Sabich (Israeli Vegetarian Sandwich) for #Food of the World

We are visiting the beautiful Middle Eastern country of Israel for this month's Food of the World event. Israeli cuisine includes local dishes by native Israelis and the Jewish dishes brought in by the Jews from the Diaspora. One of the most popular Israeli dish, Shashuka (eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce) was my fist pick for today, but then I saw this mouth watering Sabich sandwich on Serious Eats and it looked too good to pass up.

Sabich is an Israeli street food. It is supposed to be influenced from Iraqi Jewish immigrants. The Israelis took a traditional Iraqi breakfast spread of fried eggplants, boiled eggs etc and put it in a pita and made into a trendy delicacy.

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Vegetarian Gyros with Jackfruit

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Take-Away dishes from Metropulos, Santa Barbara

Dish: Vegetarian Gyros with Jackfruit
Gyro (pronounced as jiro) literally means 'turn' in Greek. But basically it is a dish made of meat cooked in a vertical rotisserie and then served wrapped in a pita with toppings. Gyro is out and out meat centered dish and this vegetarian version is far far away from it's origins.

All this talk about Gyro is because I'm cooking from a Greek take-out restaurant, Metropulos, in Santa Barbara for this week's BM and Gyro happens to be one of their specialties. But they make it meat and I made mine with jackfruit.

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Greek Nachos with Tzatziki Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Bring on the Nachos

Dish: Greek Nachos with Tzatziki Sauce

We are starting a brand new blogging marathon today and I picked a very interesting theme. It is 'Bring on your Nachos' and so for the next 3 days, I'm going to post some interesting Nacho recipes -- a little different from the cheese laden ones we are all used to.

These Greek Nachos have been on my mind ever since I watched Kelsey Nixon make them on The Kitchn. I bookmarked the recipe right away, but it took me all this while to get to making it.

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Cast-Iron Skillet Pita Bread

Pita bread is a quintessential element for any Middle Eastern meal. I already have a recipe for pita bread that is baked in the oven. This one is made on the skillet and the pitas turned out soft and delicious.

These pitas involve quite a bit of work, read the recipe thoroughly and plan accordingly. I don't usually add cooking and prep times to my recipes, but I thought it is important to add them here because I miscalculated the time and it took me past dinner time to make these pitas.
A 'Sponge' made by mixing some of the flour before preparing the dough is the secret to the success of these homemade pitas. Try these and I'm sure you'll love them.

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Tabbouleh, Hummus and Pita Platter

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 4: Middle East -- Tabbouleh, Hummus & Pita Platter

Our next stop for an amazing International Combo meal is in the Middle East. This Tabbouleh, Hummus, pita and falafel platter has been something I have planned to make for a very long time. Finally I made them all for the Mega marathon :-)

Tabbouleh is a traditional Middle Eastern dish. There are many versions for this bulgur wheat salad. This recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine and I'm assuming it is from Lebanon since it is more about the herbs and less about the bulgur grain itself.

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Vegetarian Pita Pizza with Meatless Meatballs

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight - 5 Ingredient Fix

Dish: Pita Pizza with Meatless Meatballs

Kids LOVE cheese, kids LOVE pizza, so it's only obvious that we have a pizza post for Kid's Delight: 5 ingredient fix, that I'm hosting this month right here. Thanks to Valli for giving me the opportunity to host.

Coming back to kids and their love of pizza, my 5 year old son is no different. He absolutely loves pizza and he thinks Friday is the best day of the week and he wants everyday to be a Friday just because they have pizza for lunch in school. He wanted me to make meatball pizza because he saw that flavor on the pizza box and wanted to see how it tastes. So, of course I had to make it for him.

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Baked Pita Bread

For the last day of BM# 15, I have a baked flat bread with yeast. Ever since I saw this recipe on Vardini’s blog, I wanted to make it. Recipe is from Fresh Loaf site and I used one of the variations suggested in the comments section – I used half all-purpose flour and half spelt flour to make it a little healthier. 

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