It's impossible to get decent Lebanese food here. The taste is off, or the texture is off, and no, there is no such thing as "authentic Lebanese empanadas," no matter what the menu may claim at one local place. It's not even possible to buy hummus at the store, or tabbouleh, and forget about finding some solid baba ghanoush ANYWHERE. It pains me greatly, because two cities ago, I used to make a regular pilgrimage to a place with homemade pita bread and baba ghanoush just for lunch. I LURVE it. Needless to say, tahini is also impossible to find.
Today I decided to make my own everything. Chickpeas are only available dried, so I soaked them. I roasted sesame seeds, and whirled them with sunflower oil. I baked puffy pita bread from scratch, chopped up parsley and tomato and onion. I prepared rice, marinated beef for kebabs. Work, work, work, work.
In the end, it was all pretty good, except for the hummus. The sesame seeds looked white, but I think it truth they were brown. It made super dark brown, very nutty tahini, and it was a bit strong for my tastes. All in all, not a bad first try.
4 comments:
That is dedication. I will never whine again about making the hummus.
I make everything here because it feels silly to go out for what I think of as "home" food. Pay full price for what I could make in my sleep. But if I couldn't get tahini or za'atar or... everything else. I don't know what I'd do. I'd have to have my parents send a care package :-)
I'm only recently a convert to homemade hummus, after a visit to the Middle East. But making your own tahini and pita bread? That's really impressive!
Since we moved home from Syria, I haven't been able to find any good-enough hummus or mtabel (baba ghanoush).
I should try making some myself using the recipes of the Syrian friends we made. Your hard work inspired me.
You can make that stuff at home? :)
I have recently converted my family into hummus eaters, but they will only eat the kind with olives. Progress... My daughter was even willing to brave the "what is that weird food?" reaction from other kids at her lunch table.
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