OMG is my husband/Algerians out of the loop or what?!?!

[Henia 11]

Esalaam, Hello, Salut

OMG last night after isha and tarawee prayers I was sitting with my husband and aunt drinking some tea, when my husband went to our pantry for (more) sugar... like 4 cubes was not enough already(?!) ... and look one look to unopened jar of tahina and was like, what's this? I said, it is tahina, can you not see? He said yes,I can read it but what is it? I looked at him sooooooo puzzled You donnot know what tahina is? He said oddly, nooooooo....

Hmmmm an arabe living in Arabe country not knowing what tahina is... so the 3 of us went into a culinary discussion about tahina and various other totally unknown ingredients... and finally what I discussed 100% shocked me.

These people were not at all familiar with common, world-wide famous MENA foods....Hmmmm O snaaaaaaaaps...Snaps they didn't even know what the word chawarma mean... here it called mechwi

I did my best to explain what hummous bi tahina, baba ghounaj, falafel, fattousch, tabbouli, grape leave dolmas, foul m'dammes,kibbey libani, maklouta, msaah, and ghalabba was...

I mean I thought these foods were soooooo very common and typical of all MENA ... with of course some recipes variations but still... who does not know what hummous is?

I asked my husband, do I have to introduce you to arabe food? He said yes, I only know Algerienne foods.

Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaps... My culinarian heart is soaring now.... seems the door to culinary world has been opened by husband to me.... Freedom at last.... freedom to cook anything I want... and they will eat it !!! ( ((( Hehehe I made them some all so simple crepes and French style custard tarts for Ramadan, they were like in love )))))

Also I have found many many very common ingredients like basil, sour creme, marjoram, oregano are very hard to find here... not widely use at all...

Hmmmm my question is... esp for the NA girls here... have you found your SO is very out of the loop food wise? ( i understand not everyone is as enuthastic about food as I am, but I am curious, so plz indugle me ladies)

[chris4336 3]

Haha YES I have had the same experience with my Algerian Fiancee. For his birthday (when we were actually in the same country) I took him to a Moroccan Restaurant. Beforehand I was talking about how I loved Humus and was dying to try it for real. He had NO CLUE what I was talking about even after multiple attempts to explain it. Finally we get to the restaurant and of course the first thing they bring out is pita and humus. He tries it and says "ahhhh Humus" (in a really strong arabic accent. I guess I wasn't saying it the right way haha. But he was not familiar with most of the food on the menu because it was listed under its "Moroccan name," however when it came out he was like "oh yeah we eat this all the time during Ramadan"

I completely understand your ethusiasm with the food. My fiancee thinks some things I cook, Spagheti with Garlic Bread for example, are the best thing since sliced bread, since he does not eat them very often. It is great that my cooking will be new to him, although I am trying to learn new recipes (Made my first Chorba the other day :-)

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I think what we consider traditional "Middle Eastern" / "Mediterranian" food stops around Egypt. I have a North African cookbook that my sister got for my bday that I've given to my husband to pick out stuff for me to make. He gave it back without picking anything out because he didn't recognize anything.

[Jenn! 918]

I think what we consider traditional "Middle Eastern" / "Mediterranian" food stops around Egypt. I have a North African cookbook that my sister got for my bday that I've given to my husband to pick out stuff for me to make. He gave it back without picking anything out because he didn't recognize anything.

Yeah, I think you're right. Wadi didn't know what babbaghounaj or falafel were. And he calls chick peas hummus.

[doodlebug 3]

Usama's never heard of Trix or Captain Crunch. lol

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Usama's never heard of Trix or Captain Crunch. lol

Wait until you introduce him to frozen pizza

[Visa4habibi! 0]

"Also I have found many many very common ingredients like basil, sour creme, marjoram, oregano are very hard to find here... not widely use at all...

Hmmmm my question is... esp for the NA girls here... have you found your SO is very out of the loop food wise? ( i understand not everyone is as enuthastic about food as I am, but I am curious, so plz indugle me ladies)"

**************

OH yeah, Henia! YOu're so right! My hubby has no idea what sour cream, butter milk and cottage cheese are! I had to try some real cheap bolonia and it was terrible but they were kind of crazy about it. And in supermarket when i showed the deli meat and stuff like that to him, he didn't even look at it - i guess, it's just too expensive for them to eat. He didn't like Mozarella cheese either. But they love yogurt and soda! There's no dill either, mushrooms or bay leaves!

Surprise, surprise! I made a Georgian soup (russian-georgian, not from states) and it's hot and pretty good. Everybody said it's Harira!

Now i made Harira for Ramadan (for the first time), and my kids said, it's that georgian soup!

But my 'georginan' soup takes 3 times less time, spices, ingridients and effort!!! Guess, they're still similar. (Tomatoes, meat and rice still there in both of them).

[ya falaha! 0]

Frozen pizza is a hell of a lot better than the tuna "pizza" I got in Egypt. UCK!

Egyptians don't really eat cold cereal. You can get it there at larger supermarkets like Carrefour but it's very expensive for cereal. For breakfast they eat..falafel aka tameya, fuul medamas, white cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, jam, and bread. At least that's what I always ate there.

Usama's never heard of Trix or Captain Crunch. lol

Wait until you introduce him to frozen pizza

Hummus is the Arabic word for chickpeas. The stuff we call hummus is hummus bi tahinah.

I think what we consider traditional "Middle Eastern" / "Mediterranian" food stops around Egypt. I have a North African cookbook that my sister got for my bday that I've given to my husband to pick out stuff for me to make. He gave it back without picking anything out because he didn't recognize anything.

Yeah, I think you're right. Wadi didn't know what babbaghounaj or falafel were. And he calls chick peas hummus.

I agree. Actually the stuff we think of as traditional Mid Eastern food is actually Turkish in origin. It's most common in Lebnan, Syria, and Jordan. Mid Eastern food is so varied. A lot of Egyptian food is similar to things I consider "American" food. Very traditional Egyptian food would be mouloukhia, koshari, maashi, fuul medamas. There are so many others but I can't think of their official names.

I think what we consider traditional "Middle Eastern" / "Mediterranian" food stops around Egypt. I have a North African cookbook that my sister got for my bday that I've given to my husband to pick out stuff for me to make. He gave it back without picking anything out because he didn't recognize anything.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Oh man, food discussion. Tummy rumbling...need...

mahshi

koshari (my first meal every time I go to egypt)

tamiya

and shwerma

mmmm

*makes plans to have iftar at ME buffet this friday*

Edited September 28, 2006 by rahma

[Jenn! 918]

That's just cruel, rahma.

[ya falaha! 0]

Dag that pic of koshari made me HUNGRY! It's a shame we can't find that here unless we make it ourselves. I'm def. gonna have to make it soon. It's soooooo good!!

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Dag that pic of koshari made me HUNGRY! It's a shame we can't find that here unless we make it ourselves. I'm def. gonna have to make it soon. It's soooooo good!!

I can never get the sauce to have the right tang to it

[ya falaha! 0]

I have an excellent recipe for the sauce. It tastes just like I had in Cairo. I made it for a friend of mine who is also married to an Egyptian and she also says it tastes just like the sauce in Cairo. I'll post it for ya. The secret for the tang is vinegar.

Ok here's the recipe for the koshari sauce.

1 large can of whole peeled or crushed tomatoes

2 Tablespoons hot chili paste (I use Mexican chipotle sauce in a can. I like mine spicy so I use the whole can.)

1/4 cup of oil

8 cloves of garlic sliced (or more)

3 Tablespoons vinegar

1 Tablepoon of ground cumin

Salt pepper to taste

Fry the sliced garlic in oil until they start changing color.

Add the can of tomatoes and the chili paste, salt and pepper.

Bring to a gentle boil, turn the heat down to low.

Add the cumin and the vinegar, leave it simmering for 15 minutes.

Put it all in the blender to make a smooth mix.

At this point you can still adjust the ingredients to suit your own taste, in particular the garlic, chili and vinegar.

Edited September 28, 2006 by moody

[honeyblonde 0]

I have an excellent recipe for the sauce. It tastes just like I had in Cairo. I made it for a friend of mine who is also married to an Egyptian and she also says it tastes just like the sauce in Cairo. I'll post it for ya. The secret for the tang is vinegar.

Ok here's the recipe for the koshari sauce.

1 large can of whole peeled or crushed tomatoes

2 Tablespoons hot chili paste (I use Mexican chipotle sauce in a can. I like mine spicy so I use the whole can.)

1/4 cup of oil

8 cloves of garlic sliced (or more)

3 Tablespoons vinegar

1 Tablepoon of ground cumin

Salt pepper to taste

Fry the sliced garlic in oil until they start changing color.

Add the can of tomatoes and the chili paste, salt and pepper.

Bring to a gentle boil, turn the heat down to low.

Add the cumin and the vinegar, leave it simmering for 15 minutes.

Put it all in the blender to make a smooth mix.

At this point you can still adjust the ingredients to suit your own taste, in particular the garlic, chili and vinegar.

Ok, this sauce looks delicious. Doyou have the recipe for what to put it in or on too?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Ooooooooh Rahma nice pics !! That shwerma stand looks just like Palestine What you are calling "tamiya" looks like a felafel sandwich to me... is it ? I notice it doesn't have all the condiments that are de rigeur in the West Bank.... LOL you get all colors of the rainbow when they're done building your sandwich....

I need to dig out some more pics to post... I will have to post them in the threads though because I'm not able to post anything to the gallery any more

-MK