Couscous Salad with Ras-el-Hanout and 'Kofu'

When I don't travel in the Middle East, I am trying to bring the Middle East to my home - or to my plate, to be more precise. With my bag full of spices from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Programme, I am bringing the rich world of flavour of the East to my West-Berlin kitchen. 

And there are many opportunities coming to my door, almost begging me to take them, prepare them and further share them with my readers. A couple of weeks ago, I've purchased from a local store Kofu, produced in Berlin, using the culinary wisdom of Israel. It is a special kind of tofu, using chickpeas flour. Available in different variants, including simple, mine was the falafel-one, which means that it has the usual spices used for the preparation of this special Oriental dish. I am generally very skeptical when it comes to the non-Asian attempts of producing tofu - I've tried way too much from the Bio sortiment and none was really satisfactory compared to the usual original results. Kofu seems to be a completely different story with an unique taste, not necessarily the usual soybean one, but healthy, smooth and adaptable enough to a variety of ingredients and dishes.

Another great discovery I had is that there is a before and after using Ras-el-Hanout in your couscous everything. This spice made of dozen of ingredients - among which cardamom, rose petals, paprika salt, ginger, coriander, cloves and turmeric, to mention only few of them - gives actually THE taste to the couscous. All the other occassions when you had this typical Moroccan dish are past and not a very glorious one. Ras-el-Hanout brings flavour, strength and unique memories to your plate. With every single bite of my couscous dish I felt like being back from a long - foodie - sleep. All the years when I only added salt, or only za'atar were a nightmare, as nothing compares to taste revelation of a couscous done right. Feel free to try by yourself and you will experience by yourself this unusual enthusiasm. 

The salad I prepared is easy, can be prepared in less than one hour and can be eaten both cold and warm, alone or in combination with meat - preferably chicken, in the summer as during the winter, as part of the lunch or the dinner menu. It suits the vegan or vegetarian, the healthy mother or child.

Ingredients

- 1 cup couscous

- 1/4 cup tablespoon cooking oil

- 2 medium-size eggs, beaten

- 10 small can champignons, halved

- 1/2 tablespoon Ras-el-Hanout spice

- 1 pinch salt

- 1/2 cup lemon zest

- 2 medium-size tomatoes, finelly cut

- 125 gr. Kofu Falafel-flavored tofu, cubed

Directions

In a medium-sized pan, add the oil, and let it fry, at least 10 minutes before starting to cook, at 250C. Add the couscous and eggs and 1 cup water and stir slowly. Add the Ras-el-Hanout and salt and lemon zest, and keep mixing every couple of minutes.

On another pan, slowly fry first the champignons and on another, the cubed Kofu. You can either fry them deep or just warm them a little bit. Once ready, add them to the bowl. 

In the bowl, add the couscous, the tomatoes and the other ingredients and mix them well.

Your healthy meal is ready!

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking: 30 minutes

Serves: 3

Bon Appétit!

Spicy Sweet Potatoes with Onions and Zucchini

It started as an experiment: I was trying to match my heavily spicy hamburgers. Although an easy tomatoes and cucumber salad would have been enough, I was ready for some more spices. This time, added to my plate of veggies.

Ingredients
- 3 big sweet potatoes, peeled
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1 big zucchini, cut into rounds
- 1 medim-size white onion, finelly chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Ras el-Hanout from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions
Preheat the oven at 250C, at least 10 minutes before starting the baking. Add the baking paper to the pan. Add one by one the veggies, and mix them well. Sprinkle the oil, the salt, pepper and the spices. Let it cook until ready, turning the veggies on all sides every 20 minutes or so.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1h30

I've personally found this mix as a great addition to my meaty plate, but it can also be served as an individual dish. The eclectic Ras el-Hanout - the crown of North African Spices, which includes at least 30 ingredients as diverse as cardamom, anise, ginger, turmeric and nutmeg - adds a complex taste to the dish. It balances the sweetness of the potatoes and diminishes the strong flavor of onions, with a sweet, mild note. Especially recommended to spices' lovers, but also to anyone looking to experiment rich, new flavors. 

Bon Appétit!

10 Spicy Burgers for Hot Tasty Days

Hot days ask for spices. Lots of them. And long meals eaten outdoors. Grills and barbecues and cold beers and white wines. All the good things in life.

For me, a delicious summer meal should involve meat. And my newly discovered love for spices. A burger, preferably, with a glass of sparkling white wine and some roasted veggies on the side. As simple as that.

Let's start with the meat part, for now. I am a big fan of meat, but consumed moderately - once the week, and only kosher. Which means that sometimes I depend on the available supermarket offer. I am not living in America after all, where the range of kosher meat is amazing and you only need ideas to make all those meaty dish to happen. Before the Jewish High Holidays, I wanted to offer myself a meat overload, in preparation of what was supposed to come. Just to be sure that my stomach is getting ready. 

As a busy mom, frozen burgers are the answer to many serious foodie problems. All you need is to defrost them and add the right ingredients and salad - very easy fresh tomato and cucumber salad, for instance. 

Happy owner of a 10- beef burger pack, I started to build up our star of the lunches for the next days. Luckily, the generous reserve of spices I got from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program, solved 99,9% of my questions and challenges. 

First, need to defrost the burgers. Therefore, I place them on baking pan for around one hour. 

Meanwhile, the search for the best spices, began. I tried to use at least 8 different spices, spread to every burger. One got a special treatment, as I wanted to try a gourmet variant, with a truffle oil addition. This is the only burger that got some oil, as for the rest, I only used spices.  

I smear the spices on both sides of the burgers, to be sure that the flavors are equally distributed all over. 

Ingredients

I've used the following selection of spices (for each side of the burger, I used 1/4 teaspoon). When not mentioned otherwise the spices were offered by Spice Kitchen UK:

- Fenugreek - was the best surprises. Its hints of roasted maple, which means both a sweet and bitter add, it melted perfectly with the original beef flavor. Note to myself: experience more with this amazing spice.

- Harissa - is a classical Moroccan hot spice, but it cannot get older. Recommended if you love your meat hot and very spicy!

- Aleppo Pepper - it is a very versatile spice, that adds a fruity pleasant note. Pleased to discover it matches meat as nicely as it does with avocado.

- Urfa Biber - it never disappoints when it comes to coming together with meat. It adds that special flavor and balance that goes very well with any kind of meat (tried with turkey and now with beef and nothing to complain about).

- Ras el-Hanout - it is a very rich spice, which has an impressive list of ingredients (from star anise to rose petals, cumin, turmeric, paprika and nutmeg, among many others). It goes very well with foods which are 'neutral' (not with a very strong flavor, such as corn or couscous) and opens up a complex range of tastes and impressions.

- Berbere - it never disappoints when it comes to meat, and I was very happy to reinvent a - despicable at a time - childhood traditional meal. It has a balance of tastes, from very spicy (paprika, black peppercorn, red chilli, garlic), to moderate mild ones (fenugreek and cardamom). 

- Black Pepper - from my own reserve of spices...- as simple as that. Pepper, especially the black one, always adds a particular spicy note to every meal, and to some cocktails too (Bloody Mary, anyone?). I smeared over the burger also 1/2 teaspoon of truffle oil, my purchase from www.viani.de.

- Special Grill Mix - a mix available in the Turkish stores in Berlin, which has: paprika, pepper, chilli, coriander, garlic and celery salt.

Directions

Preheat oven at 250C.

Leave the burgers to cook, while moving them from a side to another every 20 minutes or so.

Serves: 10

Preparation time: 15 minutes+the time requested for the burgers to defrost

Cooking time: 1 hour

Bon Appétit!

Disclaimer: Spices offered for review by Spice Kitchen UK, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

Ready for New Spicy Adventures. Avocado Toast with Aleppo Pepper, anyone?

When your mail box smells of fresh spices, you know that you just received something too good to be true! The multi-awarded Birmingham-based company Spice Kitchen UK selected my blog for their Brand Ambassador program and my selection of spices that I want to try for the next weeks and months was sent super fast, with a very responsive and friendly customer service that I rarely experienced, sending updates about the products I've selected and the stages of the delivery.

I've worked previously with this family run company, back in 2013, but since then they grew up and I - hopefully - got more experience in terms of both cooking and understanding flavors, so I am very excited about my next cooking adventures. Stay tunned for a lot of interesting recipes, original or adapted from my very rich collection of cookbooks.

Besides the hand-made spices, they also create award winning teas, which ranges from Earl Grey to Strawberries&Cream. Spice Kitchen UK is also involved in supporting several charities. It also concerned about the environment, as most of the packaging is recycled from other local businesses, in order to reduce the environmental impact and carbon footprint as much as possible.

My package included a very exquisite mix of spices, many of them in my kitchen for the first time: Baharat - a rich Middle Eastern spice mix combining black peppercorns, cadamom, cassia, cloves, coriander, cumin, nutmeg and paprika; Isot Pepper (Urfa Biber) - a dried Turkish pepper with a deep raisin, smokey flavour; Harissa - a fiery North African chill mix with dried red chilli, garlic, coriander, paprika and caraway; Star Anise; Berbere - one of the building blocks of Ethiopian cuisine, combining red chilli, garlic, coriander seeds, fenugreek, black peppercorns, cloves, paprika, onion powder, black cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and salt; Aleppo Pepper - dried chilli flakes wtih a hint of cherry-like fruitiness; Carom Seeds; Sumac; Za'atar - the first time when I will use for the regular cooking other za'atar than the usually one brought to me from Israel; Ras el Hanout - a traditional blend from Morocco, with lots of ingredients such as turmeric, paprika, salt, nutmeg, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, sugar, all spice, chilli powder, star anise, cloves, rose petals; Fenugreek. 

And yes, my future in the kitchen sounds as amazing as it smells!
What I also liked a lot about the small packages was that there are hints about where to use them, for salads or meats, which is very helpful, especially for those who are wondering how to match them.

Initially I wanted to start my adventure the next week, but as I was in the middle of preparing the breakfast, I couldn't resist to not start already playing with my spices. I began by spreading a discrete pinch of Aleppo Pepper on my avocado toast. And from now on, there will be no other garnish to my avocado toast. 

The fruity, spicy flavor of the pepper - you need to use only a little bit - interacted perfectly with the crunchy texture of the bread and the fatness of the avocado. It makes it into a great balance, bringing it some fruity sparkling that stays with you for longer. 

A great choice and I am happy that I followed my creative mind for trying this combination. My first encounter with Aleppo Pepper, a spice that I wanted to try for such a long time, was also special and can't wait to give more substance to my foodie dreams. 

Disclaimer: Spices offered by Spice Kitchen UK for review, but the opinions are, as usual, my own

My Indian food experience tour: patra

Genuine Indian restaurants outside India, serving more than curries and samosas, are quite a rarity in Germany, maybe because the need to adapt to the local tastes. Besides the knowledge of people bred and growing up there, there is also a chance to have a taste of special Indian foods through the special stores delivering original dishes, even though only in a box. At the recommendation of my friend, one of the many boxes purchased the last time was also the mysterious - for me - patra that I was courageous enough to finally try a couple of days ago.

Patra, patrode or alu vadi is a vegetarian dish specific to Maharashtra, India. Patra means leaf in several Indian dialects. It is made of colocasia or banana leaves stuffed with rice flours and various flavourings such as spices and tamarind. In the box, it is stored as a long roll batch that I cut into small buns.

The recommendation is to fry it in coconut oil or ghee - in both cases I still haven't give them a try - but I preferred to used some thymian oil. My patra has the following composition: aloo leaves, chickpea flour, green chilli, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, nutmeg, mustard seeds, coriander, turmeric, coconad shreds. I fried in the oven at 250C for around 10 minutes.

My first bit of patra was a real explosion for my palate. Such a diverse full of contrasts mixture was an extraordinary encounter, hard to describe. My first slice was consumed without any side dish as I was not sure what to expect. The sweetness and perfumed notes - added by the nutmeg, for instance - melts into the chilli notes, but what you feel at the end is just a strong spicy taste, I personally never experienced before. A couple of slices later, I still did not know how to match it, and didn't want to alter the original taste either, but most probably some simple sticky rice or some fresh tomato and cucumber slices would have been a good choice for the second bit after the patra.
I am happy to have tried this dish: it created a special food experience and brought new tastes and spices to my palate. One day, maybe I will be able to prepare my own, preferably in India.

Boiled chickpeas with spices

I was looking for an easy side dish and I realized that for a long I wanted to play with some chickpeas. As hummus is a well tried and relatively successful recipe, I wanted something a little bit different but still easy. What about some boiled chickpeas with spices, an idea I had in mind for a long time.

The first stage is the boiling of the chickpeas. 

For 3 persons, I boiled 200 gr. As usual, I added a 1/4 teaspoon of salt in the water. In addition, for taste, 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil. Let it boil for around 15 minutes. 

I left the chickpeas in the water for around 1 hour.

In a frying pan, I added:

1 teaspoon of Gran Masala

1 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon of olive oil

I mixed all for around 7 minutes at 150C. 

Add the soaked chickpeas and mix together for another 10 minutes.

The smell in the kitchen was as beautiful as an Oriental dream.

It can match a variety of meals, from salads, meat or fish.

Bon Appétit!

I was offered spices to test from Spice Kitchen UK, but the opinions are, as usual, my own. 

Playing with Spices - something good for your potatoes (part II)

A new week, a new couple of challenges in the kitchen. For the last seven days I looked for simple yet healthy recipes, that are self sufficient. This happens all the time when I don't have too much time for cooking: one meal might be enough, but it should be a good and nourishing one.

The star of the week were the potatoes, that have the advantage of being prepared very fast. All you need to do after is to add a little bit of spices. 

This portion of potatoes can be prepared within 40 minutes. It serves around 3 hungry citizens. After I roasted the potatoes in the oven at 250C for 30 minutes - the shapes can differ from plate to another - I added pistachio oil, 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper and 1/4 teaspoon Gram Masala - a spice that I am more and more in love with. Mix it well and leave in the oven for another 15 minutes at the same high temperature. To be served with a healthy portion of cherry tomatoes and avocado. It goes very well with Greek yoghurt too. It is good cold or heated at medium temperature.

As a side dish, I prepared the other day some salmon, with some Thymian salt from Jamie Oliver and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin/coriander. 

The next recipe is very rich in ingredients and spices. I was looking for ideas putting on trial my cooking skills and with enough spices to make the fridge and the kitchen smell beautifully. At the end, I decided to use two recipes from the famous German Curry cookbook (pp. 34-35). 

Ingredients: 

8 big potatoes

250 gr. tomatoes finely cut

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 tablespoon chilli powder

1 fresh zucchini cut

17 small mushrooms

1/4 teaspoon tumeric 

100 gr. salted cashews

100 gr. veggie margarine

2 slices of fresh ginger

7 small curry leaves

150 ml. pistachio oil

parsley, on taste

Serves: 3

Preparation: 1 hour

Directions:

Roast the potatoes and the chilli powder in the oven at 250C for 20 minutes. 

The garlic and tumeric are fried in a pan with 1 teaspoon of pistachio oil for around 6 minutes at 150C.

Meanwhile, get the tomato sauce out of the tomatoes in the mixer, at medium temperature, for maximum 2 minutes.

Fry the zucchini with the mushrooms in a pan at 150C for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and tumeric, the cashews, the margarine and the ginger. Mix well the ingredients for another 5-6 minutes. Add the curry leaves and the tomato sauce and mix for another 3 minutes. It is very important to mix everything well in order to create the good mixture of tastes and flavours. 

At the end, add the potatoes and mix for another 10 minutes at 150C. 

Add the parsley leaves.

To be served hot or cold, with or without side dishes, preferably some veggie salad or any kind of meat. 

A glass of white wine goes together well too. 

Bon Appétit!

I was offered a pack of spices from Spice Kitchen UK, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

Playing with spices (Part I)

The crushed pistachios were added to each recipe

I have a big collection of spices from all over the world at home, and trying to get along with each flavour is part of a daily practice that I want to acquire. The winter time is most recommended for various combinations especially because the weather allows long hours of cooking. 

The two weeks ago Friday evening menu included a delicacy that I cannot find easily here: kosher turkey that was simply prepared in the oven, with some olive oil poured over it and some Indian Garam Masala that gave a special delicious nutty flavour.  

Such a delicious treat needs some side dishes and I was offered another occasion to create a dream recipe I was thinking about for a long time: couscous with raisins. I am not a big fan of raisins, but in the case of this recipe, it goes very well as the taste matches all the other ingredients.
The recipe can be prepared in around 20 minutes and serves 5.

Here are the directions I followed: 

2 tablespoon olive oil and 1 spoon cumin are mixed and fried in a pan heated at 150C, for 5 minutes.
Add 20 crushed pistachios in the pan for another 2 minutes

In the next minutes pour and mix together: 200 ml water, 250 gr. couscous grains, 1/4 tablespoon kosher salt. If necessary and the couscous is absorbing the water too fast, add another 250 ml. water after 10 minutes. 

2 beaten eggs

2 tablespoon raisins

Mix the composition carefully in order to avoid getting too sticky or burned.

To be served cold or hot, adorned with some fresh coriander. 

For the next recipe, I needed to prepare first the oil: 2-3 tablespoons olive oil with 1/2 teaspoon cumin, mixed well. 

In a frying pan add: 6 medium potatoes cut in 8 little pieces, 20 crushed pistachios. Paint the potatoes on all sizes with the  oil and cumin prepared before. Bake them at 250C - around 30 minutes. It serves two and it goes very well with fresh coriander.

I needed also a salad, and the simplest I had in my mind was the following: 250 gr. cherry tomatoes, sliced in 4; 25 crushed pistachios; 3 tablespoon olive oil; 150 gr. corn; 1 generous bunch of coriander. The preparation takes around 15 minutes and it serves two hungry adults. Add some salt on taste if needed. 

I was offered a package of spices to try by Spice Kitchen UK, but the opinions are, as usual, exclusively my own. 

To be continued...

Testing recipes is always fun!

Recently, I went involved in a very nice and pleasant project: I offered my availability to test a recipe and to send my feedback once I was done. I am used to do such editing and correction work as an academic editor, but never happened before to do such a professional work for cooking. First and foremost, because I consider my cooking experience at a very beginniner level. I learned a lot and still learning each day, but I have a long road ahead and each time I succeed to prepare a recipe I feel extremely happy.

For this testing recipe experience, I felt compelled to share my own opinions and modest contributions to get a better composition. I enjoyed so much the experience that I would offer myself to repeat it as often as possible, as I learned a lot about using and cooking some spices, as well as about how to organize and write a recipe correctly. As I still have in mind the idea to write my own cooking book, this will help me to be able to write my book at least in the next decade.

If anyone interested to use my disponibility for testing recipes, drop me an invitation at: boiledwords@gmail.com