Tunisian Tbikha of Turnips, Saniya, Tahini Sauce and Harissa

This week I started moving my recipes to a Wiki site for easier management and to allow for searchability. Just click on the links and they will take you directly to the recipes. Thank goodness for my IT day-job!

Remember the z'hug I made a few weeks ago (recipe here)? We're going to use it again this week in a wonderfully simple dish called Saniya -- meatballs with a tahini/tomato sauce. We also have another vegetarian dish for my veggie friends out there, Tbikha of Turnips with Spinach and Fava Beans.

The Tbikha is an extremely healthful and easy-to-digest dish. It's best served over brown rice with a lot of homemade harissa. Tbikha is a Tunisian dish; the Tunisians, like the Yemini, love spicy food. The Romans, Turkish, French and Arabs all left their marks on Tunisian cooking.

The version of harissa I make is piquant, but not necessarily as spicy as the harissa you find in many middle-eastern stores. The dried New Mexican or Chipotle peppers used to make it can be found in the Mexican food section of your grocery store, or at any corner market carrying dried chili peppers.

Saniya (sinia, siniya, snia, snniya) is an arab dish, most commonly found in Israel. In this casserole you find strong influences from Turkey, where meat is extremely prevalent (think kebabs and bbq) and tahini sauce that's so good, it's drinkable!

As a sidenote, the tahini sauce can be used over many dishes. Try boiling some eggs, cutting them in half, taking out the cooked yolk and filling with parsley and tahini sauce...yum! It's great over any meat or salad, with pita...the uses are endless.

Enjoy!

--Adam

Vegetarian Hashwa (filling) for Stuffed Vegetables

The recipe I posted earlier this week for the Iraqi Stuffed Zucchini has an alternative, vegetarian stuffing that is absolutely delicious. This version is made with chickpeas instead of meat and is just as good as the non-vegetarian version. The secret, if you have the time, is to cook the chickpeas yourself. This is for you Rebekah and Chen!

Iraqi Hashwa Chickpea and Rice Filling (Hashwa Houmous), prep time 15 minutes, total cooking time (with chickpeas) 8-10 hours.
Fills about 2 lbs. of vegetables

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried chickpeas, washed and drained (be sure to check for small stones) or substitute 1 16oz. can of cooked chickpeas
  
• 1/4 onion, roughly chopped (for cooking with the chickpeas)
• 1/2 tsp. cumin (for cooking with the chickpeas)
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda (for cooking with the chickpeas)
  
• 1 onion, very finely diced
• 3 Tbsp. fresh, not dried, celery leaves, very finely diced (you may substitute 1/2 a stalk of celery very finely diced if you can't find celery with the leaves)
  
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tomato, peeled and chopped (optional)
• 3 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. ground cardemom
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Skip steps 1-6 if you are using canned chickpeas
   
2. Soak the chickpeas overnight (or for at least 8 h
3. ours)
4. Drain the chickpeas and place in a pot on the stove. Cover with about 1+1/2" of water and begin to bring to a boil.
5. Dice the 1/4 onion and place it in the water with the chickpeas. Add the cumin, baking soda (this will help the chickpeas soften fully) and about 1 tsp. of salt.
6. Cover and reduce heat to an extremely low simmer (if using gas, your flame should be so low that it almost extinguishes). Cook for at least 3 hours and up to 5 hours.
   
7. Drain the chickpeas and rinse with cold water.
   
8. Grind the chickpeas and cooked onions in a food processor, into a very coarse paste. Do not puree -- the best consistency is dry and grainy.
9. Add the chickpeas to a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Knead by hand until thoroughly blended. Don't fill the vegetables more than 2/3 full to allow for expansion of the rice.