Week 23 - Egypt

FUL MEDAMES

Ful Medames may be the most ancient breakfast I've come across.  A simple dish made by stewing fava beans, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, onion and parsley, evidence of man eating a version of this have been discovered in Neolithic ruins!  (That's from as far as back as 10,000 BC.)  Whoa.

It was also one of the most surprisingly tasty breakfasts I've made.  Some, like the upcoming Bomboloni donut from Italy I expect to love.  Mashed beans with garlic and onion?  I wasn't expecting much.  But apparently, thousands of years of history and millions of people across several countries, (Ful Medames is enjoyed not only in Egypt but in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, etc.) aren't wrong.  Simply put - Ful Medames was delicious.

There's a lot to be said about the history of Ful Medames - apparently the fires that kept the bath waters of ancient Egypt warm also did double duty cooking breakfast for the citizens.  But I'm no Egyptologist, so let's just get to the actual food.

 Ful Medames is a dish that traditionally takes hours and hours to simmer away in a pot.  But I cheated by using a can of Ful I had purchased from the amazing ARZ Fine Foods Grocery store in Toronto.  Preparing the Ful Medames was as simple as sauteeing the garlic and onion until soft, adding the beans to simmer until hot, and then slightly mashing everything together.  The final product was garnished with lemon juice, olive oil and parsley and served with pita and a Mediterranean salad.

It didn't look the prettiest but was quite addictive.  We polished off the whole recipe and since then I've found myself wishing I had more...

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:

For Degree of Separation:

For Guestability:

"Come and get it!  I cooked you up some beans 'n garlic!"  Maybe not.

For Sustainability:

This would get a perfect five except it's addictive quality just left me wanting more.

For Overall Appeal:

Ful Medames deserves it's long-standing popularity.  Not only did it taste great, I suspect it was also highly nutritious.  Nutritious, delicious, and ease to prepare - it's the breakfast cook's Triple Crown.

As many of you know today is the first day of the Lunar New Year.  Happy Year of the Water Snake!  To celebrate, I'm working on a special edition all about Seollal - South Korea's lunar year festivities.

Week 19 - الإفطار - Tunisia

SHAKSHOUKA

Have you ever heard of Shakshouka?  No?  Me neither.  But apparently it is a popular breakfast for millions of people across North Africa, the Middle East and Turkey.

This breakfast with the fun, percussive name (which means "shaken" or a "mixed up") seems to have originated in Tunisia and travelled across to Israel where today it is very popular.  A similar dish called Menemen is popular in Turkey. (But that's the subject of another post...)

Shakshouka is a lovely spicy tomato stew with poached eggs that is sopped up with french baguette.  I decided to go with the Tunisian version mainly because it meant I got to use up the Harissa paste that had been lingering in my fridge.  (Harissa is a Tunisian spice mixture made with many chilis, garlic, coriander, caraway seeds and other secret ingredients.)

It seems to be that the breakfasts I look forward to the least end up being the best and Shakshouka definitely fell into that category.  The instant Shakshouka hit my tongue I was in love - it was amazingly fragrant and delicious.  Spicy and savoury with just a hint of licorice, this is one breakfast that wakes up your senses.

Shakshouka has the added bonus of being a really healthy well-rounded meal as well.  The stew is chock-full of vegetables, the eggs add some protein, and the bread, well that's just there because fresh baguette is delightful...

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:






Unfortunately, Shakshouka took quite a bit of work and some time to prepare.  The good news is that it makes for fantastic leftovers.

For Degree of Separation:

Five Cheerios!  I've never eaten anything like this before.

For Guestabililty:

Shakshouka loses points in this category just because it is so spicy!

For Sustainability:

For Overall Appeal:

Shakshouka was hearty, nutritious and best of all scrumptious.  Everything you want in a great breakfast.  Word has it that it makes a great supper too!

Stay tuned, I promise we'll get to those fun Christmas breakfasts very soon....

Week 15 - Ethiopia

GUNFO

Ethiopia has a rich culinary tradition and breakfast is no exception.  For the Ethiopian Breakfast entry I could've chosen to make Fit-fit (shredded injeera with spices), Dulet (a spicy meat dish), Fatira (fried pancake with egg and honey), Chechebsa (spicy pancake), or Kinche (spicy cracked wheat).  But for some reason I settled on Gunfo - Barley Porridge with Spicy Butter.

Unfortunately for me, (and my poor mother who was visiting at the time), Gunfo is probably the least delicious of the breakfasts we've made so far.  Even my Ethiopian colleague commented, when she found out we made Gunfo, "Oh no!  Gunfo is not delicious!"  But I digress...

Niter Kibbeh

Gunfo is a stiff porridge made traditionally from barley flour (wheat flour can be substituted).  It's formed into a volcano shape and in the spout you pour Niter Kibbeh (clarified butter infused with garlic, ginger and other spices) and top with a generous helping of Ethiopia's favourite spice mix, Berbere.

Berbere Spice Blend

As we already had some Niter Kibbeh on hand (who doesn't?), and my Ethiopian co-worker had been extremely generous and gotten me some Berbere spice straight from Ethiopia, Gunfo was a snap to prepare and extremely inexpensive.  Just stir water and barley flour over low heat until it forms a thick paste and, presto, you have Gunfo.

As for how it tasted:  I won't say it tasted bad, it was just that the barley flour porridge was extremely bland and had a unpleasant paste-like texture.  The Niter Kibbeh with the Berbere spice was fantastic however.  It was deliciously buttery and spicy and gave a good inkling that probably the other breakfast options that incorporated it would've been great...

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:





Gunfo took a measly 10 minutes on the stovetop to prepare.

For Degree of Separation:

For Guestability:





Sorry Mom!  But thanks for being such a great sport...

For Sustainability:







A little hard to judge as I don't think either of us ate enough to tell.

For Overall Appeal:






I quite enjoy Ethiopian food on the whole, but Gunfo was not something I want to add to my normal breafast rotation.  Perhaps later I'll go back and try one of the other breakfast options Ethiopia has to offer...

Next up, a quick bite in Cuba!

Week 2 - Morocco

BEGHRIR & AMLOU

Welcome back!  From our adventures last week in Spain we travel across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco.

I love Moroccan food, but I have to admit that it doesn't make it to my table very often.  Perhaps I feel intimidated by the slow process of cooking a proper Tagine, I'm not sure.  I do know that after experimenting this week with their interesting combinations of sweet and savoury I'll be making an effort to learn more about Moroccan cooking.

Moroccan breakfast centres on sweet flavours ("hurray", says my Lucky Charms-loving sweet tooth), and usually consists of an assortment of breads served with various spreads.  For the sake of time (and to make sure we eat breakfast before the sun goes back down) I decided to focus on Beghrir served with Amlou, Honey-Butter, and Orange Marmalade.

Beghrir are similar to pancakes with a few small distinct differences.  Instead of baking powder, yeast is used as a leavening agent which results in the thousands of small holes Beghrir is famous for.  Another difference is that the batter uses semolina flour in addition to a small amount of conventional all purpose flour and is only cooked on one side.  The result is a light, tender flatbread that is a cross between a crepe and a pancake.  The thousands of tiny holes are perfect for catching the flavour of whatever you put on it.

Amlou is a traditional Moroccan spread made with almonds, argan oil, and honey - sort of a delicious sister to peanut butter.  My family can attest to my love of peanut butter, so it wasn't shocking that I loved Amlou.  Honey and almonds are a great combo that should be enjoyed together more often.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any argan oil in time for this week's breakfast (I did notice it not even one day later at the amazing Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws) but olive oil served as a suitable substitute.

I also whipped up a delicious Honey-Butter spread (really just some microwaved butter with honey) which I've been enjoying ever since this breakfast on all manner of fruits and vegetables.

And finally, I purchased some Seville Orange Marmalade at our local grocery store.  The authenticity of the orange marmalade I wasn't too sure about, but jams are popular with Beghrir and oranges are popular in Morocco, so I decided to put two and two together and give it a shot.

When it came to how it all paired together, I have to say that the Beghrir really shone the most with just the drizzled Honey-Butter.  The semolina lent them an interesting whole wheat flavour that deserved to be noticed outside of the decadent Amlou.  (not that I would omit the Amlou entirely)

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:







The Beghrir themselves were simple to prepare, but it was time-consuming to create both Beghrir and Amlou from scratch.

For Degrees of Separation:

For Guestability:

These were delicious and would be great fun to eat with guests.

For Sustainability:  

The protein from the almonds added a little extra energy that lasted well until lunch.

Overall Appeal:

Beghrir were definitely fun and Amlou may make it into my regular rotation.  But we're hankering for something a little bit more outside the box.  So join us next week as we tackle India!