Algerian Schorbah

Schorbah, the way I do it:

500g meat (optional, I mostly make all my soups vegetarian nowadays)

1-2 diced onion(s)

1-2 stalk(s) celery

Water

2-3 tomatoes (and/or 2 tbsp tomato paste/purée)

1-2 carrots

1 courgette

1 can chick peas

Salt, pepper, cinnamon, paprika, ra's-el-hanout (optional), ground coriander seed (I use eye measurements, so not sure how much I use of the spices, somewhere between 1 tsp and 1 tbsp)

A handful or two of vermicelli

Fresh coriander

Fresh parsley

Fresh mint

Lemon for serving

Fry onion and celery in oil until soft (add meat)

If using fresh tomatoes, skin them and then dice or blend in food processor. Add into the pot. Let cool for awhile, adding spices. Add vegetables (grated or finely cut/chopped) and water to cover. Add chick peas, bring to the boil and simmer for about forty minutes (one hour or more if using meat), or until cooked. Add vermicelli and simmer for ten minutes.

Add the fresh, chopped herbs and serve with lemon.

Schorbat Freek

This recipe is for 8-10 ppl:

2 diced/chopped onions

1 can of chick peas

3-4 tomatoes

2 diced celery stalks

1-2 courgettes

Spices: salt, pepper, cinnamon, paprika, ground coriander seed, ground cumin (optional)

1dl freek

Fresh chopped coriander, parsley and mint

Fry onions and celery in oil. (Add meat if you wish here)

Add chopped, skinned tomatoes (and/or tomato paste), freek and spices. Add water to cover, grated courgette and chick peas. Bring to the boil and simmer until cooked. Add fresh herbs and serve with lemon.

Cheese not curdling?

Experimenting with how much (or little) vinegar that can be used in making soft cheese, I realised that it's not so much a matter of the amount of acid, but rather the heat of the milk.

If the cheese won't curdle, don't add more acid, but increase the heat by turning it on again, just make sure it doesn't boil, and "voila!" it'll curdle just fine :)

Super easy soft cheese (Farmer's cheese)

Super easy soft cheese. Lovely with a little salt on bread. Yum!

http://www.hookandson.co.uk/page20/customer%20recipes.html

Faye and Paulo's Fresh Cheese

I made it with one litre of milk, brought it to a simmer (not a rolling boil as in the recipe) and my tiny lemons were not enough to separate the curds and whey, so had to take one and a half (the first one was 2.5 tbs, so say maybe 3.5 tbs lemon juice for a litre of milk).

Home made yogurt

My first (successful attempt - my second attempt in total) home made yogurt! :) and it's yum, mashaa Allah!

The pictures show the preparation work (warming the milk, cooling and mixing in the yogurt) and the end result.

I tried to keep the temperature (should be constantly kept at 37°C or lukewarm for seven hours or more) with the oven method first, figuring S on a gas oven would be cool enough, what a mistake! It got too hot and was really difficult to keep at a constant temperature when I turned it off.

This time I kept it in a warm bath in a big pot. When cooking it was easy to keep the temperature right, leaving the pot next to the cooking food. After that I had to add some boiling water now and then from the kettle to the water in the pot, and it worked really well, mashaa Allah.

Gnewiyah - Tunisian Okra Stew

Ingredients:
1 medium sized onion, 1/2 kg meat for stewing (I used veal here), olive oil,
2-3 garlic, salt & black pepper, 1/4 tsp cayenne, 3 tbs paprika, 2 tbs 1/ ground coriander,
tomato paste, water
red bell pepper, 1-2 handfuls of pearl onions, 3 cups okra

Brown the onions and meat in olive oil. Add pressed garlic (I grate it, 'cause I haven't found a proper garlic press since I moved here! Only plastic rubbish) and spices. Fry for a few more minutes, then add tomato paste and water to cover.
Cook for an hour or two, until the meat is nearly tender (less in a pressure cooker, which is what I use - I've grown to love it, saves me a lot of time).
Add the pepper, cut in strips, and pearl onions. Cook some more, then add the okra the last twenty minutes (be careful not to over-cook). Serve with bread.

Lablaabi - Chick pea soup

 

 Ingredients, 4 servings:

2 cans of chick peas (or 1 1/2 cup dried chick peas, soaked overnight and boiled), 5 cups of water, 1 stock cube,

6 garlic cloves, peeled, 1 bay leaf, 4 tsp cumin (freshly toasted and ground), 1 tbs harissa, 4 eggs, 3 tbs olive oil, juice of 1/2 a lemon, chopped parsley

Cook the chick peas in the stock, together with garlic and bay leaf (if using dry chick peas, cook for 45 minutes, add salt and cook another 15 minutes). Add spices and harissa and cook for 25 minutes whilst preparing the garnish (see below for ideas).

Add olive oil and lemon juice. Bring to a fierce boil and crack the eggs into the soup, bring the heat down and poach the eggs, without stirring for approximately five minutes or until the egg whites have hardened.

Garnish with parsley and serve or garnish with some of the suggestions below.

I was really surprised at how lovely this dish actually turned out to be, mashaa Allah! I'm not particularly fond of chick peas, cumin or garlic, but this is an absolute winner!

Egg-free Lablaabi

Lablaabi with poached egg

Garnish:

Tear some old, stale bread into soup bowls to pour the soup over (I won't do this again, the kids gave me minus points for the soggy bread!)

You can serve Lablaabi with, for example, olive oil, harissa, cumin, capers, tuna, olives, garlic, vinegar, lemon or lime juice, cilantro or parsley, and/or spring onions.

Lablaabi served with olive oil, olives, cumin, lemon and tuna.

 PS. there are variants of this soup in other parts of the world too.