Mediterranean/Middle East is probably my favorite type of food. Those who know me know I could survive on carrots and hummus for days. It’s also one of the meals the carnivorous husband and I both really enjoy, but woof is it a lot of work when you do it all from scratch (and I only did about half of it from true scratch)! Tonight’s meal consisted of tabouli salad, falafels, chicken shawerma, baba ghanoush, tzaziki, feta and grape leaves.
Total prep time: about 2 hours
Baba Ghanoush
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp tahini
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cumin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Slice eggplant in half, drizzle with EVOO, salt and pepper and roast about 20 minutes or until soft. (While this is roasting I prep the falafel and spice the chicken.
- Let eggplant cool a bit, then scoop into food processor and combine with all other ingredients.
- Chill in the fridge until it’s cool or you’re ready to eat, whichever comes first.
Falafel
I just used the standard Trader Joe’s falafel mix 1 cup mix and 3/4 cup water, let sit for 30 minutes, then ball into the pre-sprayed air fryer and cook at 350 in the air fryer for 14 minutes, flipping midway through.
Tabouli
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- Half carton cherry tomatoes (or equivalent)
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1/2-1 cup couscous (depending how couscousy you want it)
- 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
Instructions – this one takes a while, lots of chopping so do it between things. Basically just cook couscous according to directions, chop everything, combine ingredients for dressing (lemon, EVOO, garlic pow, salt pepper), mix it all together and chill till everything else is ready. Top with toasted pine nuts.
Chicken Shawerma
Ingredients
- 2-3 chicken thighs
- Shawerma spices – I used a mix I brought back from Jordan. It’s a combination of allspice, black pepper, cloves, cardamom, coriander, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, white pepper and dried lemon.
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Cut chicken into bite-sized chunks.
- Combine chicken and shawerma spices, let sit for 30 min.
- Heat oil over medium high heat.
- Sauté chicken until done.
Tzaziki
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced cucumber pieces
- 1/2 tsp dill
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions – combine and chill till ready.
Assemble
Put it all together and top with crumbled feta. I didn’t make the grape leaves. Maybe next time.
NicStan Cooks 