Middle Eastern Recipes

>I want to cook exotic foods using non-exotic ingredients like salt and pepper
I think most exotic foods will require one or two things that aren't in the usual middle American spice rack. But you can make a ton of Indian recipes with just regular spices plus turmeric, cumin, coriander, curry powder and garam masala. You can often sub butter for ghee, but you may have to use a little bit of another oil for any initial high heating of spices, then add butter later as other ingredients are added for that buttery ghee taste in the food. You can buy ghee off Amazon or most supermarkets. You can go to a hippie dippie health food store and buy very small amounts of individual spices in their bulk spice section, if you want to try a specific interesting recipe that calls for a one off spice.

Peanut oil makes a decent ghee substitute, and it's good to have around for any high heat frying (like using your cast iron pan to make stir fries in).

I'd recommend a trip to your local Middle Eastern market if possible. Bags of half cooked frozen falafel are pretty cheap, and useful to keep around. And your best price on tahini will be there, along with good deals on olive oil.

Here's how to make mutabal, which is the simple version of baba ganouj: Get some small eggplants (Italian and Asian work best). Poke holes in them. If you have a gas stove cook them over the open flame, letting the skin burn and the inside get soft. They may require a few turns to get cooked through. Otherwise put them in a baking dish inside a hot oven (450F is good) until they've sunk and burned a little on the outside. Let cool, then peel off the skin and put the eggplant flesh in a bowl with a little minced garlic, lemon juice, salt, tahini, chopped parsley, cumin and a little drizzle of olive oil. This goes great on bread, and lasts a few days in the fridge.

Do the same as above but substitute cooked, peeled chickpeas for eggplant and run it through the blender (may need to add just a little water) and you have hummus.

Shakshuka is delicious and very easy to make, throw some sausage in there if you want extra protein.

Have you had kafta before? They're like Lebanese meatballs. Beef and lamb mix with garlic, onion, parsley, cilantro, cumin and a touch of cinnamon and mint leaves. You roll them into little turds, skewer them if you like and then and pan fry or grill. Serve them with some hummus for extra points.

Apparently Lebanese food is the 'best' middle eastern food, but it's not usually very spicy if that's what your into.

Lebanese food is a rip off from syrian and Turkish food.

Here's another really simple one for fool in tahini sauce. In a bowl mix together a little chopped garlic, lemon juice, salt and tahini. Thin down with a little water until it's as thick as ranch dressing. Add chopped parsley and a can of fava beans, drained. Serve with bread and a salad of cucumber, tomato, parsley, bell pepper and onion dressed in lemon juice, salt and olive oil. A few olives would be good, too.

Any place with a Mediterranean port has been trading goods and recipes for thousands of years. Along the land route from Turkey to Morocco you find a lot of variations on the same themes.

I'm just saying that what that user said about Lebanese food being "best middle eastern food" is not correct.

No, it is. Cosmopolitan French influence puts it over the top.

My ass, It's just your average middle eastern food. There is no "twist" on it. I'm Lebanese, what cosmopolitan French influence?

I'm the user who made the 'best' comment. I'm wonder bread white so just that was just based on what other Middle Easterners (Turks included) have told me. These countries are all right next to each other so of course there's going to be a lot of shared ingredients, my understanding was that Lebanon being a major port area it got a lot of additional European/African influences to their culture. I probably couldn't tell the difference between Lebanese and Syrian tabbouleh but the Lebs I know sure could.

>mixing tomato with lemon juice
NO.

>obscure ingredients like cardamom pods, and fucking ghee
Is this the mythical ""flyover"" Veeky Forums always tells me about?

Why don't you just buy some cardamon? It won't send you broke. Find a decent garam masala. Or make a big batch of your own, and you can do anything Indian.

The twist is French technique in the more high end examples. Take everything good about Middle Eastern food in general and add a little French technique. You what you get? A total fucking winner.

Gordon has a great take on North African eggs:

youtube.com/watch?v=ibfkwZktd5I

It's become one of my go-to morning meals.

I would recommend mixing the flesh a bit with a fork, not adding tahine (do it for the hummus though), avoid cumin and chopped parsley.
And last for the garlic :
Slice it in 2-3 pieces and put them in a mortar with a good pinch of salt then press them with the pestle in semi circular motions.
The salt should form some kind of garlic paste, if not add more salt (careful with that though), then add it to the eggplant flesh.
At least thats how my mother has always done it.

>hooktube.com/watch?v=vSztPNM2uho

>cast iron
its literally impossible to clean this thing. I run hot water in it like all you fuckers tell me to. but no matter how many times i wipe it clean with a piece of paper towel i get brown/black residue left on the paper after wiping. Even worse, when i add oil i get some dark black residue on the towel. I've even tried using dishing soap to make sure all grease is gone but still, the black residue appears.

Am i just supposed to accept that my iron skillet is going to be a dirty and unhygienic way to cook?

You might be stripping the seasoning. Do you know if your pan was preseasoned?

you bought into the cast iron hype, iron merchants are making big bucks off poor saps like you

Man now I want some shakshuka....

Bumping so I can share my stuffed eggplant recipe when I'm done w/ work. It's simple but delicious. Most levantine food uses widely-available ingredients, though it's a different story when it comes to North African and Indian food (though you can find most NA ingredients at a whole foods and order Indian spices online)

>replying to copypasta.
Lurk Moar.