No, not the poison kind. Sumac, the powdered berry of the Rhus Coriaria bush, is a tart spice used in many Middle Eastern dishes. The brick-red powder is perhaps best-known as a major player in za'atar, a mix of sesame seeds, salt, marjoram, thyme, oregano, and other spices used as a meat or fish rub or mixed with olive oil for a bread dip. You can find it in some gourmet markets or Middle Eastern specialty stores.
Tangy sumac makes a nice substitute for lemon juice when sprinkled over fish, vegetables, or hummus. Stir some into thick Greek yogurt with a pinch of salt for a simple veggie or pita dip. I've served a cold salad of sweet potato wedges and diced red onion tossed with chopped mint and sumac alongside Middle Eastern-influenced main dishes like chicken tagine with prunes or lamb kebabs.
Mariam Amash, a woman living in an Israeli village, recently astounded officials when she filed for a new identity card, declaring an age of 120 years old. She says she was born in 1888, when the Turks still ran the holy land. Her secret to long life? Walk regularly and drink a glass of olive oil every day. Al Dente did the math and figured out that she has consumed at least 43,800 glasses--roughly 2,737 gallons of olive oil.
Studies have found that the monounsaturated oils in olive oil not only help reduce blood cholesterol, it also "cause less production of the bile acids in the digestive tract that promote colon cancer development." Additionally, it is less likely to generate free radicals in the body than other fats, it strengthens the anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3 fats and blocks the activation carcinogens. With all the olive oil she's consumed over the years, it's no wonder she's lived such a long life.
I have a love/hate relationship with the city in which I live -- Los Angeles. You can't beat the balmy weather (did I mention that I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt all day today?), but you also can't beat traffic, no matter how carefully you listen to the traffic report, time your driving with "rush hour" or opt for surface streets.
But in the end, I love Los Angeles, which is why I love these dinner plates from notNeutral. The dishwasher-safe porcelain plates are 12" in diameter, feature the downtown core printed on a black background, highlight key buildings in red, and indicate rivers and public spaces. While I favor Los Angeles, the plates also come printed with Shanghai, Cairo, Berlin (part of Collection 1) and New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Dubai (part of Collection 2).
Asian restaurants, angry over Israel's government's plans to purge restaurant kitchens of Asian cooks and replace them with Israelis, went on strike by removing spring rolls from their offerings for a day. The restaurants also made threats that sushi and noodles would be next.
I don't mean to minimize the issue here -- the government trying to provide jobs for their own people vs. effects on business -- but really? Striking by removing a single item from a menu? For a day? I'm not sure how much of an impact that would have on the government's decision-making. Shut down the restaurant, sure, but refusing to serve spring rolls?
A few weeks ago, my friends and I got together after work to play board games (yes yes I know - how very, um, exciting), and a friend and I were charged with providing food. We were meeting rather late, so there was no need to go with full dinner fare. I decided on a few Mediterranean dips and a salad because really now, is there anything better than ripping a pita loaf into shreds when you're caught up in the excitement of Jenga?!?! Tzatziki is one of my favorites, and though I do believe it's used more as a sauce or condiment in Greek cuisine, I love scooping it up with pita bread. My Sarah-ized version is written out after the jump:
If you live in a developing country, that is: In the U.S., land o'plenty, so the golden arches will always remain a convenience as a drive-through window, but in cities that are congested and land is scarce, McDonald's has taken to delivery.
Where would you have to go to get your Big Mac and fries delivered right to your door with a delivery charge of anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar? Ronald McDonald commissions fleets of delivery people in cars or on motorbikes in cities like Manila, Taipei, Cairo, for a total of about 25 cities, with a half dozen more in the works.
Really, I think L.A. is congested enough of a city that McDonald's delivery could work here. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up on a weekend morning craving an Egg McMuffin, but was a little too, uh, "dehydrated" to get in the car and get to a McDonald's before 10:30AM!
At the start of every summer, I do this. I tell myself I am going to make all kinds of new foods with the summer's produce bounty, particularly vegetables that I have never cooked myself before. Like a high school girl on summer vacation between sophomore and junior year, I want to flirt with all different kinds of vegetables that I find randomly at the farmers' markets!
Um, never mind about that "high school girl on summer vacation" part. I took college prep classes during the summers...
Anyway, at the start, I always tell myself I want to expand my cooking horizons by challenging myself with something new in the kitchen every day, or even every week, and I always end up having one long torrid affair with one vegetable every summer. One summer I was enamored of zucchini. The summer before that, I was having a hot fling with every kind of tomato I could get my hands on. This year, I've been seeing eggplant. A lot. In fact, you might call us "an item."
Remember the Vocation Vacations I mentioned earlier on which you can go on vacation and live out four dream job as a star chef, a baker, or even a restaurant owner? Well, food-related vacationing seems to be quite the trend these days, as the New York Times Travel section points out. Hotels are now opening up their kitchens to provide learning experiences for their guests. Writer Taylor Holliday has gone to Turkey and Vietnam to do such a thing, and also lists the Shaw Guides and the International Kitchen as resources for finding your next culinary vacation.
Me? I'd love to go to Spain. Then again, I don't think I'd actually want to cook. I just want to eat!
I don't usually think of yogurt outside of a very few things: plain for breakfast, frozen for dessert (which I don't like), and in some Mediterranean cuisines as a condiment. However, food blog Desert Candy has opened my eyes to using yogurt beyond the usual -- as a sauce, but not cold, cooked.
Labaniyya are dishes that are cooked in warm yogurt sauce and can include kibbe (meatballs), chicken, and even vegetable dumplings. Desert Candy makes it with chicken and onions, and provides a recipe, as well as tips for how to stabilize the yogurt, which is the key to success in cooking with yogurt.
We just can't seem to post enough about McDonald's here on Slashfood, can we?
You may not learn much about the world from a Big Mac and large fries, but if you take a peek at the menus in McDonald's restaurants in other countries, you might get a peek into their cultural cuisine. Sure, it's not the greatest lesson in the world, but it's a start. Blog Fjetsam has a list with images of just a few things that are offered in other countries:
Japan - Ebichiki is shrimp McNuggets, Ronald's take on shrimp tempura?
Japan - Tamago Double Mac - a burger with the addition of sweet egg omelet traditionally served as sushi, tamago
Israel - McShawarma is turkey shawarma on flatbread
Middle East - McArabia is grilled chicken sandwich on Arab bread with lettuce, tomatoes and Arab sauce
Greece - The Greek Mac
Netherlands - McKroket, with a croquette
Singapore - McSpaghetti -- yeah, not Italy, but Singapore!
Over the past few years, there has been an increased interest in foods from the Middle East and the surrounding areas. This seems to be largely because consumers are looking to cook with different grains and more spices than ever before. At first, this interested manifested itself in dinners served with a side of couscous, instead of white rice. Now, home cooks are buying tagines and looking into completely new (to them) styles of cooking.
Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon is organized by country, so the differences between each cuisine are immediately obvious to the reader. Author Claudia Rodin, a certifiable expert on the cuisines of the region, does an excellent job incorporating detailed information about ingredients and the history of the dishes into the rest of the text. There are roughly 150 recipes and all have been adapted so that they will be relatively easy to remake in, say, the average American kitchen, although a trip to a specialty grocer may be in order to pick up a handful of the less common ingredients. Recipes include many vegetarian options and lots of couscous, along with Tagine of Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives, Squabs Stuffed with Date and Almond Paste, Baba Ghanouj and Pistachio Cake.
Earlier this afternoon, I found myself running out of ideas for today's theme. It was driving me nuts. So I decided to take a stroll over to a local Arabic market. I'm glad I did. After a good 10 minutes of browsing the shelves and nut bins, I discovered what have to be the best pistachios I've ever had in my life. I was in such disbelief after sampling one that I asked the gent at the counter whether what I just ate was a lemon-flavored pistachio. When I asked him what they were he told me Iranian pistachios.
As you can see, these suckers are somewhat larger than most pistachios and they're generously sprinkled with coarse salt. They're also really hard to stop eating. The shells are coated with a salty, lemon mixture, hence my calling these pistachios suckers. Has anyone else ever had enjoyed these wonderful pistachios?
Indian food -- samosas, naan, fragrant basmati rice, and rich, thick curries -- might be soon be replaced as my ethnic "go-to" with the foods of Persia.
I am no stranger to Persian cuisine. A long time ago, in a geeky galaxy far away, I was training for work in Chicago. Bored with TGI Friday's (we were in the suburbs of Chicago), my teammates and I ventured into the city and ended up at Reza's. Now some Persian food purists may turn their noses up to Rezas's, but at the time, I was wholly taken by the new-to-me cuisine: pomegranates and walnuts and strangely shaped meats on sticks. I was rapidly falling head over heels in love with spices and flavors that were familiar, yet different in the way they were combined with each other.
They may seem trite here in the United States, but potato chips are easy to modify to local cultural cuisines. We may think Spicy Thai flavored Kettle Chips are exotic, but in the country of Thailand, Lay's, owned by PepsiCo, sells seaweed flavored potato chips. And its not just potato chips either, The seaweed flavor is on Doritos in Taiwan. Some of the other local flavors are:
UK - Lamb and Mint flavor, Beef and Onion Flavor, Pickled Onion flavor, a puffed snack with Spicy Tandoori Masala flavor and Cool Yoghurt and Mint flavor
India - The Chaat Street line reflects the flavors of street vendor snacks
China - Cool Cucumber and Cool Lemon chips
Brazil - Shrimp Cocktail flavor
The local flavors travel across boundaries, too. Lays "Mediterraneans," fried in olive oil with flavors like Feta cheese and Tomato and Basil, did well in South America. I just wish they'd sell some of those more interesting flavors here in the US.
Actually, it shouldn't be thought of as an indulgence. The couscoussiere is basically a double boiler used to make couscous and a variety of "stews" that are ladled onto the grain (technically a pasta). Originating in North Africa, couscous was made from Semolina by the Berber peoples. Couscous itself is now prepared and served variously all over the world, similar to rice. Immigrants to Israel from North Africa brought their own recipes, making couscous more of a main dish than a bed for meat stews, and this isn't a strictly Moroccan affair, as many believe. Most of North Africa can lay claim to their own couscous staple-dish.
Couscous can be made in any steamer or even simply soaked and then boiled. However, it is the couscoussiere that distinguishes the pedestrian from the "proper" couscous dish. Now, a couscoussiere isn't cheap. I don't like counter clutter and wasted shelf space, and I admit I don't own a couscoussiere, but I've used them to great success and pleasure. You can check out couscous recipes for yourself and see if you want to take it to the next level. If you've got the taste and the cash, go for it. A high-end couscoussiere presented at table is a splendid sight and your guests will be salivating before you take the lid off.
No, not the poison kind. Sumac, the powdered berry of the Rhus Coriaria bush, is a tart spice used in many Middle Eastern dishes. The brick-red powder is perhaps best-known as a major player in za'atar, a mix of sesame seeds, salt, marjoram, thyme, oregano, and other spices used as a meat or fish rub or mixed with olive oil for a bread dip. You can find it in some gourmet markets or Middle Eastern specialty stores. 
While 
Actually, it shouldn't be thought of as an indulgence. The couscoussiere is basically a double boiler used to make 
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
