I have never enjoyed cooking just for the sake of cooking; I cook because we want to eat food. Mostly, I have made the same kinds of food and never watched cooking shows on television or bought recipe books. Now that I am working on cooking healthier foods, I have been watching youtube videos and learning how to use different foods and making new recipes, like the lentil bread I made yesterday. I actually have cooking books in my kindle library, too, because I get them when Amazon has them for free on special. One of my favorites is called “Yeung Man Cooking”, and he is a Chinese man who narrates in a nice voice as he cooks and does not spend half of the video showing you how to grate a carrot or chop an onion like some of the videos do. He doesn’t chatter his way through the video either (which I hate), and by the end of the video, you know their whole life story as well as why they like making this particular recipe. Or the opposite, where everything is in some strange language with (sort of) an English translation underneath at the bottom of the screen, and you have to try and figure out how much of each ingredient they are actually using, and sometimes, what that ingredient even is. Even so, I have learned to enjoy most of these, skipping through the chatterbox talk until they actually make the recipe, and with the ones in a foreign language, I can often follow the written instructions provided.
I have enjoyed the Townsend videos, mostly for their historical value. I also watch Elliott Homestead and 1870s Homestead, but not the regular cooking videos. Tasting History is sometime a hoot as well.
I just made this meal tonight for our dinner. I don’t have the cucumbers, so I made a quick order from Walmart, but (wouldn’t you know) they were out of cucumbers, and do not allow substitutions, so they didn’t bring me any kind of cucumber at all. So, we had the meal without the added cucumber, and it was still delicious, and simple to prepare. He said to bake the chick peas, but it is just way too hot for the oven unless necessary, so I just cooked them in a small pan on the stovetop until they were coated with the seasonings. Bobby had his with cheese on top, but I do not remember ever eating any kind of Chinese food meal with cheese, so I just added a bit of soy sauce on mine. You can watch the video, but the recipe explains everything and it is easy to follow, so I am just posting the screenshot instead.
I had never even heard of it before, so I looked it up online and saw that it had some of the same things as my Italian seasoning, so I used that instead. I doubt if walmart even carries any of this kind of seasoning, so I would probably have to get it on Amazon. Where did you get yours, @John Brunner ? What does it taste like ? I am looking at amazon, and it looks like there are different varieties of it, and very different spices in them. One has cumin, several have marjoram, one has sumac. Is that the same sumac as the tree, or something else ? I am SO lost here, John …….please advise.
I like to make my own spice blends for lots of reasons: (1) it's cheaper (2) it uses up spices I already have (3) I get to control the salt and don't pay $20 a pound for it. But when I looked up za'atar I, too, saw sumac and something else that I could not find locally (I think it was savory), so I bought za'atar at Kroger of all places. It was their Private Collections house brand. (Who woulda thunk it?) I also wondered about poison sumac. This is from Wiki: Sumac is used as a spice, as a dye, and in medicine. The spice sumac is made of the berries the plant produces. Poison sumac is a woody shrub with white berries and is not taxonomically related. I could not find out why they share the name. Apparently you can find sumac in ethnic grocery stores (in the Middle Eastern or Mediterranean sections.) I did not think of looking in my local Indian market. Perhaps they also carry savory. I used za'atar when I was going through my grilled homemade flatbread phase. It's very good on it. Your comment made me look up other ways to use it that I might try.
Apparently, the sumac spice does come from the fruit of the sumac tree. In Idaho, we had what is called stag horn sumac, but there are over 30 varieties, and most are not used as a spice. Sumac is in the cashew family, which in turn, is in the same family as poison ivy. I looked at several brands listed on Amazon, and finally settled for this one, which is a smaller bottle, to see how well I like it.
I saw some reference that sumac is related to cashews, but I did not know that cashews are related to poison ivy. I now see that sumac, poison sumac, poison ivy and cashews are all in the same family (but different genuses and species.) Since we're [literally] wading through the weeds: The cashew seed (technically not a nut) is surrounded by a double shell that contains an allergenic resin that is related to urushiol (the oil on poison ivy and poison sumac.) Back to the spice...I really like za'atar on fresh flat breads. Here is one list of foods that za'atar is supposed to be good on. I plan on trying some of this, since I have a whole jar of the stuff. As a salad seasoning Sprinkled over slices of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers Sprinkled over grilled or roasted vegetables such as potatoes, eggplant and cauliflower Sprinkled over baked potatoes, baked potato wedges, or French fries Sprinkled over kabobs and skewered meat or veggies As a marinade for chicken or lamb Added to your falafel mix Sprinkled over hummus or baba ganoush Sprinkled over labneh Sprinkled over fried eggs Added to cream cheese, goat cheese or Greek yogurt for a cracker spread or dip On sandwiches and wraps Sprinkled over popcorn