Nov 9th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 26 Comments
EVERYONE and their mother loves hummus. This is my old school Lebanese recipe. It’s vegetarian/vegan of course, as humus should be! No bacon to muck it up please.
I like to make it from scratch, meaning, dried chickpeas / garbanzo beans. If you want to save time, you can just used canned chickpeas and skip the next few steps.
You have to start the night before. Take a little over 2 cups dried beans and soak them generously with 1 teaspoon baking soda.
The next day, before boiling, just wash them out and add to a pot and immerse in water. Make sure all the chickpeas are submerged and there is enough water for them to absorb.
Boil it for at least 20 min. Make sure the chickpeas melt when put in your mouth. Check on them regularly. Don’t over cook or the whole thing will turn to mush and you will have a saucy hot mess.
Consider yourself WARNED about the over cooking and one more thing…DON”T cover the pot or the water will foam up and boil over onto your stove. Don’t forget then blame me, aight?
For the recipe start with
- 4 cups cooked/canned chickpeas
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup tahini (ground sesame seeds)
- don’t forget the salt
Use a food processor if you have one. If you don’t you can use a blender, but it will come out chunkier and you will need to work in smaller batches.
Add the chickpeas first and start blending. WHHRRRRrrrrrrrrrrr (sound of blender, yeh, im a dork)
keep going…WHHRRRRrRrrrrrr
Till the garbanzo beans are pulverized
Add the garlic….then WWWHHRRRRRR (I add less because my hubby likes it less garlicky)
I love mine lemony so I use 1/2 cup, but you can add less if ya like..then…WHHHRRRRRR..
Then let it WWWHHRRRRRR while you slowly drizzle in the tahini. The more you add the creamier it is.
And Voila. Hummus…yum yumm…
Now you can go ahead and plate it and eat, or like out the bowl or whatever you like…or….
OR…jazz it up a bit and make a hummus TRIO!
You will need some avocados and some Roasted Red Peppers
This doesn’t need precise measuring. I added 2 avocados to about a cup and a half of the hummus puree.
WHHHRRRRR……
It was sooo green and yummy….next time i might even add some tomatoes and onions and make Guacummus…get it? Yeh, again, I can be realllly not funny, but you know you laughed anyways 
On to the peppers….WHHHRRRRRrrrrr
and more yum!
I wanted to spice up the presentation and plate it up appetizer style, layer the 3, act like I’m Martha Stewart…so your welcome in advance for the following hummus food porn.
Like I said..no need to thank me Also, check out the Baba Ghanoush I made.
always uncut,
Mira.
Aug 22nd, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 14 Comments
BEWARE : beef heavy post ahead
Basturma is one of those things that has a lot of memories for me. Piling up in the car, heading to the Armenian side of town, into the deli. The wafting smell of spices. Hot fresh crunchy French bread, tangy garlic sauce, crisp pickled Persian cucumbers, and lots of thinly sliced spicy salty Basturma.
Ok, so its not technically pastrami, but it is related. It is originally a Turkish dish, and was adapted by many including Albanians, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians and Lebanese.
Bastourma, or Pastirma, is simply a cut of meat that is dried and cured with a mix of spices. The process is not as simple and has many steps. I don’t know the exact recipe, but it starts out with salt curing it for days to pull out all the moisture. Letting it dry, by putting weights on it. Then, cover it in a paste of crushed cumin, fenugreek, garlic, and hot paprika, followed by thorough air-drying. The paprika should be spicy. This whole process does not take less than 3 weeks.
I have never made it myself . It is available at a local meat market, and it’s sold for around $9.00 a pound. I buy 1/2 a lb and ask the butcher to slice it real thin. I don’t dare buy more because it really doesnt last around me, lol. I start munching on the thin translucent buttery slices the minute I’m in my car. The soft beef, with fat ribbons has a salty addicting taste that is just punched up with the spicy thick paste on the outside.
When it does make it home, its great with eggs in the morning, or just simply on a pita with some mayo. Just don’t blame me if you get addicted.
Aug 18th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 4 Comments
Remember the Baba Ghanoush I made last week? Well, what I’m posting about is what the west considers as Baba Ghanoush. In Lebanon, we call it Mutabal. Just wanted to be clear on the two. I don’t care what you call either, because they are both YUMMY!
Now, you prepare the eggplant like I did in the baba ghanouj post. I still prefer grilling the eggplant if possible to give a smoky taste, but its good to just pop em in the oven and make a bunch for a big batch. You can easily freeze the rest too.
What you need for the Mutabal:
- 1 eggplant
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 Tb tahini
- 1 lemon
- olive oil
And thats it! Can you believe something so yummy is so simple.
Add the garlic and lemon.
I decided to use an immersion blender. Most people use a blender.
Add the tahini.
and blend blend blend. Salt to taste, and also add more tahini or lemon as you like. Its very forgiving.
You drizzle olive oil on top, and garnish with paprika and parsley.
Now, try making that and tell me you don’t love me.
Aug 4th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 3 Comments
Little arabic lesson, Baba Ganoush, really pronounced “Ghannouj”, is literally translated as ”father cute”. Don’t ask. I have no idea why.lol.
I have one issue with the western adaptation of this dish. Baba Ghanoush and Mutabal are often mixed up and interchanged. They are very similar dishes, but are distinctly different. Baba Ghanough contains no tahini whatsoever, while Mutabal does. It is frequently Mutabal that is refered to as “baba ghanoush” in the west.
SO, I decided to introduce you to the REAL Baba Ghanoush. Very simple recipe. Completely vegetarian/vegan, healthy, and quick. Best part is it holds up well in the fridge and you can enjoy it for several days…mine is usually gone before it even cools
It is best served cold. And I think the eggplant is one of the least utilized veggies, so here it is, an ode to you my aubergine friend!
First, you start by repeatedly stabbing ur eggplant friend…all over…way to start off a friend ship
Next, place in preheated oven at 350F for about an hour or till tender. Don’t cover it or put any oil or anything. Simply pop them in after stabbing em.
Now the traditional way calls for burning over an open flame on the stove, but this is far too messy for me, as it requires you to put it directly on the stove top flame. If you have a maid (i don’t), then go for it.lol. Otherwise, into the oven they go. The only negative is you don’t get the smoky flavor.
Pull em out when they are as wrinkly as your grandmothers buttocks. Sorry, too much?
Then, carefuly peel off the skin(after it cooled), keeping the flesh intact. If you have cooked this enough, then it should be fairly easy. 
I like to take out the seeds, just simply pull out the ’sacks’.
Now this is VERY important. Grab the eggplant between your plams and squeeze. SQUEEEZE. You will be surprised how much water comes out. Keep doing it till barely any comes out. If you don’t you will end up with a soggy mess.
After, just roughly dice it all up. I like it chunky.
Other ingredients you need:
- 1 tomatoe
- 1/2 onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 lemon
- olive oil
- salt
Crush garlic, and squeeze the lemon into the eggplant. Add salt. Mix. It should be really lemony to be good.
Top with the tomatoe, then the onion. Then drizzle with olive oil. You can add mint or parsely.
Then guess what happened? PACMAN decided to join.
Sorry, i’m a nerd. I couldn’t help it.
So basically this is delicious and I ate it all then licked the plate. Your turn to eat real Baba Ghanoush.Ok? Ready, set, GO!
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