[Sca-cooks] middle eastern food questions

[ysabeau]

I was looking at something else and found this at the Spice House:

Za'atar

This mixture of sumac, sesame seed and herbs is used frequently in 
the Middle East and Mediterranean areas. 

It is often mixed with olive oil and spread on bread; sometimes 
this is done at the table, other times the mix is spread on the 
bread rounds which are then baked. Za'atar also serves as a 
seasoning to sprinkle on vegetables, salads, meatballs or kebabs. 
Much like sausage seasonings, each country has a distinctive style 
of Za'atar, and each family develops its own special blend. Our 
particular blend is Israeli in style. Hand mixed from sumac, 
thyme, sesame seeds, hyssop, and oregano. 


---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 10:04:42 -0800

>
>
>Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
>
>> Also sprach Lonnie D. Harvel:
>>
>>> Greetings,
>>>
>>> I picked up lunch at a relatively new middle eastern 
restaurant here 
>>> in Athens, Ga. It is called The Sultan. They have a small 
grocery 
>>> connected. There were two items that I was curious about and 
perhaps 
>>> on (or more) of y'all can enlighten me.
>>>
>>> There was an herb blend in a bag called "zaater". It contained 
thyme, 
>>> sumac, and sesame seeds. What would this be used for?
>>
>>
>> I could be wrong, but I seem to recall it's sprinkled on bread 
before 
>> baking, or used as a condiment for hot bread (maybe with a 
little 
>> olive oil), or perhaps sprinkled on eggs as they cook. 
>
>All of the above, on or in meats or vegetable dishes, and as a 
sort of 
>dry dip for just about anything else you like.  Cf. furikake in 
Japanese 
>cuisine.
>
>>> There was a bottle of something labeled "Jallab Syrup".  The 
>>> information was in Arabic, and the owner was busy with other 
>>> customers so I didn't want to bother him. Is this one of the 
syrups 
>>> that are used to make beverages?
>>
>>
>> I think so.
>
>Yes.   Flavored with rose water and dates.  Yum!  Could also be 
used for 
>soaking pastries such as baklava.
>
>Selene
>
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks
>
 

________________________________________________________________
Sent via the EV1 webmail system at mail.ev1.net