ingredient
One of the things Israel lacks is Mexican and Tex-Mex food. We have plenty of ethnic food here, as I’ve noted before, but it tends to be from different ethnicities, those with more of a presence here. And we don’t have many Mexicans. That said, some of the key ingredients …
In a nondescript junction in neighboring Givatayim sits a legend of a shop known as Oved’s sabich. Oved rose to fame not due to the quality of his sabich — fried eggplant — but due to his playful use of the Hebrew language. If someone asks, “Have you been to …
It doesn’t get much easier than this. You roast an eggplant, mix it with mayo, and season with chopped herbs. Then you eat it. This is pretty much a Middle Eastern babaganush with a Western twist. The mayonnaise makes it creamier than usual, and the thyme adds an unusual flavor …
Here in the Levant we like to stuff things. It’s a habit picked up by all the places that used to be part of the Ottoman empire and its neighbors. Because rice is never so good as when it’s cooked packed inside a vegetable, and picks up its flavors and …
Tucked away in the recesses of the Carmel Market is a guy who caters to the Thai workers, selling all sorts of weird vegetable delights — bumpy gourds, eggplants smaller than olives, yucca roots, foot-long green beans and massive okra, not to mention greens that even he can’t identify. But …
This is somewhat of a classic dish in these parts, and super-simple: Fresh tomatoes meet an interestingly shaped baladi eggplant, and all of the above are in season right now. You’ll find a version of this eggplant salad just about everywhere here, sometimes served cold, sometimes spicy, and frequently made …
This soft eggplant dish has a tangy taste from the pomegranate and balsamic vinegar, while red onions add a bit of jewel-like color. You could toss some pomegranate seeds on top as well when they’re in season. On a slightly related note, look at this weird eggplant we saw at …
I needed an easy dish to bring to a vegan friend’s potluck dinner — something substantial, but also something that could easily be prepared in large quantities. Voila — seared lentil salad.
The weather is beautiful, and the asparagus stalks at the market are looking like the fresh, young shoots that they are. Simply beautiful. I could take a bunch of asparagus and put it in a vase in my living room, but then I’d have a vaseful of asparagus in my …
I could never really get that excited about latkes, which I’d mostly experienced as patties of fried mashed potatoes. After all, I wouldn’t eat oily, soggy potatoes on other days of the year, so what made Hanukkah any different? But this year, I decided it didn’t have to be like …
