Spices, Food and Pictures

I just love spices and flavors from different parts of the world. The Middle Easts has it's share of some amazing variety. A lot of the flavor is dominated by one spice in particular, namely Cumin.

This little spice shop was delightful. I brought back a few little containers for experimenting.

One of the big "street foods" in Israel is "Shwarma". It's sliced turkey,chicken or lamb. Threaded onto a massive skewer that spins around some heat elements for cooking. they serve it in a pita or on a plate with salad, dressing and pickled vegetables. The spices they use to make the Shwarma gives it it's unique flavor. So I bought some to try at home. I used chicken thighs and grilled them. I let the spice rub marinate overnight.

It was delicious! Strangely the chicken (even though it looks like it) took on this dark brown color. I cooked it on indirect heat, so it didn't burn. But something in the spice mix gave it this color. Any thoughts?

To go along with it, I made some Israeli Coleslaw. Red and green cabbage, with a tehina dressing. (tehina, water, toasted sesame oil, 1 clove of garlic and lemon juice. salt and pepper to taste)

While in Tel Aviv we ate at a "grill" restaurant for my mom's birthday.

Didn't look like much from the outside, but no need to judge a book by it's cover.

The food was outrages. The middle east (this includes, southern italy, greece and spain) loves their appetizers.

Salads, pickled veggies, eggplant marinated and "mushed up" in several different way. The grilled kebabs of chicken,beef,lamb were so tasty,but I did not snap a pic.

This is an entrance point to the old city in Jerusalem known as the "Jaffa Gate"

Make it a great week.