From the category archives:

Middle Eastern

Sweet couscous with blackberries

15 February 2012 Breakfast/Brunch
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Couscous is something many people associate with being a savoury accompaniment to a meal or maybe a simple salad filled with delicious ingredients. The couscous I’ve made here is a sweet dish that’s a great alternative to a breakfast cereal. I guess it could almost be like a Moroccan version of Bircher muesli except they would [...]

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Spiced quail breasts with bhindi gobi masala + zhoug

26 January 2012 Indian
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So here’s where it all began. I was walking through the supermarket and spotted some cauliflower and thought I’d whip up a tasty treat for myself while the other half was mingling with the celebs in LA for the Gday USA launch. Nice for some. After grabbing the cauliflower I came across a tray of quail [...]

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Zhoug

24 January 2012 Middle Eastern
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Here’s something I’ve had in my repertoire for many years now and on the occasion pull it out and give it another burl. Zhoug is a sauce you’ll find at street stalls in the Middle East, the stalls that sell kebabs and felafels. My original recipe calls for the rind of preserved lemon but seeing [...]

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Israeli couscous, my way

14 December 2011 Israeli
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I think every time I make my couscous salad it differs from the previous variation. Yes there are the staple ingredients that I throw in like roasted red capsicum, onion, chickpeas and loads of fresh parsley but anything else comes down to what is wafting about the pantry. I usually use the finer grain cous [...]

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A pomegranate celebration

13 October 2011 Middle Eastern
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It surprises me this beautiful fruit that originated in Iran is labelled as “commercially insignificant” due to the abundance of other more common fruits available in our supermarkets and grocers. Does it come down to the flavour? Or is the reason just that people don’t know what to do with it? Personally I love the flavour. I love how the [...]

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Felafel stuffed spiced quail with salata el-raheb

8 June 2011 Lebanese
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This dish has a bit of an exotic air about it. The quail recipe is something I rustled together using the spice blends from Sami’s Kitchen I now have gracing my spice cupboard and the salad recipe was borrowed from Joumana at Taste of Beirut. Both go together beautifully. A bit of patience is required with deboning the [...]

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Shawarma lamb with cucumber zaatar yoghurt

25 May 2011 Lebanese
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I’m not one to shy away from making a spice blend from scratch, as I did recently for the heavenly Moroccan lamb shanks with ras el hanout, so when I came across a ready-to-use blend of spices called shawarma by local producer Sami’s Kitchen I thought I’d give it a burl. Shawarma is something just about everyone is familiar [...]

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Muirlea Rise & lunch at Bar Salute – Wairarapa NZ

30 August 2010 he eats Wellington
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When I was recently asked if I had a penchant for wine I immediately thought of the words “Is the Pope Catholic?” I love the stuff. White, red, sticky, though I’m still not up to speed with the rosé stuff. Perhaps my [insert posh accent here] palate is yet to mature. I’m half way through [...]

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