Makes 6-10 pupusa Take a big bite of El Salvador with cheesy pupusas. Many locals eat pupusa several times a week – some are filled with beans, others meat. But, no matter how you fill it, there’s an art to shaping the mighty pupusa. Here’s Martha Stewart’s demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kShxKY1mrPM Here are four things I wish I knew when I got started: Make your dough fairly moist. Play with the consistency. You don’t want a lot of cracking on the edges. The one Keith is holding is perfect. My others (pictured in the recipe) were a little dry and as a result, not so great. Rub vegetable oil on the pupusa before you put it on the griddle. This will keep it from – ahem – drying out. It will also give it a pretty, golden color. The one Keith is holding is nice and golden. The others are pale because I forgot this step. Make the pupusa thinner for a cheesier effect. Use salt. It really pulls the flavors together. By making sure I did …
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El Salvador is calling my name but I can’t go, no matter how badly I want to. We just dug ourselves out of a 14″ snowstorm that sent Tulsa to a screeching halt. The newspaper didn’t print, milk has been missing for days, and – someone help us – we’ve got another 5-10 inches coming. At times like these, I find “denial” to be a fairly decent coping mechanism. So, if you need me, I’ll be tucked away, under comforter, spooning Salvadorian food into my mouth, waiting for the snow to melt. Cabbage Slaw (Curtido) [Recipe] Crunchy cabbage mixed with shredded carrots, and red onion. Toss with vinegar, olive oil, oregano, and red pepper flakes to make a classic Salvadorian side dish. Pupusa with quesilla [Recipe] Thick corn tortilla packet conceals a melted layer of quesilla, or soft melting cheese. Serve with salsa on the side. Atol (corn drink) [Recipe] There are many ways to make this traditional central american drink. Ours is quick and dirty – and uses fresh corn, cinnamon, and sugar for …
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Do you like colorful birds? What about ruins – ancient, gothic, and colonial? Step right this way. Meet El Salvador, a tiny country freckled with mighty volcanoes, thickly coated by lush tropics, and so much more. In this steamy dreamland, I discovered a theme: corn. First, there’s pupusa – thick corn flour (masa) based tortillas stuffed with cheese, meat, or beans. Pupusas [Recipe] are often served with a bright, vinegary scoop of curtido [Recipe], or cabbage slaw, and fresh salsa. Then, there’s a corn drink called atol [Recipe]. Made with fresh corn, sugar, cinnamon and milk, it’s so rich you’ll think you’re drinking sweet custard, and you’ll be just as happy. And, finally, let’s not forget riguas, a moist mixture of corn (rather like tamales), spooned onto a banana leaf and griddled until firm enough to handle. Whew. And then there’s the produce. Mounds and mounds of gorgeous tropical goodness. Vivid. Fresh. Fabulous. Just look at this lady. She knows she’s got a good thing going on. Still hungry? No worries. There’s more at the Salvadorian …
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THE SCENE We huddled together on the couch – three big geeks – faces glowing in the flickering light. It was Mr Picky, myself, and our friend Janine. Ava was asleep for the night. In fact, she’d been asleep for hours and hours and hours. The coffee table was loaded up with platters of Ful Medames, White Coffee, and a box of kleenex – just in case. Now, before you get the wrong idea, I should state that I’m not normally a TV person. I was raised without it. My mother kept hers in the closet. My foster parents had a no-TV-unless-you’re-on-vacation rule. Times were tough. Today? I live wild and free, by my own rules. And my own rules clearly state that I am allowed to occasionally stream Netflix to my otherwise functionless TV. So there we were, living wild and free, watching our biggest guilty secret, Roswell. Have you heard of it? It’s a show about teenagers, romance, and aliens. In no particular order. From 1999. So, why Roswell? I love watching the characters strain towards …
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Makes 1 cup Want to drink a rose? White Coffee is the fabulous way to be romantic. Just boil a pot of water and 15 seconds later you’ll be sipping on a hot cup of romance, relaxation and restful enjoyment. Although called white coffee, this popular Middle Eastern drink is really a caffeine-free blend of hot water with floral essences, spices, herbs, or aromatics. Our version is made especially for Valentine’s Day with one of the most popular variations, rose water. Psst, it helps to serve this drink with a bundle of pretty, pink roses. Ingredients: 8 oz hot water 1-2 tsp rose water sugar cubes Method: Get out one of your favorite tea cups. It should be delicate, old, and – even when empty – full of memories. This tea set came from two places. I purchased some of them at an antique mall right after college, in Connecticut (oh, about 9 years ago). The rest once belonged to Keith’s grandmother in Oklahoma. She had the same exact set. Is that fate or what? …
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Makes about a quart On the streets of Cairo, Egypt, people on their way to work stop by a street vendor to grab a few bites of Ful Medames. They hover around, scooping the dip up with Egyptian flatbread – a sight as common as an American dunking a donut into their coffee. This breakfast of champions is full of protein and… thanks to all the goodies drizzled on top?…. totally, utterly addictive. Ingredients: 1 onion, chopped 2 tomatoes, chopped 2 15 oz cans fava beans, drained and rinsed *these should be small, round fava beans not the giant ones we see in the dried foods section. salt Garnish: Fresh chopped parsley 1 lemon, juiced 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional) olive oil Serve with pita bread wedges Method: In a medium pot add onions… … tomatoes … and fava beans Splash in some water… enough to almost cover. Bring to a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for about 45 minutes or until the flavors meld nicely. Puree or mash the beans. …
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Serves 6 Egyptians have been eating Um Ali for hundreds of years. Clifford A. Wright tells the story well: One day while hunting in the Nile delta, the sultan developed a ravenous appetite and stopped in a small village. The peasants wished to please the sultan, so the best cook of the village, Umm Ali, pulled out a special pan and filled it with the only ingredients she had around: some dried wheat flakes, sultanas [raisins], nuts, and coconut. She covered it with sugar and milk and put it in the village’s oven. Excerpt from A Mediterranean Feast As simple as can be, this sweet, milky blend of pastry, nuts, raisins, and coconut flakes will be a distinct addition to your Egyptian Global Table. Ingredients: 1 sheet of puff pastry, baked 1/4 cup almonds 1/4 cup raisins 1/4 cup coconut chips (or 1/8 cup shredded coconut) 1/8 cup sugar 1 cup whole milk 1 cup half and half Method: Bake the puff pastry according to package directions. It will turn into a giant, greasy pillow. Try not …
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A couple of weeks ago Amanda Hesser, from the New York Times and Food52, came to Tulsa. To Tulsa! She brought her smile, stories from her life as a New York Times food writer, and an appetite for Chicken Fried Steak. Also available? Several hundred copies of her latest achievement, The Essential New York Times Cookbook. This incredible tome catalogs the best recipes published by the New York Times in the last 150 years. To be exact, Amanda pinpoints 1,400 recipes from our American tradition and tells us about them, not with the drab voice of a historian, but rather with the fun chatter you’d expect from a dear friend, as shown in her 19th century Roman Punch recipe. Tulsa was happy to celebrate with her. Several local chefs contributed to a grand potluck comprised of recipes from her book, which were promptly devoured at former Mayor Kathy Taylor’s house. The food covered the gamut, from pork belly to macarons, but my favorite was the Ginger and Lentil Soup. Make it, if you get a chance. …
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Want beer for dinner? While this might seem like an outrageous and irresponsible prospect today, from what I can tell it was a possibility in ancient Egypt. So grab your passport, as we dig up a few fun facts about Egyptian beer. Beer was a thick and hearty beverage, made by fermenting barley mash with yeast. Some also think it was made by fermenting pieces of yeast-risen bread. Today we think of beer as golden or dark amber. In ancient Egypt beer could be red, which was popular, or even black, which was the strongest. I’m thinking it didn’t taste a whole lot like Guiness, though. Flavored beer was made by adding fruits and vegetables (such as dates). Beer was the drink of the people and was even used to pay workers. Special thanks to Laura Kelley from Silk Road Gourmet. Portions of this post were informed by her fascinating article Hail Cleopatra.
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Serves 6 In Egypt, there are entire restaurants devoted soley to the production of Kushary. Giant vats are filled with the necessary ingredients and kept warm over low heat. With each order, a quick-moving server walks their ladle through the vats, filling the customer’s bowl up to the brim with pasta, rice, lentils, spicy tomato sauce, and fried onions. While it is difficult to reproduce this type of assembly at home, it is possible to layer all the ingredients in a casserole and keep warm. This is how we’ve approached this mega popular Egyptian dish. NOTE: If it seems a bit overwhelming, think about breaking this recipe up over a few days (make the pasta and sauce one day, the rice and lentils anther day…) just keep everything refrigerated until you’re ready to assemble. Ingredients: 1 cup dry macaroni 1/4 lb angel hair pasta, broken into 1-2″ pieces 1/8 cup olive oil 1 1/2 cups long grain rice 1/2 cup dry lentils Garnish: 1-2 onions, sliced thinly and pan-fried in olive oil 1 batch Spicy Egyptian …
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Makes 2 cups Spicy, garlicky, and tangy, this “doctored” tomato sauce goes great with pasta, rice, or all of the above (a.k.a. kushary … noodle, rice and lentil casserole). Feel free to tone down (or up) the heat, if you like things a little milder. Often extra sauce is placed on the table so diners can heap it on in whatever quantity desired. Ingredients: 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz) 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste) 1 tsp vinegar salt (only needed if your sauce is “no salt added” sauce) pepper Method: Add tomato sauce to a small pot. Stir in the garlic, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Drizzle in the vinegar. Give the mixture a stir and let simmer for five minutes, or until the garlic is cooked through. Serve over Kushary, or anything else that needs a little kick! Spicy Egyptian Tomato Sauce Votes: 0 Rating: 0 You: Rate this recipe! Print Recipe Spicy, garlicky, and tangy, this “doctored” tomato sauce goes great with pasta, rice, or all of the above …
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Our house is swept up in snow drifts more beautiful than whipped cream and taller than Miss Ava. Thankfully, our heat works and this Egyptian menu keeps our imaginations (and bellies) happy. A combination of rustic down-home cooking and elegance, there’s something for everyone. And, in case you forgot that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, consider cosying up to a cup of White Coffee made with rose water, perfect for a simple, heart-warming Valentine’s Day treat. Kushary (also Kushari) [Recipe] with Spicy Egyptian Tomato Sauce [Recipe] There are kushary shops all over Egypt, doling out bowls filled to the brim with macaroni, angel hair pasta, rice, lentils, and spicy tomato sauce. The finishing touch is a generous helping of fried onion. Fava Bean Mash (Ful Medames) [Recipe] Although traditionally a breakfast food, ful makes a healthy and filling dip any time of day. Drizzle with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and fresh parsley. Hard boiled eggs are optional but ideal if you’re eating the ful in the morning. Ali’s Mother (Umm Ali) [Recipe] …
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