Za'atar, also known as zahtar, is a Middle Eastern blend of spices. The typical ingredients are thyme, sesame seeds and sumac, but some blends may also include cumin, oregano or fennel seed.
If you've eaten at Middle Eastern restaurants, you'll probably recognize the flavor, which is pungent and grassy. Za'atar is used on meats and vegetables, and is also mixed with oil to make a spread for flatbread.
You can find this spice blend at a specialty food or Middle Eastern food store. Or, if you can find sumac (also available at Middle Eastern shops), you can make your own Za'atar using equal parts chopped fresh thyme, toasted sesame seeds and sumac. Sprinkle Za'atar over fresh pita bread drizzled with olive oil.
Tahini is a thick paste made from ground sesame seeds. Common in Middle Eastern cuisine, tahini is what brings that nutty richness to hummus, baba ghanoush and halvah. You can find tahini in a jar or can at most grocery stores. A fresh can usually needs stirring to mix the oil and paste.
Most falafel sandwiches are drizzled with a garlicky tahini sauce that is easy to make at home. Mix 1/4 cup of tahini with two minced garlic cloves, 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. (Add a little water if the sauce is too thick.)
Tahini is different than the sesame pastes popular in eastern Asia, which are made with unhulled seeds that create a more bitter flavor.
Got no tahini and craving hummus? Brys had success with toasted pine nuts.
Recipe: Soft Boiled Eggs With Miso, Lemon And Cilantro (Cookthink)
Recipe: Sweet And Sour Udon Noodles With Basil (Cookthink)
Reference: Tahini vs. sesame paste (Cookthink)
Is tahini the same thing as sesame paste?
Is tahini the same thing as sesame paste?
Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds, but it's not exactly sesame paste. How's that so? Tahini is made with hulled sesame seeds (just the kernels), and sesame paste is made with the entire seed (shell and all).
Tahini is a typically Middle Eastern ingredient, and sesame paste is more common in East Asian cuisines. While you can find tahini at most grocery stores, you'll probably have to go to an Asian market for sesame paste.
Reference: What is tahini? (Cookthink)
Recipe: Soft Boiled Eggs With Miso, Lemon And Cilantro (Cookthink)
Recipe: Hummus (Cookthink)
Is it a chickpea or a garbanzo bean? It depends on where your culinary loyalties lie. If you're with the French and Italians, you may think of them as chiche and ceci, respectively. If you're with the Spanish, then you may know them as garbanzos.
Around here, we prefer the punchier English name of chickpea. Either way, we're all talking about the same thing: a fiber-and protein-rich legume with a slightly chestnutty flavor.
Recipe: Ratatouille, Chickpea And Feta Bake (Cookthink)
Recipe: Chickpea And Parmesan Salad (Cookthink)
Meze is Greek for appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. A platter of tapas-like Greek mezedes (small dishes) may include stuffed grape leaves, tzatziki, tarama, grilled octopus, feta cheese, meatballs and olives.
A meze platter is often served with a glass of alcohol and indeed is meant to accompany the booze rather the other way around. Still, while it's customary in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines to serve various meze before a meal, a nice selection can easily make a meal in itself.
Harissa is a spicy chili paste from North Africa and the Middle East that can be found in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, and is popular in France.
Made with (often smoked) chili peppers, garlic, olive or caraway oil and coriander, it may also contain cumin, dried mint, verbena leaves, tomatoes or rose petals. The ingredients are pounded to a paste, which is left to develop its flavors for at least 12 hours.
Harissa is used to flavor merguez sausage; as a condiment for falafel and other dishes; as a meat rub; and diluted in broth to add spice to couscous, stews and soups. Prepared harissa is available in jars, tubes and cans; homemade harissa can be covered with olive oil and kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Biryani is a one-dish rice-based meal that consists of layering cooked rice and meat in a casserole, before baking it in the oven. Originating in Persia and popular in India and the Middle East, biryani can be made with chicken, seafood or meat, and can also be made as a vegetarian casserole.
Biryani is normally made with basmati rice and flavored with cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf, coriander, mint, ginger, garlic and onions. Traditionally, orange saffron milk was sprinkled on the top of the dish before baking, so that the rice grains had a variated white and yellow-orange color and a subtle saffron flavor; today the high cost of saffron means that many restaurants unfortunately use yellow food coloring instead.
Biryani is often served with a yogurt-based condiment such as raita or a tomato, onion and cilantro relish. It is good for crowds and a favorite at Bangladeshi wedding receptions, Indian family dinners and Muslim dinner tables in Thailand.
what you should know
It's a testament to pita's versatility that you can have it with many prepositions. You can serve food in a pita, on a pita, with a pita, around a pita, beside a pita, and between a pita (though not, as far as we know, during a pita).
the world's flat(bread) This slightly leavened, wheat flatbread is a cousin to similar breads across the globe: naan, chapati, piadina, roti and even pizza, which some consider to be a modern derivative of pita bread.
we picked pockets Though modern pita eaters are used to splitting an arc around the bread's perimeter to form a pouch, traditional pita was used mostly to scoop dips and salads and to wrap loosely compiled sandwiches (like shawarma). The pita pocket is a modern creation.
it's all pita The shape, texture and significance of pita changes according to where you go in the world. The Lebanese pita is more of a rounded rectangle, and the pouchless Turkish pita tends to be softer and chewier.
what you need
To make your own pita, you're best off using a pizza stone. We prefer a rectangular stone to the increasingly popular round stones.
The curved, serrated blade of this KAI-made stainless steel knife easily slices delicate breads without tearing them. That's important when you're filling a pita.
Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food will inspire you to eat more pita and to learn about the pita-loving regions of the world.
what you do
It's worth the time and work to make your own pita. We love Cook & Eat's pizza stone method.
We like having pita on hand to make sandwiches from leftover salads, meat and vegetable dishes. A pita filled with hogwash's apple-walnut chicken salad or Karina's peanut broccoli and chicken stir-fry makes a fast and filling lunch.
You can't really call it a panini, but that's pretty much what this pressed pita with ham, Brie and apple is.
We've said it before and we'll probably say it again (after this time): pita bread makes an incredibly crispy pizza crust. Try this mozzarella, black olive and basil version.
Pita goes hand-in-hand with lamb kebabs and Middle Eastern condiments like hummus and baba ghanoush.
featured recipe Open a cold beer, get out the caul fat and start rolling meatballs for this delicious Sheftalia In Cyprus Pita. It's the featured recipe of this weeks Root Source Challenge and it comes to us from Ivy and her Athens-based blog Kopiaste.
Cumin is the dried seed of an aromatic plant that has a dusty, vaguely bitter taste and a distinctive smell. Cumin seeds can be used whole, fried in oil to release their aroma; or ground into a powder.
Most cumin seeds are light brown in color, but they are also available in white (similar to the brown in flavor) and black (which has a more peppery taste). Cumin seeds look a lot like caraway seeds.
You can find references to cumin in the Bible, where it was cited as a flavor-enhancer for soup and bread. The Romans used it to preserve meat and broil fish and it was popular in the Middle Ages. Today, cumin seeds are used to spice up Munster cheese, to make Indian and Pakistani curries and to add flavor to Tex-Mex chili. Cumin is also popular in many cuisines of the world, including Middle Eastern, Mexican, Eastern European and Mediterranean.
During the Middle Ages, cumin was believed to keep loved ones (and chickens) from straying; likewise, brides and grooms carried cumin seeds during the wedding ceremony as a happy marriage charm.
Bulgur (also known as bulgar, bulghur, and burghul) is whole wheat that's been parboiled, dried and crushed (or cracked). The outer bran layer is then rubbed off by hand and then sometimes ground again to achieve a particular grain size. Bulgur is sometimes referred to as cracked wheat, which is not cooked during production, and takes much longer to cook.
Chewy and nutty-tasting, bulgur is high in fiber, protein, iron, magnesium and B vitamins. Finely ground bulgur may be boiled and eaten as a hot cereal, while medium ground may be combined with minced meat or vegetables to make meatballs or burgers. Coarsely ground bulgur is often used as a substitute for rice in pilafs and as a main ingredient in salads like tabbouleh or kibbeh, or in casseroles, soups or stews.
Fennel is a multi-faceted plant that brings a subtle anise flavor to the table in a number of ways.
Technically an herb, it also provides spice in the form of fennel seed. The pollen of fennel flowers is intense and sweet. The tasty bulb can be eaten raw or cooked. And the fronds make an aromatic garnish.
The same compound that flavors aniseed and star anise also flavors fennel, although not as strongly. The slight licorice flavor is frequently found as an ingredient in Italian sausages.
Elixirs and distillations of fennel have been used for centuries as nerve tonics and digestive aids. Its use as a component of gripe water has helped to ease the colic in babies as a homeopathic remedy.
The nutmeg that we use in the kitchen is the inner nut or seed of the nutmeg fruit.
The evergreen tree that produces the fruit is native to southern Asia and parts of the south Pacific. It produces both nutmeg and mace.
Here's how it happens: when the nutmeg fruit is ripe, it splits open to reveal mace-covered seed. The red or orange mace is removed and dried. The seed is then dried for a couple of months, until the nutmeg can be heard rattling around inside the shell. The seed is then cracked to produce the small egg-shaped nutmeg. Whole nutmegs will keep for months if properly stored in a cool, dark cupboard.
How do nutmeg and mace compare? Nutmeg has a stronger, more rounded flavor than mace, which is often likened to both cinnamon and pepper. In a pinch, you can substitute one for the other.
