Recipes for an All-Middle Eastern Thanksgiving
Libyan Spicy Pumpkin Dip
from Jewish Cooking, by Marlena Spieler
3-4 TBSP olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
5-8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 1/2lb pumpkin, peeled and diced
1-2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tp curry powder
3 oz chopped canned tomatoes
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like it fiery)
pinch of sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon (maybe an oz or 2?)
salt to taste
chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and half the garlic and fry until softened. Add the pumpkin, then cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until half-tender.
Add the spices (minus cayenne, salt & sugar) to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, salt, sugar and cayenne and cook over medium-high heat until the liquid has evaporated.
When the pumpkin is tender, mash to a coarse puree. Add the remaining garlic and taste for seasoning, then stir in the lemon juice to taste. Serve at room temp, sprinkled with chopped cilantro as garnish. Serve with wedges of arabic bread.
Serves 6-8.
Hummous & arabic bread were both purchased from local deli, but both can be made at home.
Savory Dal with Cinammon, Cardamom and Cloves
from Indian Home Cooking, by Suvir Saran & Stephanie Lyness
cooks note: i did not like using the whole spices this recipe calls for. i didn't like crunching into something while i was eating the smooth dal. in the future i will use ground spices, but for now i have transcribed the recipe as it is in the book. if you are also not into crunchy surprises, or of you don't have the whole spices, substitute ground and it should be fine.
1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1 cinammon stick
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 whole cloves
4 green cardamom pods
1 cup lentils (pink lentils, yellow split peas, or a bag of unidentified "lentils" that i found for $.57 at the store)
1/2 tsp turmeric
4 cups cold water
1 tsp salt, or to taste
for the tempering oil, which is really just an add-in made in a seperate pot:
1 TBSP canola oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves mashed to a paste (i just practically minced it and it was fine)
1 TBSP minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of 1/2 lemon or lime (maybe an oz. or two)
Heat the oil with the cinammon stick in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook stirring, until the stick unfurls, 1-2 minutes. (be careful not to burn the cinammon. mine got a little too toasty because i thought the stick would unfurl to become flat. it only opens up a little.)
Add the cumin, cloves and cardamom and cook, stirring, until the cumin turns a golden brown, about 1 minute. (again, be careful about burning. the whole spices bun very easily. depending on your stove's "med-high" setting, it may take only a few seconds.) Add the lentils, turmeric, water & salt. Bring it to a boil and skim the whole spices off the top. (i didn't get them all, which was why i had crunchies.) Turn down the heat & simmer, covered, until lentils are soft, 20-30 minutes. Add more water during cooking if necessary.
Ladle out about a blender-full of the lentils (avoiding the cinammon stick) into food processor or blender and puree. Return the pureed mixture to the pot and continue to cook, uncovered about 5 more minutes. If you like your dal a little thinner, add water to the consistency you prefer. Remove the cinammon stick.
For the tempering oil, In a seperate small saucean, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until the edges begin to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 15-20 seconds, just to mellow the flavor of the garlic.
Stir the tempering oil into the lentils, along with half the cilantro and the lemon/lime juice. simmer very gently for about 5 more minutes. Serve garnished with the remaining cilantro.
Serves 4-6.
Tabouleh came from a box. I added chopped toms and cukes.
Lebanese/Persian Fatoush
from a few different sources, including a guy named Zain & SBR's mom
1 head romaine lettuce
1 bunch fresh parsley
10-20 fresh mint leaves (available in refridgerated section of produce area in stores)
3 medium roma tomatoes, chopped
1 medium cuke, peeld in stripes, chopped
1-2 pieces of arabic bread, darkly-toasted or stale (needs to be hard)
3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp grund cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
salt & pepper
tear the lettuce into a large bowl. chop the mint & parsley and add. add the toms and the cukes. mix it all together.
mix the olive oil, lemon juice and spices and whisk together. pour over the salad and mix well. (we used our hands.) just before serving, tear the stale/well-toasted bread into bite-sized pieces and mix into the salad.
serves 4-6
Jeweled Nut Rice
from The Indian Spice Kitchen, by Monisha Bharadwaj and what i know of persian jeweled rice
cooks note: this recipe calls for whole spices, which i used. if you cannot find whole spices, substitute the ground versions and it will still be good. do not, however, skimp on the nuts and fruits.
2 tsp sugar
4 TBSP oil (i used canola)
10 cardamom
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 cinammon stick
10 black peppercorns
3 cups basmati rice
2 oz raisins
2 oz dried cranberries
2 oz slivered almonds
2 oz pistachio nuts, chopped (i crushed 'em with a rolling pin)
2 oz cashews, intact (not chopped, or crushed) and either salted or not, whichever you like
4 cups hot water
1 tsp saffron strands
salt to taste
4 TBSP chopped cilantro
Heat a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. pour the sugar into the pan in a pile and allow it to carmelize to a rich brown. (watch it, and do not let it actually burn!!)
Spoon in the oil and blend. When the oil is hot, add the whole psices & stir until they change color.
Then add the rice and sautee well. Stir in the raisins, cranberries and nuts and continue sauteeing until they turn golden. Pour in the water and sprinkle in the saffron and salt. Give it a last stir and cover and cook over low heat until the rice is fluffy and dry, about 30 minutes.
Mix gently with a slotted sppon to avoid breaking the rice grains. Serve garnished with the chopped cilantro.
Serves 4.
Dolma came from a local deli.
The last "main dish" served was a coconut cashew curry that was a real pain in the butt to prepare. i'm tweaking the recipe to make it more user-friendly, and will post it later.
Pistachio-Almond Dessert
from Cookshelf: Indian by Shezad Husain
cooks note: this did not become firm enough to cut into bars, so i'm not sure what i did wrong. if you make it, let me know about your results. it still tasted great, we just ate it with spoons as blobs instead of in bar shapes.
6 TBSP butter
1 cup ground almonds
2/3 cup light cream (i used half & half, because that was all i could find, and maybe that was why it didn't get firm. this is a british cookbook.)
1 cup sugar
8 almonds, chopped
10 pistachios, chopped (we used extra nuts)
Place the butter in a medium-sized saucepan and melt, stirring wel. Gradually ad din the ground almonds, cream and sugar to the melted butter in the pan, stirring to combine. Reduce the heat and stir the mixture constantly for 10-12 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan.
Increase the heat until the mixture turns a little daker in color.
Transfer the mixture to a shallow serving dish and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
Decorate the top with the chopped almonds and pistachios.
Leave to set for at least an hour, then use a cookie cutter and cut out shapes, or cut with a knife into bars.
Serves 4-6.
so there you have it. our thanksgiving dinner. it was damn tasty. i also made a passionfruit tea with rosewater, hot chai, and pumpkin pie (from Le Safeway, haha). no one missed the turkey, that's for sure. :)