corner view: staple food

beans. i only recently discovered how fantastic beans are. D got completely into adamame beans 3-4 years ago. and that was my eye opener. i started adding beans to salads and other dishes. since my twin boys turned three last year and suddenly decided they wanted a say on what they put in their mouth (preferably deep fried or really sweet), i started using beans as my secret super ingredient. meaning i cook beans (or lentils or qiunoa), mash them and mix the paste with either minced meat, potato or tuna. then i add veggies, like zucchini, carrot, peppers, add egg and flour and cook on a pan, like meatballs. and the kids love them! and i love them too. not only because they taste good and are really healthy, but also because they make up a meal-in-one item, and the kids can eat them outside, like finger food, which is a really important factor these days, as we eat quite a lot of meals in the garden. and quite a lot of those meals are pretty spontaneous and not really around the table.

... potatoes and zucchinis

...mixed with well cooked white beans

...and voila!! absolute yummy finger food for the kids in the garden.

all i need to add then is some fresh veggies cut out, or some fruit for dessert - and they had a good and healthy meal!


i myself love to make bean salad. this one is my latest favorite. it's black beans, cranberrie beans (optional) and quinoa, with feta cheese, coriander and finely chopped onion. the dressing is made from olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and a touch of sugar. it's eatable perfection!

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a very common sort of stable food in israel is wheat or barley. but honestly, i'm not the biggest fan myself. as it is not allowed to cook on shabbat according to judaism, there are quite a few dishes that involves slow cooking. people can then prepare the dishes and place it in a slow cooker or oven on a lower temperature before shabbat sets in friday evening and the dish will be ready to eat for lunch on saturday (shabbat).

D's family are morrocan jews and so the traditional shabbat lunch at his parents house is the sephardi type of chamin (chamin is the name for the warm dishes served on shabbat, literally meaning warm). in a pot you mix barley, wheat or rice with meat or chicken, potatoes and eggs. everything turns brown during the slow-cooking process, even the eggs, and it - honestly - doesn't look that beautiful (if you ask me). i do like the meat, though. it's very tender and soft from the slow cooking process (which - by the way - in my opinion is the best way to prepare kosher meat. kosher meat is drained from blood and i don't think it is used best for a steak as it is not as juicy as non-kosher meat. but in these slow cooked dishes it works perfect!)

and then there's the cous-cous. obviously that plays a big role in a moroccan household. i don't make it myself, but we often bring it back from D's mother. she makes it with sweet chicken, that is, chicken cooked with raisins, nuts, carrots, apricots and spring onions. absolutely delicous!

but this is the middle east, so let's not forget staple food number one: hummus! chickpeas mashed and mixed with tehini and olive oil is eaten as a meal on its own with salad, eggs and pita breads. or used as a side dish with pretty much every meal that involves meat and/or bread.

more stable food from around the world:

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