M is for Moorish Middle Eastern Meze

Tabbouleh

Aubergine with buttermilk sauce and pomegranate

served with chicken kebabs and flatbreads

One of the things I love most about food and taste is how it can be so evocative of a memory or a foreign clime. While I have only just dipped my toe into the Middle east (if you count a short sojourn in glorious Cyprus), I absolutely adore the exotic flavour combinations: the heavy-handed use of herbs such as mint and parsley, the unusual combinations of meat with fruits and nuts, the unctuous dips made from chickpeas and aubergines all mopped up with soft flatbread – delicious.

On BBC4 recently there was a riveting programme called Jerusalem on a Plate presented by the fab Yotam Ottolenghi, whose own eclectic style of cooking is influenced by his upbringing in Israel, combined with the flavours of the Mediterranean. The programme delves into the fascinating culture behind what is eaten in Jerusalem and just about every restaurant he visited was steeped in tradition, producing mouth-watering dishes I’d never heard of.

Back in England, Middle Eastern cuisine is still far less familiar than Indian, Asian, Italian etc. and, with the exception of The Real Greek - which just misses the whole generosity of the meze experience in my opinion – there are no mainstream chains I can think of that have embraced the exciting street food of places like Lebanon, Turkey and Cyprus (perhaps thankfully!).

I say this but with fashionable places like Ottolenghi, his new restaurant Nopi and the small, but perfectly formed Lebanese restaurant, Yalla Yalla in Soho, the cuisine is getting into the public conscience, and typical ingredients such as chickpeas and pomegranates are easily found in supermarkets.

So, I dug out some recipes and put together a small meze spread of my own with tabbouleh, thyme-marinated chicken kebabs, roasted aubergine with a buttermilk sauce and homemade flatbreads. I thought the flavours might not all go together, but actually they did, albeit in a messy pile as you can from my picture.

Aubergine with a Buttermilk sauce from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Serves 4 as a starter or as part of a meze

• Preheat the oven to 200˚C/Gas mark 6. Cut 2 large and long Aubergines in half, lengthways through the stalk. Place cut-side up in a baking tray. With a small knife cut three diagonal incisions in the flesh and then three more in the other direction to create a diamond pattern on each half. Take 80ml Olive Oil and brush it onto all the aubergines until it has been absorbed. Sprinkle with Thyme leaves and roast for 35-40 mins. Leave to cool.
• For the sauce whisk together 140ml Buttermilk, 100f Greek Yoghurt, 11/2 tbsp Olive Oil, 1 small crushed Garlic Clove and a pinch of salt.
• Dollop the sauce onto the aubergines (you may want to use a little less depending on their size) and sprinkle with Pomegranate seeds. Eat with a spoon or scoop out with pitta.

Tabbouleh adapted from Stuffed Vine Leaves Saved my Life by Nadia Sawalha

Serves 4-6 as part of a Meze

• Cover 200g Bulghar Wheat with double the quantity of hot water and a tsp salt and leave to soak for half an hour. Then line a colander with a tea towel, tip the wheat into the towel, bundle it up and squeeze hard until all the liquid has come out and it is dry. Tip into a big serving bowl.
• To this add:

150g finely chopped Parsley

3 tbsp finely chopped Mint

½ Cucumber, finely chopped

2 Tomatoes skinned, deseeded and finely chopped

6 Spring Onions, finely chopped

2 Lemons, juiced

4-6 tbsp Olive Oil

• Give it a mix and season with plenty of salt to taste. Add the leaves from one Cos Lettuce, which are delicious when used as a wrap for the tabbouleh.

n.b. if not making the aubergine recipe as well, I’d add some pomegranate seeds to this salad which give it a contrasting sweetness as well as an extra glisten.

Thyme-marinated Chicken Kebabs also adapted from above book by Nadia Sawalha

Serves 6-8

• In a large bowl combine 6-8 plump Garlic Cloves, peeled and pounded until creamy, the juice of 4 Lemons, a handful of fresh Thyme, 1 tsp Cayenne pepper, a few glugs of olive oil and a lot of crunchy salt.
• Add to this 4 boneless Chicken Breasts and 6 boned and skinned Chicken thighs, both cut into 2.5cm cubes.
• Marinate for as long as possible: anything from 15mins to 24hrs - the longer the more tender.
• Get a BBQ ready or a grill pan on a high heat and thread the chicken onto skewers – either pre-soaked wooden sticks or metal. Cook on the heat, turning and basting regularly until charred and golden (takes about 8mins).
• Eat wrapped in flatbreads (I made my own from this Rick Stein recipe, omitting the mince topping) with tzatziki, tahini sauce or any left-over buttermilk sauce above.