This could get meze: Hummus and Tabbouleh

I LOVE Middle Eastern food.  One of my favourite cookbooks is Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour and I also love all the Ottolenghi books.  Maha in Melbourne is one of my favourite restaurants – their 12-hour slow cooked lamb is to die for!  I also used to live in an area of Melbourne that is full of middle eastern restaurants and ate at one of them at least once a week. So I was very excited to see that the next chapter in Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972) was for food from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.  I was even more excited to see that there were recipes for two absolute classics of the region – hummus and tabbouleh.  Both of which were in the Lebanese section. 

Hummus and Tabouleh

Apart from the deliciousness, one of the other reasons I love Middle Eastern food is the amazing names for example,  The Imam Fainted, and The Dervish’s Rosary.  No other culture that I can think of has such poetic names for their food.  My original plan had been to feature both of these recipes however, I recently discovered that I have an allergy to eggplant (aubergine), an ingredient that features heavily in both of these dishes.  

Have you ever wondered if what you see and call “green” is the same as what other people see when they see green?  Yes, it’s the colour of grass and leaves and apples but is the green I see the same as the green you see?

I wonder about things like that all the time.  

I’m super fun at parties…

Well, my experience with eggplant was a little like finding out that what I call green is what everyone else calls pink.  I was talking to a friend of mine about eggplants (as you do) and happened to mention “I like the way they make your mouth go all tingly”.  

My friend was like “No…no it doesn’t….” with this face:

Long story short, it turns out that not everyone’s mouth tingles when they eat eggplant and that tingle is actually an allergic reaction.  Turns out I am mildly allergic to nightshades, particularly eggplant and capsicums. 

So an eggplant heavy menu was off the menu.    So, no great names today,  just some damn nice food.  Starting with…

Hummus


Hummus

Luckily I have no allergy problems with hummus which is wonderful because I eat it by the truckload. And yet, I have never made it before. And I may never make it again.  I’d read that for really smooth hummus you need to peel the chickpeas.  This is not only utterly boring (even using the hacks that abound on the interwebs) but also oddly repulsive.  The chickpea peels kept sticking to my fingers and pulling them off felt weirdly like removing my own skin.  It even looked a bit like it too…

Chickpeas

The hummus was lovely though.  This was a very classic recipe but, you could jazz it up by adding herbs or other flavourings to it.  

Here are twenty or so variations from my Appetizers spreadsheet:

Types of hummus

You say Tabbouleh, I say Tabouli

For the love of Mike can we settle on one spelling and stick to it?  I’ve seen this spelt so many different ways – Tabbouleh, Tabouleh, Tabouli, Tabbouli…..in the end, even Good Housekeeping gave up.  They list this in the index as Mint and Parsley Salad!

Unlike hummus, which I buy pretty much every week, I never buy tabbouleh. Because store-bought tabbouleh is generally disgusting – soggy and bland. 

Homemade?  Delish!  

Tabbouleh

Like the hummus, the tabbouleh recipe in World Cookery is fairly plain.  But this will allow you to jazz it up as you wish.  Next time, I will add a little sumac into the dressing to ramp up the zing factor.  I am also very taken with the Ottolenghi idea of topping tabbouleh with pomegranate arils.  

That variation and a number of others can be found here.

The Recipes

Hummus Recipe

I used tinned chickpeas for my recipe.  I also assumed that when they said sesame oil in the recipe for hummus that they meant tahini (given it is in the recipe title) and not the sesame oil you use in Asian dishes.

Also, I did not garnish with parsley as per the suggestion because I needed all my parsley for the tabbouleh.  I used a sprinkle of paprika. 

Tabbouleh Recipe

 

The tabbouleh recipe suggests that you eat your tabbouleh using lettuce, vine or cabbage leaves as scoops. I prefer pita as the scoop, and if that piece of pita happens to have a smear of hummus on it, so much the better!

Hummus and Tabbouleh

You could add some other delicious Middle Eastern titbits (for inspiration see here) and make up a lovely meze platter with these.  Or, you could do what I did and just have them, along with the pita bread for lunch.

For those who care about such things, this meal is vegan. 

Have a wonderful week!  But before we go, tell me, what is your favourite cuisine?

Tasty Reads 2 – Persiana – Sabrina Ghayour

Persiana – Sabrina Ghayour

Confession time.  I have a massive girl crush on Sabrina Ghayour, author of Persiana.  Not in some weird way, I just want us to be friends, maybe even best friends. Mainly so I could go round to her house and whilst we chatted about boys and bras, she could make me all the gorgeous things in this book.  I would bring wine.  Then I could sleep over and we could put curlers in our hair and have a pillow fight. 

This book.  OMG, this book.  Opening this book was like falling in love.  Seriously.  The photography is amazing.  This is hard core drool worthy food porn.  Persiana is my easily my favourite cookbook of the year; it may well become my favourite ever (sorry Nigella, I’ve got a new bestie…)

Recipes marked to cook: 75

Yep, pretty much all of them. 

I actually feel bad I haven’t made more things from  it.  Paleo got in the way.  but as at 30 November, this is the tally.

p10 Broad Beans with Garlic Dill & Eggs (made)

Loved it.  Except for double podding the broad beans which took forever!!!  Tried it with edamame and it was not so good.  Sadly, looks like I will be double podding for some time as this was amazing.

Broad Beans With Garlic, Dill & Eggs2
Broad Beans With Garlic, Dill & Eggs2

  • p12 Aubergine Chermoula
  • p15 Yogurt with Cucumber, Garlic & Dill / Cacik
  • p17 Marinated Feta
  • p20 Yogurt, Cucumber & Mint / Maast O Khiar
  • p33 Turkish Feta Pasty Cigars / Sigara Borek Peynir
  • p35 Salt Cod Fritters
  • p36 Pistachio Feta Dip
  • p38 Safavid-Style Beef Pastries

p41 Baked Eggs with Feta, Harissa, Tomato Sauce and Coriander (made)

Baked Eggs With Harissa, Feta Tomato Sauce and CorianderLoved the flavour combination! This is pretty much my ideal meal.  One dish.  Eggs, Cheese, tomatoes, chilli.

 p45Lahmacun (made)

Lahmacun

This one didn’t do it for me.  I like meat on my pizza to be quite chunky and even though I did not chop the meat through as much as Sabrina recommended it was still too paste like for me.  Use this same mix and make tiny little meatballs to scatter over the top of the pizza base and you’d have a winner from me.  On the other hand, he really liked it.

  • p46 Spiced Lamb Kefta
  • p48 Spice Salted Squid
  • p53 Eastern Style Focaccia
  • p55 Persian Flatbread  / Naan Barbari
  • p60 Persian Bejewelled Rice / Morassa Polow

p 63 Persian Basmati Rice / Chelo (Made)

I love a claypot rice and this is very similar.  Mine didn’t work out exactly as per the picture but I think it was an ok first attempt.  And Sabrina does say even the experienced cook sometimes needs a bit of luck to pull this off.

Sabrina’s:

Sabrina Ghayour's Chelo

Mine:

Persian Basmati Rice2
Persian Basmati Rice2

  •  p65 Rice With Lentils and Crispy Onions / Mojardara
  • p68 Spicy Prawn Rice / Maygoo Polow
  • p72 Lamb Biryani

p78 Spiced Vegetable Soup (Made)

Spiced Vegetable Soup
Spiced Vegetable Soup

Delicious!

  • p83 Persian Saffron Chicken, Fennel and Barberry Stew

p85 Chicken, Walnut and Pomegranate Stew / Khoresh-e-Fesenjan (Made)

Khoresh-e-Fesenjan
This photo does not do justice to this delicious dish.  Either in how good it tasted or how pretty it was.  Sorry.  But take my word for it.  This was really good!

  • p88 Lamb Shank, Black Garlic and Tomato Tagine
  • p91 Persian Dried Lime, Lamb and Split Pea Stew / Khoresh – e – Gheymeh
  • p93 Seared Lamb and Apricot Stew
  • p94 Lamb, Butternut Squash, Prune and Tamarind Tagine
  • p96 Pomegranate Soup With Meatballs / Ash-e Anar
  • p99 Seafood and Saffron Stew
  • p104 Saffron and Rosemary Chicken Fillets
  • p109 Ras el Hanout Chicken Wraps
  • p110 Harissa and Preserved Lemon Roasted Poussins
  • p114 Saffron and Lemon Chicken / Joojeh Kabab
  • p117 Lamb and Sour Cherry Meatballs
  • p119 Mechouia-Style Lamb Leg with Cumin Dipping Salt
  • p120 Spiced Rack Of Lamb With Pomegranate Sauce
  • p122 Turkish Adana Kofte Kebabs
  • p125 Tray- Baked Rose Petal Lamb Chops With Chilli And Herbs
  • p127 Lamb and Pistachio Patties / Fistikli Kebap
  • p128 Spice Perfumed Shoulder of Lamb
  • p130 Seared Beef with Pomegranate and Balsamic Dressing

p135 Cod in Tamarind, Coriander and Fenugreek Seeds (made)

Cod in Tamarind, Coriander and Fenugreek Sauce
Cod in Tamarind, Coriander and Fenugreek Sauce

I made this during my weeks of Paleo.  I just left out the flour and pinch of sugar from the original recipe.  I don’t think the flour made much of a difference except for maybe bringing our the turmeric colour in the sauce, but my sauce was very tamarind tangy.  Which I love.  Even when I was a little girl, when my mum would make a curry I would dip a spoon in the tamarind and just eat it straight off the spoon.  If you’re not equally minded, add the sugar!  Also, we  don’t have cod so I used monkfish.  I loved this!!!

  • p136 Prawns With Sumac, Coriander, Lemon and Garlic
  • p138 Citrus Spiced Salmon
  • p140 Belly Stuffed Rainbow Trout / Mahi Shekampor
  • p143 Scallops And Shaved Fennel With Saffron, Honey, & Citrus Vinaigrette
  • p144 Za’atar Cod With Relish
  • p147 Bandari Monkfish Tails
  • p150 Blood Orange and Radicchio Salad
  • p152 Barley Salad With Griddled Broccoli and Za’Atar

p154 Radish, Cucumber and Red Onion Salad With Mint And Orange Blossom Dressing (Made)

Radish, Cucumber and Red Onion Salad with Mint and Orange Blossom DressingLovely!!! Fresh and Zingy!

  • p157 Puy Lentil And Quinoa Salad With Lentil And Sumac
  • p160 Tomato Salad With Pomegranate Molasses / Gavurdagi Salatasi
  • p163 Turkish White Bean Salad / Piyaz
  • p173 Chicken And Artichoke Salad With Yogurt Dressing
  • p176 Fennel And Apple Salad With Dill and Pomegranate Seeds

p178 Shirazi Salad (Made)

Shirazi Salad
Totally Yum!!!!

  • p181 Red Rice Salad With Barberries, Grilled Vegetables And Toasted Almonds
  • p183 Fattoush Salad

P184 Chargrilled Aubergines With Saffron Yogurt Parsley and Pickled Chillies (Made)

Chargrilled Aubergines
Chargrilled Aubergines

The very first thing I made and one of my favourite things ever!

  • p186 Date And Tamarind Sauce
  • p193 Harissa Marinated Asparagus
  • p198 Butternut Squash With Pistachio, Pesto, Feta and Pomegranate Seeds

p201 Turmeric and Cumin Roasted Potatoes (Made)

I could not find the photo’s of these.  They were pretty good though!

  • p204 Za’atar Roasted Squash With Spiced Yogurt And Pickled Chillies

P209 Spiced Carrot, Pistachio and Almond Cake With Rosewater Cream

Persiana  Carrot Cake

OMG.  One of the best things I have ever eaten. I got so giddy over this cake I tweeted Sabrina to tell her about it.  She didn’t tweet back so maybe that best friends thing is a non-starter.  However, in a year of good cakes, this and the Amanda Hesser Almond Cake are standout winners.  This is how good this cake is….I cut some slices of this to take to work and I started eating the crumbs.  Then I had a piece,  Then another.  I had three pieces of carrot cake for breakfast that morning and I am completely unrepentent. It’s that good.  Also, the most compliments I have ever received from the work crew about my baking.

You MUST make this! Sorry for the shitty photo though.  Too busy shoving this glorious thing into my face to take anything decent.    

  • p210 Baklava
  • p216 Pistachio and Lemon Shortbreads
  • p217 Strawberry and Pineapple Carpaccio with Basil And Mint Sugars
  • p221 Cinnamon and Citrus Almond And Pastry Cigars
  • p223 Eastern Mess
  • p226 Pistachio, Honey And Orange Blossom Ice Cream

p229 Pistachio Rose And Rasberry Madeleines (Made)

Pistachio, Rose and Raspberry Madeleines

Superb!

  • p232 Syrup Poached Apricots With Walnuts and Clotted Cream

I am so looking forward to cooking so much more from this!!! Let me know what you like on the list and I will cook it sooner!

You can find the recipes for a few of the things I have cooked and some on the list here:

The Guardian Persiana Recipes

If you have Persiana or you cook any of these recipes please let me know how they turned out, I would love to see them!  And let me know if you love this book as much as I do!

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