A recipe – Sabich Sandwich (SoomSoom)

For Israelis food and family have a tight connection, and sometimes you can’t even separate them at all.

When Shlomi decided to open the first SoomSoom vegetarian bar, he brought all the equipment from Israel, as well as his 70-year-old old uncle who taught him all the family’s kitchen secrets.

The story began way back in the early 1950s in the ancient city of Tiberias in Israel, when Shlomi’s family opened their first restaurant. If you visit at SoomSoom you can’t miss the big old family photograph printed on the wall and on the menus.

But it is not an Israeli restaurant. It is a vegetarian bar based on Mediterranean cuisine. It is 100% natural, and it is 100% fresh.

The menu includes mostly sandwiches like Pita with Falafel, Sabich, Green Omelet, Shakshuka sandwich and Burekasabich. It also offers an open salad bar with more than 18 different salads and dressing, all made from their original recipe.

Shelomi kindly shared with us the one of the family secrets – the recipe for the tasty Sabich:

Ingredients (for one person)

1 fresh pita bread

4-5 thin fried eggplant slices (Instructions below)

1 boiled egg (Instructions below)

1 small cooked potato, sliced (Instructions below)

Hummus spread

Salt & pepper

Directions

Eggplant:

4-5 thin eggplant slices, salted, drained and washed

1 egg

Oil for deep-frying

1.     Beat the egg in a bowl with 1 tablespoon water.

2.     Heat oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat.

3.     Dip the eggplant into the beaten egg.

4.     Fry until golden.

boiled egg and cooked potato

1 egg

1 small potato

1 tea bag

1 teaspoon paprika

½ onion, peeled and sliced

My short way:

1.     Put all the ingredients in a pot, cover with water and bring to boil.

2.     Lower the heat and cook for 60 minutes.

3.     Slice thinly.

SoomSoom’s traditional way:

1.     Put all the ingredients in a pot, cover with water, bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes.

2.     Cover the pot tightly with aluminum foil.

3.     Cook for 12 hours on “hot plate” (or on the stove with the lowest heat)

4.     Slice thinly.

Arrange the dish:

1.     Spread Hummus on the inside of a pita, stuff with fried eggplant slices, sliced boiled egg and sliced cooked potato.

2.     Add fresh salads and vegetable.

SoomSoom: 8 W 46th St. // 672 Lexington Ave. // 166 W 72nd St.
www.mysoomsoom.com

A recipe – Banana Bread

I was trying to make the right adjustments to this recipe so it would be kosher for Passover, but then I thought, “What’s the point?” First, Passover is over today. Second, this bread is so tasty that it is a sin to change the perfect balance between the ingredients.

I planed to keep my diet Passover kosher this week, but there are habits that I guess are stronger than we realize. The morning after the Passover dinner (The Seder) I woke up and fixed myself breakfast. While I was finishing cleaning the dishes I realized that I ate the same breakfast 

I eat every day: toasted bread with avocado. Well, kosher Passover is officially over.

Ingredients

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter (3 tablespoons)

¾ cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

¾ cups of all-purpose flour

¾ cups of whole-wheat flour

Handful of walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions

1.     Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

2.     In a big bowl, mix the mashed bananas with butter.

3.     Stir while adding the sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda, salt and flour. Mix all together until completely combined.

4.     Add the walnuts into the mixture.

5.     Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

A recipe – Amalya’s Zucchinis (Cooked Zucchinis with Eggs)

When I was a teenager my home was occupied by my parents, my 2 sisters and 3 dogs. Amalya, the female boxer dog was full of personality and funny behavior. She would sleep with her tongue out of her mouth, she would chase cats in the yard like she was a hunter in the jungle.

And she had weird food preferences. She liked grapes and watermelon, she loved sitting on a chair next to the table like a human being, and more than anything – she LOVED cooked zucchini with eggs.

My mother used to cook this dish quite often even though we didn’t really like it, and the only one who ate it was Amalya. Over the time the dish got its nickname: Amalya’s Zucchinis.

It might not sound so tasty, and it might not look so tasty, but it is really good!

Ingredients (for 2 people)

1 small onion - chopped

2 zucchinis (better to use the light green ones) – cut into small cubes

2 cloves of garlic - chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 egg - whisked

Salt & pepper

Directions

1.     Heat the oil in a wide saucepan; add the onion and garlic and fry while stirring until golden.

2.     Add the zucchinis and stir for 2 minutes.

3.     Cover the saucepan, low the heat and cook until the zucchini becomes soft.

4.     If needed, add a little bit of water.

5.     Add the egg while stirring and cook for a few seconds until the egg is cooked.

6.     Serve as a side dish with rice or as an appetizer with toasted bread

A recipe – Meatballs with Spaghetti

New York timing is even worse than “Sinai time” or “Ethiopia time”. In Sinai (Egypt), everything takes l o n g e r, shwaye shwaye (slowly slowly) and there is no reason to rush. With the Ethiopians (at least my Ethiopian friends in Israel) it is simple: they are always late. It can be 10 minutes late or even an hour.
Here in New York it is a mix, nothing starts on time (the subway is great excuse, and also great example), and most people run late as a routine.
And what keeps surprising me is that it looks like they don't really care - they don't care they are late and they don't care that they made you wait.


So take a deep breath and lets start to cook.

Ingredients

Whole-wheat Spaghetti (amount for 4 people)

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

3 tablespoons bread crumbs (or - semolina, wheat germ)

1 tablespoon cumin

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

2 big onions – chopped

4-5 tomatoes - chopped

2-3 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 cup of water

salt & pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon dried oregano or basil (or – bunch of fresh leaves)

Directions

1.     Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta in boiling the water for 8-10 minutes or until done; drain and wash immediately with cold water (to stop the cooking process).

Meanwhile:

2.     Put all the ingredients of the meatballs in big bowl and mix together. Put the bowl aside (best in the refrigerator).

3.     Heat the oil in a large wide saucepan; add the onions and garlic and fry while stirring.

4.     Add the tomatoes and stir for 3 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and the dried oregano or basil (if you use fresh leaves – add them just before serving).

5.     Lower the heat and cover the pot. Cook for about 10 minutes (until you get a nice sauce and not just chopped tomatoes).

6.     If you don’t have enough sauce, add the water and bring to a boil.

7.     Lower the heat.

8.     Shape small balls from the meat mixture and add them gently into the pot.

9.     Bring to a boil again, cover the pot, lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes.

10.  Serve with pasta and Parmesan cheese

Cooked in the studio

A recipe – Crunchy Delicious Oatmeal Cookies

I am not a native English speaker as you probably know, so when I come across a new term, a phrase, or even a word that I don't know, the immediate response it to translate it word-by-word to my native language (Hebrew).

Sometimes it is the right meaning, but sometimes it made a “new language” and a very funny translation.

Comfort food, for example, relates to the physical feeling and the preparation of the dish – it is prepared simply, and it is easy to eat.

But I was sure that it is related to your feelings about it, a consolation that you get from a good meal. Don't you think that is better interpretation?

These cookies are a great comfort in this weird winter. And it is also easy to make and even easier to eat…

 Ingredients yield: about 25 cookies
1 stick unsalted butter, cool room temperature (4 oz)

1/2 cup very fairly packed light-brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup Ultra-grain flour or all purpose

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped

1/3 cup mixed golden and regular raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg; mix to combine. Mix in vanilla; set aside.
3. Combine flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir until mixed.
4. Stir in the oats, followed by the pecans and raisins.
5. Using a heaping tablespoon measure, shape dough into 24 mounds drop dough onto prepared sheets, about 2 inches apart (the cookies double their size during baking!)
6. Bake until golden and just set, about 13-15 minutes (You might want to check at 12 if you oven runs hot.

 

A recipe – Butter Cookies

They are unhealthy, containing mainly butter and sugar, but they are extremely good, so I said to myself: Noit, you should share it!

The original recipe is taken from a book that I really don’t know the name, but I promise to check it out and add it to the post.

I made the some adjustments in order to turn the recipe to less corrupt one…

So, here is the (super easy) recipe for butter cookies:

Ingredients

½ pound (2 sticks / 225 gr.) unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup light brown sugar (in the original recipe – white sugar)

2 egg yolks (You can freeze egg whites for another recipe that require egg foam/Meringue)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour (in the original recipe – 2 cups all-purpose flour, without whole wheat flour)

1 cup whole wheat flour

Directions

1.     In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar, using an electric mixer (much more easier, but not necessary). Add the egg yolks, salt, and vanilla extract and beat well.

2.     Add the flour and keep mixing until you get a soft dough.

3.     Divide the dough in half and shape into 2 logs, about 1-1.5 inch in diameter. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour, until the logs are firm enough to slice.

4.     Preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C).

5.     Take off the plastic wrap and slice the dough into ¼ inch thick disks and transfer to parchment-lined backing sheets.

6.     Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cookies have turned golden. Cool on a rack.

Other option from step 3 and forward –

3.     Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.

4.     Preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C).

5.     Take off the plastic wrap. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness (you may need to add flour during rolling). Cut into shapes and transfer to parchment-lined backing sheets.

6.     Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cookies have turned golden. Cool on a rack