Cardamom and Tea

za’atar chickpeas and yellow rice with jajik

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I got kind of carried away with dessert in November and December (maybe you can relate?). There were 2 cakes (baklawa-filled honey cake and persimmon upside-down cake), three cookies (tahini molasses cookies, cardamom and tea ghraybeh, and rosewater and cardamom gingersnaps), and I even kicked off January with nine healthy-ish stuffed date versions of classic dessert recipes.

When I wasn’t pushing carbs and sugar, I was posting lots of holiday recipes and sides, which aren’t always great for easy, healthy, weeknight cooking. So one of my New Year’s resolutions is to post a few new weeknight meals every month, and to get back to some balance. January’s going pretty alright so far, with succotash shakshuka, jajik chicken with za’atar potatoes, flat bean stew, and this delicious chickpea and rice dish to close out the month.

If you’re a Cardamom and Tea regular, or if you eat a lot of Middle Eastern food, you might already be familiar with jajik. It’s really similar to other Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Mediterranean yogurt sauces, and it can involve a lot of different herbs, veggies, and even a few different dairy products. There’s no one magic, authentic jajik formula, and everyone makes theirs a little (or sometimes very) differently.

The herb and spice blend, za’atar, has the same reputation for variety. It’s often made with the same components (thyme, sumac, and sesame), but many varieties use entirely different ingredients, and just about everyone makes it with their own particular ratio. So this particular meal is pretty infinitely customizable, and it will change a lot depending on how you make (or buy) your jajik and za’atar. But don’t worry, you kind of can’t go wrong.

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za’atar chickpeas and yellow rice with jajik

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  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 to 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

For the yellow rice:

  • 1 cup basmati (or another long grain) rice
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 pinch saffron (optional)
  • 1 1/3 cups water (plus more for soaking and rinsing)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

For the chickpeas:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons za’atar
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 of 1 lemon, thinly sliced into small pieces

For the jajik sauce:

  • 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
  • 1 to 2 cloves garlic (to taste), crushed through a press or finely minced
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons minced herbs (any combination of cilantro, parsley, dill, and/or mint)
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 8 radishes, cut in half and thinly sliced
  • Lemon wedges

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).
  2. Make the yellow rice: Soak the rice for 5 minutes, covered by about an inch of water. Swish it around, strain it, and then rinse it with new water for about 15 seconds. Let the excess water drain away. If the water that drains away isn’t clear, soak it for 2 more minutes and repeat.
  3. Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the turmeric and saffron and stir it for just a couple seconds.
  4. Add in the drained rice, 1 1/3 cups water, and salt, stir together, and bring to a simmer over high heat. Once simmering, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 14 minutes. Do not stir it or open the lid while it cooks (work on the chickpeas while you wait).
  5. Once 14 minutes have passed, turn off the heat and let it rest, covered. Do not lift the lid at any point.
  6. Roast the chickpeas: Combine the olive oil, za’atar, garlic, and salt.
  7. Place the chickpeas and lemon in a pile on a sheet pan. Pour the spice oil over them and mix together with your hands to coat everything evenly. Shake everything out into a single layer.
  8. Roast for about 20 minutes (stir halfway through), until light brown and crispy. Discard any burnt bits of lemon (they did their job).
  9. Make the jajik sauce: While the chickpeas are roasting and the rice is cooking/resting, combine the yogurt, garlic, 1/4 cup of the herbs, extra virgin olive oil, black pepper, and salt. Stir until the oil is no longer floating on the surface.
  10. Once the rice is ready, fluff it with a fork and place it in a large serving bowl. Top with the chickpeas and stir just a little. Top with a few spoon-fulls of the jajik, the radishes and 1 tablespoon minced herbs.
  11. Serve with more jajik, radishes, herbs, and lemon wedges on the side.

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shakshukotash

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My friend Kate always chooses what to order based on the name. When I first learned this about her, I was skeptical, until I noticed that she always ended up with the most delicious thing on the menu, time and time again. And so I’m not sure whether I decided to cook succotash and shakshuka together because of Kate’s influence (should it be shakshukotash or succoshuka?), or simply because these two traditional dishes are a match made in heaven. But either way, I’m glad I did, because it’s become my new favorite way to cook eggs.

Succotash is a Native American dish, usually made with simmered shelled beans and corn. It’s influenced many American cuisines, especially in the southern and eastern US (check out Jessica B. Harris’ Summer Southern Succotash and Lolis Eric Elie’s Creole Succotash for two fabulous examples). It’s often made with lima beans, but many adaptations rely on a range of different shell beans (and in Harris’ recipe, okra!).

While succotash makes a perfect late summer meal, you can even enjoy it in the middle of winter without sacrificing quality, since all of the key ingredients are delicious frozen or canned. Lima beans are hard to find in my neighborhood, so I used a frozen lima-soy-pea blend to develop this recipe, but any green shelled beans will work beautifully here (fresh fava beans, for instance, go great with tomato and would be wonderful here). For the second part of the succotash equation, you can use always-classic sweet corn, but I also love this starchy Asian variety of purple waxy corn, which gelatinizes into chewy, sticky grains when it’s heated. It’s basically like the corn version of sticky rice.

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shakshukotash

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  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
  • 1 cup corn (from about 1 ear)
  • 1 cup shell beans (any combination of frozen lima beans, soy beans, or fava beans)
  • salt, to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon)
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed through a press or finely minced
  • 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
  • 4 eggs
  • optional: chopped cilantro or parsley to garnish
  • for serving: pita bread or toast

Instructions

  1. Place a skillet over medium-high heat and add the butter (or olive oil). Once it melts, add the corn, beans, and salt to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes until everything lightly browns.
  2. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic. Stir together for about 30 seconds, and then add the diced tomatoes.
  3. Stir and cook everything for 3 minutes, just until the tomato sauce thickens slightly.
  4. Use the back of your wooden spoon to make four little indentations for the eggs. Crack 1 egg into each indentation. Season with some salt, to taste. Immediately cover, and cook for about 4 minutes for runny egg yolks, or 5 minutes for soft-set, custardy, slightly runny egg yolks.
  5. Check the eggs by poking the white near the yolk with a knife and gently poking the yolk with your finger. If the whites do not ooze and the yolk still feels jiggly, they should be perfect. Once they are done, serve immediately. If the whites are not set, continue cooking them covered, checking every 45 seconds to see if they are done.
  6. Garnish with some chopped cilantro or parsley and serve with bread on the side

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