Cardamom and Tea

how to write a reliable recipe

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To my friends who are stopping by to find something delicious to make, check back in a couple days for an autumnal quince cake, or feel free to stick around if you want a little behind the scenes look into recipe developing. And to my fellow recipe developers, this post is for us! I’ve been reading and thinking a lot lately about what makes a recipe reliable, so I thought I’d throw in my two cents. Plus I’ve shared my own process at the end of this post, for anyone who’s interested.

I’ll start by saying the most important thing: There is more than one right way to write a recipe. Everyone’s process is different, but you can pretty much split things into two categories, which I’m calling the quantifiable approach and the instructional approach.

Folks who take a more quantifiable approach opt for something similar to the kinds of recipes you’d find in a conventional cookbook. On the other hand, some folks take a more instructional approach—for instance, consider the kinds of recipes you might learn orally from a family member, what you might find on a technique-focused cooking show like Lidia Bastianich’s, or a brilliantly conceptual illustrated guide like Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.

And I’m here to tell you: neither the quantifiable nor the instructional approach is inherently better or more accurate. And neither is mutually exclusive. There are reliable and unreliable versions of each, and writing a reliable recipe is simply a matter of communicating well.

It’s completely possible to write an absolutely inaccurate and unhelpful recipe that’s got plenty of measurements, times, temperatures, and all sorts of quantifiable information up the wazoo. For instance, let’s say you find a macaron recipe that lists everything in grams, but it just happens to be very poorly tested. You can follow that recipe as carefully as you want—it will always be a disaster.

It’s also possible to create an unhelpful instructional recipe that’s vague and confusing. We’ve all had that experience where we call our grandmother, asking for that cherished family recipe, but we don’t really know exactly what questions to ask, and she only has a few minutes to talk, so it just doesn’t end up translating in the kitchen. The problem is not that your grandmother isn’t providing precise enough measurements—it’s just that actually teaching that intuitive know-how takes a lot of time and effort and is an art form all its own.

But, lucky for us all, it’s absolutely possible to do both kinds of recipe developing well. In fact, we should all probably be doing some combination of both. So even if you find yourself on one side of the spectrum, there’s a lot that can be learned from the other side. Moreover, there are a few very general goals we recipe writers all* share in common, no matter how we get there:

universal recipe-writing goals:

  1. Ingredient quantities: The recipe must give readers the right idea of how much of each ingredient to use. This can be done either by providing a list of ingredients with accurate quantities, or by giving readers the tools and know-how they will need to decide the quantities for themselves (or both!).
  2. Techniques and process: The recipe must communicate or demonstrate cooking techniques so that readers feel comfortable performing them at home. It must also communicate the whole process, leaving no step out. This can be done in a number of ways, not limited to conventionally written recipes.
  3. Doneness: The recipe must explain how to know when something is done. This might be a set amount of time or an internal temperature, or it might be a description of what to look/smell/feel for to know when something is done (again, or both!).
  4. Accuracy. This does not necessarily mean you must provide a list of precise measurements and temperatures and times. It simply means that whatever information you have given (whether it’s quantities or descriptions or both) is true. A lot more on that in a minute.
  5. Notes (bonus): While not absolutely necessary, it can be really useful to include some notes about substitutions, solutions to potential pitfalls, words to the wise, etc. Any context you can give is best left for the headnote or end notes.

Ok so! We all want to achieve the same thing: We want to communicate something true and useful, to give people whatever tools they’ll need to create something delicious. But depending on our preferred recipe-writing style, there are better and worse ways to get there. Quantifiable and instructional recipes each have their own rules and expectations; you’ve just got to know what yours are and then commit to them:

the quantifiable way

Let’s say that you want to write a recipe where you give a list of ingredient quantities, with very precise measurements given for everything. There are effective and ineffective ways to go about doing this. I’m going to use bechamel sauce as an example, because mac and cheese sounds really good right now.

The bottom line: Numbers are only useful if they’re based in reality (especially if they’re representing weight). If you’re going to provide a number, make sure it’s actually accurate, or make it clear that it’s an estimation.

🚫 A less effective way: You head to the kitchen, cook the dish, taste it, and decide it’s delicious. You then sit down, and approximate how much you used of everything after the fact. Let’s say you think maybe you used about 240g/1 cup of milk in your bechamel sauce, and you think you let the roux sizzle for about 5 minutes. You write these numbers into the recipe, without any indication that they are approximations. If you didn’t actually measure and record it carefully, whatever number you write down is not going to be super helpful to the reader.

✅ A more effective way: You write up a recipe draft with quantities, times, temperatures, and descriptions of the method and technique. You head to the kitchen, and you carefully measure each ingredient, time, and temperature as you go. You make a few changes to the recipe as you go, but you record those changes to make sure they’re reflected in the final recipe. For example: Maybe you originally thought you’d use 60g/1/2 cup of shredded cheese in your bechamel, but it turns out you actually needed 120g/1 cup, so you made sure to record that change. Or maybe you thought the roux would need 5 minutes, but it actually only needed 3, so you recorded the new number. You also include some helpful descriptions of how to know when something is done, how to adjust for mistakes or inconsistencies, etc. (some of these details might be in the headnote or foot notes of the recipe).

🚫 Another less effective way: You write up a recipe with volumetric measurements in cups and tablespoons/teaspoons, you test it carefully, but then decide you want to include grams later on, so you decide to backwards engineer gram estimations from cups. Here’s the problem: if you’re going to include a precise weight, it has to be 100% accurate—volume is always somewhat of an estimation, but there’s no wiggle room with grams. So while you can absolutely translate grams into volumetric measurements after the fact (with the help of an accurate conversion chart), you can’t translate cups into to grams after the fact and still maintain accuracy.

the instructional way

Let’s say that super specific times, temperatures, and quantities aren’t really your thing. You might’ve even read the above descriptions and been super stressed out by the idea of recipe developing in such a restrictive way. That’s ok! There is more than one right way to teach someone how to cook something, and sometimes a more instructional approach works even better.

The bottom line: Instructional recipes are not just standard recipes minus the measurements—without precise measurements, you must do a lot more teaching and demonstrating to make sure your reader walks away with the tools they’ll need to improvise and estimate.

Let’s stick with the bechamel example, and explore how that would look from a more instructional perspective:

✅ One effective way: You make a video where you show how much of each ingredient you use, you demonstrate and explain all the necessary techniques and steps (e.g., making a roux, “folding in the cheese,” etc.), and you show exactly how the sauce’s texture should look when it has the right amount of flour, butter, and cheese. You also explain things like how to correct for too much flour, and you give the viewer enough guidance that they feel comfortable making the dish without having to measure anything.

✅ Another effective way: You write up a guide that outlines all of the important above features of making bechamel sauce, and you perhaps even include illustrative photos, so that your reader can try it on their own with confidence. If you give any approximated numbers, you give them explicitly as an estimation, and you put more emphasis on what to look/listen/feel for.

For example: “Melt about 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once it melts, gradually stir in enough flour so that it forms a thick and bubbly paste (about 2 to 3 tablespoons). It should start out about the consistency of pancake batter: if you drag your spoon across the bottom, it should take a couple seconds to fill back in, but it shouldn’t be super thick and doughy either. If it’s super thin to start with, add a little more flour, and if it’s too thick and gluey, add a little more butter until it reaches the right consistency. After a few minutes of cooking while stirring constantly, the bubbles will start to subside a bit and it will thin out significantly; it should become runny enough that it quickly fills in the gap when you drag your spoon across the bottom of the pan, and it will start to smell nutty. At this point, start to gradually pour in about 2 to 3 cups of milk while you whisk constantly. Stop adding milk once the sauce is still quite thick, but no longer gloopy; it should be pourable, but not thin.”

Since you’re not providing precisely tested measurements for a roux, you’re sure to give the reader the tools they need to figure out how much flour, butter, and milk to add for themselves.

🚫 A less effective way: You give a vague account of how to make something, but you leave out some key concepts and steps. You don’t give enough detail about how to know when something is done, how to determine about how much of an ingredient to add, or how to correct for adding too much of one ingredient or not enough of another. You don’t give much of a description or demonstration of what the dish should look/smell/feel like when it’s made correctly. You provide some untested quantity/time/temperature approximations, but you don’t specify that they’re only estimations and not meant to be followed to a tee.

my recipe writing process

The funny thing is, the way you cook for fun or necessity might have nothing to do with the way you write a recipe. For instance, when I cook for fun, I almost never measure anything. Whenever I follow a recipe for fun, I can’t help but use my own intuition, I eyeball pretty much everything, and I often end up spontaneously making major changes.

But when I’m writing a recipe, I tend much more toward the quantifiable side. However, I also try to include as much instructional detail as possible so that readers feel like they can use their intuition if they want to. I try to include these details in the notes (either the headnote or foot notes), especially if they’re longer. So, like most recipe developers, I like to include a bit of both.

While I test my recipes in grams (yes, including the garlic!), I absolutely do not expect that readers will carefully measure every single ingredient. It’s just that if I provide a specific amount, it’s important that it’s an accurate number that I didn’t just pull out of nowhere. That way, when readers do improvise, they have more information to work with and can do their own thing with more confidence.

So I thought I might as well share my own method with you here today. This isn’t the method I’ve always used, but I’ve developed it over the years, and it’s what I do these days. If you want more information about how to find inspiration to create your own recipe/how to credit others, read that post first. But here is the step-by-step of what I do after the point of inspiration:

  1. I write the ingredient list: I jot all the ingredients down in my notebook, then I write down the quantities I think I’ll use. I try not to get hung up on formatting and accuracy yet. It’s just to get a rough outline down on paper. Once I’ve finished sketching things out, making adjustments, and thinking it through, I transfer it to a doc on my computer, putting them in the order they’ll be added to the recipe.
  2. I format the ingredient list: If I’m including both weight and volume, I make sure every ingredient has both and that they’re formatted consistently. If I start by saying “1 cup milk (240g),” the rest of the recipe should read with grams in parentheses at the end and volume or number of items at the front. For some recipes, it’s really important that the reader uses a very specific amount of something. In those cases, I try to avoid giving the number of items, and instead I just say how many cups or grams to use (grams will always be more accurate, but cup of prepped ingredients are still more accurate than number of items). So for my carrot cake recipe, I say to use “325g grated carrots (3 cups),” rather than saying how many carrots you should use, since carrots vary in size and the cake could get messed up from using too few or too many. Alternatively, if the preparation is complicated, sometimes I say something more like “about 5 medium carrots” in the ingredients, then I describe how to prep them in the recipe in detail, and I note their weight/volume after prepping within the recipe itself. In some cases, the quantity doesn’t matter quite as much, and I will just say the number of items instead of an exact measurement. So, for instance, in a carrot slaw, I might just say to use “6 medium carrots, shredded” instead of specifying the exact cups/grams of shredded carrots. Any ingredients that can be listed in their prepped form should be. And anytime you’re listing the number of cups or spoons of something, make sure it’s of the prepped ingredient. Never write “3 cups of carrots”—always write something like “3 cups of 1/2-inch diced carrots” instead, since you can’t measure 3 cups of whole carrots. If you want to explain how to prep something within the recipe instructions, say either “6 medium carrots” or “6 medium carrots (390g)” and then explain how to prep them in the instructions. With this whole prepped ingredients thing in mind, always remember to be careful where you place the comma. For example, “4 medium carrots, 1/2-inch diced” works just fine. You’ve got 4 medium carrots, *comma*, and now you’re gonna dice them. Likewise, “2 cups of 1/2-inch diced carrots” works great as well. Or even “2 cups of 1/2-inch diced carrots, from about 4 medium carrots (260g)” if you want to get really specific. But you’d never want to say something like “2 cups of carrots, 1/2-inch diced” because (as you now know) you can’t measure 2 cups of whole carrots. This reads as though you’re asking the reader to measure 2 cups of whole carrots and then dice them, which is super confusing. It might seem really nit-picky, but it’s a recipe-writing standard practice for a reason—readers will not necessarily notice when it’s done correctly, but placing the comma incorrectly will give some careful recipe-followers a moment of unclarity. Where do these numbers all come from? I have a calibrated chart that tells me how much average volumes of different ingredients weigh. I came up with this chart with a painstaking process a while ago, and it’s got just about everything listed accurately in numbers, cups, and grams. I often include volume, weight, and number of items in the recipe, but when I take the recipe into the kitchen I test exclusively in grams. More on that when we get to number 4.
  3. I write up the cooking method: I make sure that every step is accounted for, and whenever I can explain what to look/listen/feel for (more instructional details), I add that detail. I also include estimates of temperatures, times, and heat intensity, and I’m careful to note what equipment to use when it comes up in the recipe. I like to split my method up into numbered steps, but some recipe writers prefer longer paragraphs instead. My recipes tend to run a little long, but some writers like to keep things short and to the point. I want even a novice to be able to make each of my recipes, so I assume no advanced cooking knowledge and tend to explain just about everything in detail, but some recipe writers take for granted that their readers will have more advanced cooking knowledge. For instance, I might describe the whole process of pan-frying something (what kind of pan to use, how much oil, what kind of oil, how hot the oil should be, etc.), while another recipe developer might just simply say “pan fry the croquettes.” All of this is a matter of preference and depends on who you are writing for. I also like to add any notes on troubleshooting, substitutions, and extra helpful information to the foot notes at the bottom of the recipe, using asterisks to indicate when there’s more information. I generally think of the foot notes as things readers don’t necessarily need to know while they’re cooking, but that they might want to know while they’re reading the recipe ahead of time. You know, the kinds of things where if you included them in the recipe, readers would be standing over a hot stove, their eyes frantically darting back and forth skimming for relevant information, while they mutter “ok but how long will it take before I have to flip them?!” No one needs to know exactly how to make a buttermilk substitute while they’re just trying to get through a pancake recipe, but a note at the bottom is super useful to anyone who needs it.
  4. I take the recipe to the kitchen: I follow the recipe exactly as written. I measure everything in grams, I use timers, and I make sure I’m following every single step I’ve outlined for myself. Whenever something seems not quite right, I make a change and then note that change in the recipe. E.g., something might take longer than I think, or I might need to use more of something. This is to be expected, and it a crucial part of the process. It’s important to think on your feet, but you’ve absolutely got to record those changes. Since weight is the most accurate way of measuring, I test everything exclusively in grams. That way, when I test it again later, I can make adjustments and know that I didn’t accidentally add too much or too little last time or this time. It takes out a lot of the mystery of recipe developing and gives me maximum control. I do this even when I’m only planning on listing the number of items or the volume in the final recipe, because it keeps things consistent. For instance: Some days, my idea of a “medium clove of garlic” might be bigger than other days, but when I measure 10g of garlic crushed through a press, my calibrated chart tells me I should write 3 medium cloves [10g]. That way, most people will end up with just about the same amount I used, even if they don’t measure carefully. Some days 10g might look like 5 cloves, and some days it might look like 1 clove. Some non-measurers will add 5 cloves, some will add 1, but at least they won’t be so far off since I told them 3. I start with accuracy, so readers don’t have to.
  5. Once I’m done, I do a taste test, and then take notes on what I should change for next time. I edit the recipe, make a note at the top that it needs to be re-tested, and head back to the kitchen to try again (sometimes another day). Usually the problems are clear, and the answers are even clearer, but other times it’s not so obvious. Identifying the issues just takes a lot of tasting and thinking it through. And if I’m ever not sure how to solve a particular problem, I research it by reading lots of other recipes to compare mine to, and I even sometimes reach out to my community of recipe developing friends for help. Some things take trial after trial, some things you get right on the first try, but once you get the hang of it, most things take about 2 tries (when I first started, most things took 3 or 4 tries to get just right).

* I will say, it’s much, much harder to write a good baking recipe in the instructional tradition. It makes sense that bakers tend to generally be in the quantifiable camp. But I don’t think it’s impossible, and I do feel like there might just be some genius out there who has the special ability to teach people how to bake with intuition and without measuring, times, or temperatures. There are certainly people who can bake a perfect cake without measuring anything, but actually teaching that intuitive skill to another person is a whole other endeavor.

fattoush gazpacho

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I live in the southern hemisphere, but most of my friends and family (and most of the people who read my website, according to my google analytics… hi there! 🙋🏽‍♀️) live in the northern hemisphere. So apologies for the belated tomatoey post, but I’m hoping I made it just under the wire with this fabulous fattoush gazpacho. Find those last juicy tomatoes of summer, and make it happen.

And to my, like, 7 Australian friends (if you think you might be one of them, let me tell you, you are indeed one of them), hope you’re enjoying the nice warm spring we’ve been having, and that you’re getting excited for tomato season, which is right around the corner.

I’ve been working on some version of this recipe pretty much ever since I started this blog over three years ago, but it wasn’t until recently that I finally figured it out.

Long long ago, this was a hot lettuce soup, which is admittedly better than it sounds, but alas—worse than an actually good soup. Eventually, that hot lettuce soup turned into a chilled gazpacho with absolutely no lettuce in sight. It was the most delicious gazpacho I had ever had, but it was also one of the ugliest things I had ever created. The problem: fattoush is made up of a bunch of bright green things and a bunch of bright red things, and what do you get when you put those two colors together in a vitamix? You guessed it—beige soup! Not great!

Then finally, I figured it out. Two batches! Make one for all the green stuff, one for all the red stuff, pour them together in a bowl, give it a teensy swirl, and you’ve got something that’s as beautiful as it is delicious. Don’t bother washing your blender between each batch—just move the first batch to a storage container, give the blender a quick rinse, and move onto the next. Toast up some pita chips (on the stove, so you don’t have to heat up your whole home), pile them high and sprinkle with sumac, and you’re good to go.

Before I get to the recipe, let me just leave you with a couple quick gazpacho thoughts, especially for anyone who has reservations about gazpacho and chilled soups in general:

  • A lot of recipes will tell you to leave out the bread that’s blended in with the veggies in a traditional Andalusian gazpacho. I strongly encourage you not to skip it! Far from diluting everything, a little piece of bread helps carry all the other flavors while softening some of the punchier notes, sort of like adding a splash of cream to your coffee. So if you’ve ever had gazpacho and felt a bit like you were just made to suffer through a vodkaless bloody mary, allow me to be so bold as to say that I think you might actually enjoy one made with that little bit of bread blended in.
  • I’m not usually a big fan of soups that have a totally smooth consistency, which is why this fattoushey version of gazpacho is my favorite. The pita chips absolutely make the dish for me. If you’re like me, feel free to double the pita quantities in the recipe below so you’ll have plenty to serve (you may need to work in batches or use a wider pan). The photos in this post show the amount I usually start with (and perhaps the amount a normal human person would prefer to eat), but I tend to keep a bowl of pita chips nearby so I can add as many more as I want. Don’t ration them and feel free to go nuts!
  • There’s an ingredient in the recipe below that I have a feeling may irk some folks—and that, dear reader, is tomato paste. But honestly, it’s my secret to a super flavorful gazpacho, even if you’re stumbling upon this recipe deep in the heart of winter with intensely mediocre imported produce. On the other hand, if your tomatoes are just so perfect that you think they won’t need the boost, feel free to omit it. You can always add it after blending and tasting. But make sure you have some on hand, just in case they’re looking a little wan.
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fattoush gazpacho

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 1/2 hours
  • Yield: serves 6 as a starter, 4 as a soup course

Ingredients

for the soup:
7 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, hulled (930g / 2lb 1oz)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (30g), optional (if your tomatoes aren’t super ripe)
3 tablespoons lemon juice (45g), divided
3 medium garlic cloves (10g), divided
½ of 1 piece puffy Greek-style pita (40g), divided into 2 quarter pieces
2 tablespoons sumac
½ teaspoon black pepper
Salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (50g), divided
1 large persian cucumbers (135g)
1 small green bell pepper, seeded (185g)
1 small bunch green onions, roots trimmed away (80g)
⅔ packed cup mint leaves (15g)
½ packed cup parsley leaves (20g)

for the pita chips:
2 pieces puffy Greek-style pita (170g)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt, to taste

to serve:
Extra virgin olive oil
Sumac

Instructions

  1. Make the red half: Place the tomatoes in a blender, along with the tomato paste (optional), about half the lemon juice, half the garlic, one quarter piece of pita, all of the sumac, and all of the black pepper. Season to taste (about ¼ teaspoon salt). Blend until completely smooth. With the blender running, very slowly drizzle in half of the extra virgin olive oil through the small hole in the top of the lid, so that it emulsifies and becomes creamy. Remove the red half of the gazpacho by pouring it into a large measuring cup or another container with a pour spout. Rinse out the blender but don’t bother washing it.
  2. Make the green half: Place the cucumbers, bell pepper, green onions, mint, parsley, the other half of the lemon juice, the other half of the garlic, and the other quarter piece of pita in the blender. Season to taste (about 1 pinch). Blend until completely smooth, and again slowly drizzle in the other half of the extra virgin olive oil.
  3. Set both the red and green batches in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours.
  4. Make the pita chips while you wait: Cut the other pieces of pita bread into little triangles. Toss lightly in extra virgin olive oil and place in a skillet over medium heat. Top with a pinch of salt (to taste) and toss constantly for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and let them cook for about another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. They’re done once they’re crunchy, very chewy, and mostly dried out. Set aside to cool and dry out further.
  5. Once chilled, serve the soup with a handful of pita chips, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of sumac.

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the best way to make falafel + a recipe

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If you learned to make falafel from a grandparent who’s been making them forever, or if you’ve read a food science book or two, you probably already know two secrets for really good falafel:

1) start with raw soaked legumes, and
2) raise their pH with baking soda (or another similar edible base).

Raising the pH of the mix solves a very important problem: Without baking soda, the raw, soaked chickpeas will have a difficult time cooking all the way through in such a short deep fry. A very small amount of baking soda helps bean starches burst and gelatinize more quickly, so it’s the perfect thing for their brief dip in the deep fryer. Baking-soda-free balls would remain quite mealy and raw-tasting after frying, and they’d never really get to become the light and fluffy falafel we all know and love. Some folks add baking powder to the mix instead, which is a combination of an acid and a base; but baking powder is overall slightly basic, so it has a similar effect on chickpeas (if this makes you go “wait, how?!”, scroll down to the note on baking powder that’s above the falafel recipe). There are a few other tricks to making sure the chickpeas cook up nice and fluffy, so baking soda/powder is not absolutely essential to good falafel, but it’s a commonly used technique and works like a charm.

Raw chickpeas on the other hand are a non-negotiable. Why not just start with cooked chickpeas and cut out the need for baking soda in the first place, you might ask? Well, that would be a bit like making hash browns by starting out with mashed potatoes; I have to admit, fried mashed potatoes do sound delicious (I mean, that’s kind of almost like tater tots or potato chop, right? 😍), but they’re just not the same thing as hash browns, which absolutely must be made with raw grated potatoes to get the right texture. Similarly, you’d never make mashed potatoes by first puréeing raw potatoes and then cooking them, and likewise, you’d never make hummus by puréeing raw chickpeas and then boiling them. While it can be fun to play around with ingredients and techniques, sometimes an ingredient must be cooked at the right stage for a dish to really be itself.

If you ask me, recipes for deep fried balls of already-cooked chickpeas should really be called something more like “falafel-inspired bean croquettes” or “garbanzo-tots.” I mean, don’t look at me—naming things is not my strong suit, but those balls could take branding lessons from tater tots. Tater tots don’t try to masquerade as hash browns—they’re tots, and they’re very ok with that! But words mean things, and that’s especially important in preserving some essential features of cultural food icons like falafel. But anyway, I digress. On to the testing!

falafel testing: soaking water contents and times

What we already know, and what I’m testing

So anyway, we know that raw soaked chickpeas are essential for good falafel, and we know that baking soda helps them get that desired fluffy texture. Plenty of people have proven that using science and traditional practices. So I didn’t bother testing whether you can make falafel from canned chickpeas, or whether baking soda solution works better than plain old water, since we already know those answers (you definitely can’t, and it sure does!).

Instead, to satisfy my own curiosity, I thought it would be interesting to test different soaking strategies, asking two questions:

  1. How long do chickpeas need to soak in baking soda solution?
  2. Does it matter when you add the salt?

Why I’m testing these two variables

Adding salt to the soaking liquid tends to make beans hold their shape a bit more once cooked, so my worry was that adding salt to the soaking liquid might counteract some of that starchy gelatinization we’re working toward by adding baking soda. I normally add salt to the soaking liquid when I’m making beans for other recipes, and I was curious if adding the salt to the soaking liquid would have an effect on the chickpeas’ texture once fried.

But even more than the question of when to add the salt, I was super curious exactly how long chickpeas need to soak. I’ve always soaked mine for about 12 hours, but wondered if soaking them longer might lead to a significantly fluffier final product.

How the testing works

I tested 4 different soaking times/strategies, as well as 2 different kinds of soaking solutions, for a total of 8 different mixes.

The 4 soaking strategies were:

  • 12 hours at room temperature (22°C, or about 71 or 72°F)
  • 16 hours at room temperature
  • 24 hours in the refrigerator
  • 24 hours at room temperature (with the liquid changed once halfway through, since it’s not super safe to leave beans to soak for that long without changing their water)

The 2 soaking liquids contained:

  • baking soda on its own
  • salt + baking soda

here’s what I found

The bottom line: It doesn’t really matter whether you add salt later or earlier in the process, although the beans that were salted later were slightly fluffier overall. What matters the most is whether you soak your beans for as long as possible in baking soda solution. The best falafel of the bunch were soaked for 24 hours in a baking soda solution, with salt added directly to the mix instead of to the soaking liquid.

While the 24 hour baking soda falafel were the best, the 16 hour baking soda ones were also decent. The ones that soaked for 24 hours in the refrigerator did not take in enough water and were some of the worst (refrigeration really does seem to slow down the soaking process). The ones soaked for 12 hours were similar in texture to the refrigerated ones—12 hours at room temperature is not long enough to yield the best results.

While adding salt to the baking soda soaking liquid generally made them slightly less fluffy, this difference was much more noticeable with a medium soaking time. At 16 hours, the ones soaked with salt and baking soda were not very fluffy, while the ones soaked with only baking soda were noticeably fluffier, almost as fluffy as the ones soaked for 24 hours. But once it got to 24 hours, it all evened out, and the ones brined with salt and baking soda tasted very similar to the ones soaked with just baking soda. Still, the baking-soda-only ones slightly edged out the salt-and-baking-soda-soaked ones, even at 24 hours.

What this means for you: If you’re short on time, you can absolutely get away with soaking the beans for 16 hours, as long as you use baking soda water and salt them later by adding it directly to the mix. And if you want the absolute best falafel, soak the beans for a full 24 hours in baking soda solution, changing the solution about halfway through. If you’re soaking them for 24 hours, you can get away with adding salt to the soaking water, but they’ll be just a tiny bit fluffier if you add salt to the mix instead and just stick with baking soda water for the soak.

confounding variables + other things I want to test for next time

While I did take care to measure everything exactly and eliminate as many variables as possible (same fry temperature and time, same quantities of ingredients in each batch, down to the gram, etc.), obviously this is not a perfectly controlled scientific study, and there are a bunch of confounding variables and things I’d want to test next time. Here are a few important things to keep in mind in your own falafel experiments:

  • Chickpeas come in lots of different sizes. Mine were on the small side, but I suspect larger ones might need to soak for a bit longer. I’m guessing that larger chickpeas would not be as good at 16 hours, and absolutely must soak for the full 24.
  • Older chickpeas nearing their expiration date will take a lot longer to soak than newer ones. It’s really best to make falafel from the freshest dried chickpeas possible—look for ones with a late expiration date and try to shop at a market that has a lot of turnover on dried beans (e.g., a well-frequented Middle Eastern market or a popular bulk food store that restocks their supply often).
  • I’m also wondering whether the 24 hour soaked beans were far and away better than the others because they were exposed to a bit more baking soda than the other beans (the solution was changed halfway through). Next time, I would love to see how different quantities of baking soda in the soaking water affects the beans. Essentially, you want to add as much baking soda as possible without having them taste weirdly soapy. The amount I used tends to be around the amount recommended in most recipes, but I think it might be possible to use a bit more without affecting the taste of the falafel.

a quick note on baking powder

Baking soda is certainly a base, and you might think baking powder is entirely neutral, but baking powder is actually somewhat basic too (at least according to my test strips and the brand of baking powder I use—if you’ve got some pH strips and baking powder at home, please feel free to test yours and let me know what you get!), so I postulate that it lowers the pH of falafel with an effect similar to baking soda. However, baking powder is less strongly basic so it needs to be added directly to the mix to have the same effect, and it also adds a bit of airiness from the carbonation produced from its reaction of acid/base. It’s really up to the cook whether they want to use one or the other.

I determined that baking powder is basic by running a few pH tests. I suspected it might be basic because it always reacts with fruit and other things as if it is a base (e.g., it turns strawberry cake batter purplish, just like baking soda does). I ran a few tests where I dissolved the same amount of baking powder and baking soda separately in the same amount of boiling water. I then stirred to dissolve each and measured their pH levels. The baking soda solution was very basic (as you might imagine, it’s pH is 9 or possibly higher, since my strips have an upper threshold of 9), and the baking powder solution wasn’t far behind, at around 8 or 8.25.

One strange thing I had not anticipated is that it is impossible to get baking powder to dissolve completely in boiling water (at least the brand I was using). I stirred and stirred, and even tried a separate test where I simmered a small amount in water for several minutes, and it never fully dissolved no matter how long I simmered and agitated it (also no matter how strong or diluted I made the solution). I even let the solution sit for a couple hours at room temperature after boiling, to see if it made any difference, and the pH actually seemed to rise about 0.5 or 1 from where it started.

This is kind of annoying, because it means that I can’t get a truly accurate reading of baking powder’s pH. But it’s still useful because it means that it’s at least effectively basic when cooked with. Since those little granules won’t dissolve after boiling, I’m assuming they also won’t dissolve in other cooking situations. Perhaps if these granules could ever dissolve completely, the pH would indeed be different, but they don’t, so it’s effectively basic in any case.

Anyway, I’ll be amazed if anyone is still with me at this point, and if you are, thank you for coming to my TED talk, and here is a falafel recipe for your patience. It’s very similar to my old one, but I’ve updated it a bit and included some metric measurements.

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falafel

  • Prep Time: 55 minutes
  • Total Time: 17 to 25 hours
  • Yield: about 30 to 35 falafel

Ingredients

To soak the beans:
1 1/2 cups dry chickpeas (285g)
2 teaspoons baking soda (10g)
8 cups room temperature water (1880g)

To make the falafel mix:
3 medium cloves garlic
1 medium bunch cilantro
1 small bunch green onions
soaked chickpeas (above)
1 1/2 teaspoons baharat *
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt (or add more/less to taste)
1 pinch baking soda
3 tablespoons all purpose flour (25g)

To fry and serve the falafel:
1 quart neutral-flavored oil for deep-frying (e.g., peanut, canola, corn, etc.)
Pita bread
optional: Jerusalem salad (or watermelon Jerusalem salad)
optional: Tahini sauce
optional: Amba

Instructions

  1. To soak the chickpeas: Cover the chickpeas and baking soda with the room temperature water. Stir until the baking soda dissolves.
  2. Cover loosely and keep at room temperature for at least 16 hours, ideally 24. If you’re leaving the beans at room temperature for 24 hours, change their baking soda solution once about halfway through (2 more teaspoons baking soda + 8 more cups water). If your kitchen is very hot, don’t soak them for the full 24 hours.
  3. To make the falafel mix: Finely mince the garlic in a large food processor. Add the cilantro and green onions to the food processor and pulse a couple times to chop them up a little.
  4. Strain the chickpeas over the sink. Add the drained, raw chickpeas to greens in the food processor, and process them until the mixture is finely minced. You’ll still see little minced grains of chickpeas (it’s not supposed to be a smooth purée), but there should not be any large pieces. It should resemble very fine couscous.
  5. Add the baharat, sesame seeds, salt, 1 pinch baking soda, and flour, and pulse the food processor a couple times to combine. You should be able to press some of the mixture into a cohesive ball, but it should still be able to crumble apart if you squeeze it wrong (i.e., it won’t hold together as well as pie dough, but it will hold together better than wet sand).
  6. To fry the falafel: Set up a safe fry station on the stove or in a dedicated deep fryer. Turn the heat to medium-high so that the oil rises to 360° F and keep a close eye on it.
  7. When the oil is almost hot enough, start to form the first 5 or 6 falafel. Take a heaping tablespoon of mix in your hands and gently squeeze it together by making a fish around it and cupping your hands around it. Each ball should be no larger than 1 heaping tablespoon, otherwise it will have a hard time cooking through to the right consistency on the inside.
  8. Once the oil reaches 360° F, gently drop in the first 5 or 6 falafel. Let them fry for about 4 minutes, until they’re deep brown on the outside (but not burnt) and fluffy on the inside. Constantly adjust the heat to keep the temperature of the oil somewhere between 350 and 370° F. Remove them with a slotted spoon or spider to a paper towel-lined plate, add the next batch, and repeat. Continue to work in batches until all of the falafel are fried.

Notes

* If you don’t have any baharat and don’t feel like making a complicated spice blend, feel free to use a combination of cumin, coriander, paprika, and black pepper.

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pomegranate ribs

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I’ve become a bit of a recipe minimalist over the years. Whenever I write a new recipe, I always ask myself, “Is there any ingredient or step here that I can skip without losing anything?” Usually the answer is yes. My pomegranate fig lamb shanks are already quite pared down (and already quite delicious), but I thought I’d try simplifying that recipe even further and adapting it to feature a fall-off-the-bone-tender rack of ribs. As with those lamb shanks, pomegranate molasses is the real hero of this dish, and you don’t need much else to make it delicious.

This recipe makes enough sauce for one rack of ribs, but you can absolutely double, triple, or quadruple it to feed your whole family. But believe me, it’s so easy to throw together, you won’t necessarily feel like you need to meal-prep a big batch to make it worth your while. Whenever you feel like it, just stir together the sauce ingredients, salt/slather/flip/repeat, crimp shut in some foil, and bake for a few hours. If you want to make more than one rack, be sure to read the instructions below the recipe.

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pomegranate ribs

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 1/2 hours
  • Yield: serves 2

Ingredients

1 rack of ribs** (800g / 28oz)
3/4 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
1/4 cup tomato paste (60g)
1 small minced chipotle in adobo sauce (10g)
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (40g)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (15g)
3 medium cloves garlic, crushed through a press (15g)
1 handful of cilantro leaves

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
  2. Mix together the tomato paste, chipotle, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, and garlic.
  3. Place the ribs on a cutting board or large plate. Season the ribs evenly with salt on both sides. Place the ribs with the flattest side facing up, and slather that side with about 1/3 of the sauce.
  4. Place a large piece of aluminum foil on a sheet pan. Place the ribs slathered-side-down on the aluminum foil, being very careful not to puncture the foil. Slather the top of the ribs with the rest of the sauce. Place another piece of aluminum foil on top of the ribs. Crimp the aluminum foil shut around the sides, again being very careful not to puncture it.
  5. Bake for about 3 hours, until they’re falling off the bone. Open the foil and let them rest for a few minutes, just until they’re no longer piping hot. Move to a cutting board, slice into individual pieces, top with cilantro, and enjoy!

Notes

* Feel free to double (or triple or quadruple!) this recipe. Each rack of ribs should be cooked in its own foil pouch. You can usually double up 2 pouches side by side on a sheet pan (just make sure they’re in 1 layer).

** I developed this recipe using pork ribs, but you can absolutely use beef ribs if you don’t eat pork. Keep in mind that they may take a little longer to become tender, depending on their shape/size. But also keep in mind that they’ll be just as delicious! 😉

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black lives matter (+ cherry chocolate sumac skillet pancake recipe)

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Black lives matter. People are being killed. And yes, I know this is just a food blog, but I don’t really see the point in talking about anything else right now. We’ve all got to start acknowledging the way that our professional fields, families, and communities are complicit, and we need to show up and do the work to change things, not just this week but always.

The food world is no exception. Countering the injustice in the food writing world is not going to end the indignity, fear, and tragedy so many people face every single day, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.

So keep donating, volunteering, challenging your own biases, and having difficult conversations with people you love. End the abuses of power, stop calling the cops when you don’t need to, and let’s all do the work together. And if you want to be an ally to black food writers, here are some ideas of things you can do, no matter who you are.

First, some recommendations. Here are a few of my all-time favorite food writers and websites:

  • Butter Be Ready – Quin quite possibly loves lemon even more than I do, which I never thought was possible. She makes the most beautiful cakes and also has a few extremely mouthwatering dinner bakes.
  • Kitchen Butterfly – Ozoz is a food researcher at heart. She investigates and writes the most incredibly detailed pieces on food and culture. Her post about bottom pot blew my mind, and continues to do so every time I re-read it.
  • The Kitchenista Diaries – In addition to blogging, Angela is a private chef, and thank goodness because every single thing she makes is something I want to eat. Like, literally no exceptions.
  • Lets Taco Bout It – Mica and Charlotte are literary nerds, and I love them for it. Their blog has been a really fun way for me to reconnect with literature since leaving grad school.
  • Benjamina Ebuehi – Benji’s book The New Way to Cake is so elegant and lovely, and really appeals to my minimalist sensibilities. It’s all about baking with ease and sophistication, and I learned a ton reading and baking my way through this one.
  • If you want even more suggestions (obviously this list is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg), Equity at the Table is a great resource. Samin Nosrat also has a wonderful list going on instagram.

And next, here are some action items, some things you can do with all the great lists out there right now, no matter where you fit into the food writing world:

  • Readers: Bet you didn’t think you were a part of the food writing world. But you’re here, reading this blog, and that makes you a member of our food writing community (welcome!). And you’re listed first because you’re without a doubt the most influential (everyone else is listed in no particular order). Here’s what you can do to help make the food writing world more equitable: Seek out black food writers and support their work. Buy their cookbooks, share their articles, like and comment on their photos, recommend them to your friends when they ask for ideas of new recipes. Challenge your own assumptions about race, and engage with their work meaningfully. You have so much power to change the way food writing works.
  • Conference organizers: Be inclusive in who you invite to lead a panel or give a talk—take a hard look at who you are inviting (are most of your speakers white? what steps do you need to take to change that at the next available opportunity?). Familiarize yourself with the incredible work of black writers, photographers, stylists, and recipe developers, so that when it comes time to decide on guests, you have many amazing people to invite. Don’t tokenize your speakers, and don’t only invite black speakers to speak exclusively about diversity and inclusion. Make sure your conference is a truly inclusive space, and seek out resources if you’re unsure how to do so. And don’t forget to always pay your speakers for their time in money, not in experience. If you don’t pay your speakers, know that you’ll be excluding anyone who can’t afford to work for free (even if that wasn’t your intention).
  • Instagram food account curators: You have introduced so many of us to our favorite bloggers and writers, and we love you for it. But it’s important to make sure you’re not perpetuating inequality by promoting mostly white-owned accounts. Do a quick audit of your posts: Are you posting content mostly from white bloggers? Are you posting content from a decent number of POC bloggers, but very few black bloggers? Ask yourself these questions, set goals, and make changes. Everyone is currently sharing their favorite black-owned instagram accounts, so this is a good time to find some new people to feature. Let this week be a springboard, and keep it up.
  • Food bloggers: Befriend black bloggers and introduce them to other bloggers in your circle. Once we’re all eventually back to safely socializing, invite them to blogger gatherings and networking events, even the super casual non-events like grabbing a quick lunch or coffee to catch up with a few blogger friends. Call out/in any racist behavior and work to make blogger communities truly inclusive spaces. Do follow Fridays that prioritize inclusivity, and don’t tokenize. “Turn your performative wokeness into true allyship.” Support each other and share resources. Engage meaningfully with the work of black food bloggers. Adapt and credit recipes with permission. Collaborate thoughtfully.
  • Editors: It’s a beautiful thing when editors share stories that might otherwise never be heard. Hire inclusively, and commit yourself to featuring more stories told by writers of color.

Above all else, remember that being an ally doesn’t work like a checklist. It’s not a level you can unlock or a thing you can finish achieving. And this particular list is by no means exhaustive, even with regards to the food writing world. The thing is, checklists feel great, but we need to stop doing things to make ourselves feel better, and start doing things to actually change the world around us.

Thanks for reading, hope you found something useful, and hope you enjoy this (total non sequitur) recipe for cherry chocolate sumac skillet pancake (similar to clafoutis). I can’t have someone over and not serve them food, and it’s the same deal here. Stay safe, stay healthy, and keep making the world around you a little better than it was yesterday.

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cherry chocolate sumac skillet pancake recipe

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

250g frozen cherries (about 2 cups)
40g sugar (3 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons sumac, plus more for sprinkling
80g flour (about 2/3 cup)
65g granulated sugar (1/3 cup)
3g salt (1/2 teaspoon)
3 large eggs (170g)
30g (2 tablespoons) melted butter
235g (1 cup) buttermilk (or regular milk mixed with a spoonful of yogurt)
15g cold butter (1 tablespoon)
15g brown sugar (1 tablespoon)
75g chocolate buttons or chips (1/2 cup), plus more for melting and drizzling

Instructions

  1. Combine the cherries, sugar, and sumac, and let them sit and macerate for at least 40 minutes. Once they’ve collected lots of juices, place in a colander and strain the syrup away. Save the syrup to pour on top of the pancake later. Set aside while you make the batter.
  2. Preheat the oven to 475°F (245°C).
  3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, eggs, and butter. Once well combined, stir in the buttermilk until smooth. Set aside.
  4. Place the cold butter in an ovenproof skillet and place over medium heat. Once it’s melted, add the brown sugar, stir, and let it sit. As soon as it starts smoking a little, pour in the batter, followed by the macerated cherries, chocolate buttons/chips, and another pinch of sumac. Move right to the oven.
  5. Bake for about 18 minutes, just until it’s set throughout and puffy around the edges. The texture should be custardy, like a clafoutis. Serve right out of the skillet with a little extra chocolate and some of the cherry juices.

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vegan crêpes with tahini cream and date syrup

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I’ve been holding onto this vegan crêpe recipe for a while, and it’s come in super handy lately (especially on weeks when eggs have been scarce), so now seemed like a good time to share it with you guys. The tahini cream is perfect for days when you’ve got those last couple tablespoons of cream left in the carton, and you need to decide whether it’s going to go in your coffee or on your breakfast. Save it for your coffee, and use a little tahini and water to make this tahini cream instead. Drizzled alongside date syrup, it’ll probably remind you of your favorite staple of Iraqi/Assyrian cuisine—date syrup with tahini on bread. There’s just nothing better.

I learned how to make crêpes from my aunt Masy, who taught me her technique for making them without a blender. If you’ve never made crêpes before, it’s probably best to start out with a classic eggy recipe before trying this one, because vegan ones are more delicate. If you’re not used to flipping crêpes, vegan ones might give you some trouble. For the seasoned pros, you’ll be just fine. Just be sure to make them on the thin side (which counterintuitively makes them easier to handle), let them cook through completely before flipping, and don’t make them too wide.

Oh and I know I’ve been absent on here lately, but I promise it’s for happy reasons. Hope to dedicate a bit more time to posting these next few weeks. Hope everyone’s staying calm and healthy through these times. And I hope you get a chance to do something today that makes you feel safe and happy!

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vegan crêpes with tahini cream and date syrup

  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 12 to 15 crêpes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour (200g)
2 tablespoons sugar  (25g)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1.5g)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (1g)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (40g)
2 1/2 cups soy milk (590g)
Neutral oil for coating the pan (canola, vegetable, etc.)

Serving inspiration:
Tahini cream: equal parts tahini and water (measured by volume, e.g., 1/4 cup of each), whisked together until smooth and creamy
Date molasses (or grape molasses or honey)
Bananas, sliced
Figs, sliced

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
  2. Add the vanilla, olive oil, and just 1 cup of the milk . Whisk together until it’s completely smooth.
  3. Add 1 cup more of the milk, and whisk together until well combined. Repeat with the final 1/2 cup.
  4. Place a non-stick skillet over medium to medium-high heat, and let it pre-heat for a couple minutes.
  5. Dip a paper towel in oil, and use tongs to swipe it across the pan, coating it evenly and lightly.
  6. Pour about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of batter (more or less, depending on the size of your pan) into the oiled pan, and quickly tilt the pan around to coat the surface evenly. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, then flip and cook for 30 more seconds.*
  7. Remove finished crepes to a plate, and continue cooking the rest of the batter. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for a few days (reheat in the same pan for about 30 seconds on each side, or microwave briefly).

Notes

* These vegan crêpes are more delicate than classic eggy crêpes, so make sure they cook all the way through on the first side before you flip them. Also, the thicker you make them, the harder they are to flip without tearing (totally counterintuitive, but true). If you ever have trouble flipping crêpes, make them smaller, so they’re easier to manage.

There are a couple different strategies for flipping crepes—using the pan itself to throw the crepe in the air doesn’t work as well with vegan crêpes, because it’s difficult to get an even layer of oil on a nonstick pan (compared to butter). Using a cooking oil spray can help with this, but I generally avoid those. The best thing to do is make them on the small side, let them cook through, use a big spatula to gently peel them up, and carefully flip them over with the spatula.

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cheesy caraway hot cross buns

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My grandmother grew up on a farm in rural Syria, where they would make big batches of gubta mtumarta, a cheese preserved with caraway seeds, packed in clay jars, and buried under ground. Every Easter, my great-grandmother would stuff one samoon with a bit of gubta, and the kid who got the stuffed roll received an extra little gift. These hot cross buns are a bit over-the-top in comparison, with every single one containing a bit of cheese. If you don’t have caraway at home, no worries—they’re lovely plain as well. Or feel free to add some of your favorite dried herbs to the dough instead.

It’s a pretty straightforward challenge to get that distinctive cross pattern with sweet hot cross buns (either with icing or pastry cream), but I’ve always struggled a bit with savory ones. Sometimes the piped line of flour paste just disappears into the dough once it goes in the oven, and sometimes it awkwardly puffs up. After reading a bunch of recipes, I tried a few different strategies for styling these, and I finally found the right technique for achieving high-contrast crosses. First, you egg wash the shaped and proofed dough. Then you mix equal parts (by weight) water and flour to form a paste—if the paste is too thin, it will run everywhere, and if it’s too thick it will be awkwardly raised and too dark. But when you get the ratio just right, it stays in place and remains bright, while the buns themselves bake to perfect golden brown.

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cheesy caraway hot cross buns

  • Prep Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours
  • Yield: 9 buns

Ingredients

180g whole milk (3/4 cup)
5g yeast (1.5 tablespoons)
2 large eggs (110g), at room temperature
475g all purpose flour (3 3/4 cups)
6g caraway seeds (1 tablespoon)
6.5g salt (1 teaspoon)
55g butter (4 tablespoons)
120g hard melting cheese, cut into 9 cubes (e.g., cheddar, gruyere, swiss, mozzarella, etc.)
Egg wash: 1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Paste for the crosses: 60g flour (about 1/2 cup) mixed with 60g water (about 1/4 cup)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°F (80°C). Once it preheats, turn it off and open the door open a crack before you start making the dough.
  2. Microwave the milk until it’s about 115°F (45°C). Add the yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer (fitted with the hook attachment), stir in the warm milk, and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
  3. Add the eggs, 400g of the flour, caraway seeds, and salt to the stand mixer. Let the mixer run at low speed just until everything is incorporated into a very shaggy dough. Add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time with the mixer running at low speed, allowing each tablespoon to disappear completely before adding more.
  4. Once all the butter has been added, gradually add the last 75g of flour 1 tablespoon at a time with the mixer still running on low. Once the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, stop adding flour (I add exactly 50g, but you might need more or less if you don’t measure precisely with grams).
  5. Increase speed to medium, and knead the dough for about 7 minutes, until it’s smooth and elastic.
  6. Lightly oil a mixing bowl and your hands. Scrape the dough into the bowl, and use your hands to shape it into a ball (tuck itself under its bottom to smooth out the surface). Leave it in the bowl with the seam-side facing down.
  7. Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap, place it in the oven (again, make sure the oven heat is off and that it has cooled down for at least 10 minutes), leave the door open a crack, and let it proof for about 1 hour. The dough is done rising once it’s noticeably larger, and has approximately doubled in size. While it’s proofing, butter a 8×8” pan (and optionally line the bottom with parchment).
  8. Once the dough is done rising, move to a lightly floured counter, and divide into 9 even pieces (about 90g each). Stuff each piece with a chunk of cheese, and shape into a smooth, round ball. Space them evenly in the pan.
  9. Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and move back to the still warm oven for about 40 minutes (again, make sure it’s still off), just until the gaps around them almost close up.
  10. Once the buns have finished their rise, remove from the oven, and preheat it to 350°F (177°C) convection. Brush the tops of the buns with a layer of egg wash.
  11. Place the paste for the crosses in a piping bag and snip off a bit of the end. Pipe a straight line across each bun in one direction, then switch directions and pipe a straight line across each bun again (see photos).
  12. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reads about 195°F (about 90°C). Remove from the pan to a cooling rack, and let them cool for a couple minutes before serving (they can also be served at room temperature).

Notes

To make these ahead: shape the rolls, let them proof at room temperature for 10 minutes, and then let the whole pan chill in the refrigerator for 8 to 20 hours. Bring them to room temperature before baking and let them finish rising (unless they have already risen in the refrigerator). If you have any left over, they’ll keep at room temperature for a few hours, but leftovers should be frozen as soon as possible to make sure they stay fresh. As with any bread, do not store them in the refrigerator or they will stale even faster than at room temperature.

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grilled lula kebabs

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I really enjoyed grilling these kebabs out on our balcony, and wanted to share this old family recipe with you. I feel so fortunate to have an outdoor space right now, and we’ve been spending evenings out on our balcony doing the NYT crossword and reading. I most recently read (and loved) both of Sally Rooney’s books, and this week I’m reading Americanah and Magic for Liars, and am enjoying both.

I can feel my blood pressure slowly rising all day long, but watching the sun set at the end of the day (albeit, absentmindedly + very peripherally, because I am not a sunset-gazing kind of lady) and enjoying time with Simon makes everything feel alright for a few moments, and I’m trying to find ways to experience that calm more throughout the day. I feel really lucky to be able to work from home, to keep myself and my community safe. I hope we’ll all keep working extra hard to keep our distance and to pitch in when we can, and that those of us who have the privilege of working from home don’t forget about those who don’t.

Social distancing has been an opportunity for me to recommit myself to some of the things I always intend to do, but don’t really make enough effort for normally. Last week, I wrote a bit about reducing food waste, which starts with carefully storing your ingredients—I’ve always been pretty good about it, but have let things slide a little too much over the last year or two. But now that I’m only going to the store once every week or two, there is no way I’m making any extra trips for one or two ingredients, so I’ve been more careful about using absolutely everything in my fridge and pantry.

Another thing I’m recommitting myself to is making sure I don’t overdo it with the meat, which is in short supply. I’ve always tried to cut back on the amount of meat I consume for environmental reasons, but now that freezer space is short, I’m realizing that I easily could’ve been doing more all along. It’s probably weird to bring up this point preceding a recipe that’s literally just 99% meat, but even when you’re cooking a meaty thing, there are some easy ways to cut back on your consumption, and make the meat stretch further. For instance, with lots of delicious and filling sides, we were able to stretch these twelve small kebabs out to six meals for the two of us (one kebab per person, per meal). Just a few weeks ago, we probably would’ve demolished them in just two meals for the two of us (three kebabs per person). This time, I froze what I knew we wouldn’t eat right away (about 6 of them), and we enjoyed the rest over the course of a couple days.

Here are some ideas for stretching your meat supply with other healthyish staples, without feeling like you’re making a big sacrifice:

  • Serve meat with really good pot of rice, especially something like riza sh’ariyeh, bulgur pilaf, or West African jollof rice. Or, if you’ve got nothing but time and onions, make a batch of mujadara, and watch your family ignore every single other thing on the table. I made a big pot last week, and stashed a few servings in the freezer for another time.
  • Bake your own samoon, like I did here. It’s a really fun activity, and you probably have the ingredients at home. If you don’t have whole wheat flour on hand, you can just replace it with more white flour instead. If you have kids and are looking for ways to keep them entertained, you can get them involved with shaping the dough, brushing it with water, and sprinkling it with sesame seeds. Store them in the freezer if you don’t plan to eat them all in the next 24 hours (never the refrigerator).
  • Make a big salad, with fresh lettuce (if you’ve got it) and mostly pantry and freezer ingredients as toppings (canned beets, bamboo shoots, beans, croutons, frozen corn/peas/carrots, anchovies, etc.). Use your favorite dressing recipe, and you can’t go wrong. Re. fresh lettuce: buy a bag of arugula or spring greens to use for the first few days, and heartier greens for the week to come. In my last post, I explained how to store kale so it lasts for a long time in the fridge. Cabbage is another good one to have, because it lasts for weeks. Make a simple slaw with mayo (or yogurt), lemon, olive oil, and whatever you’ve got. I like using a lot of capers and black pepper.
  • Make a bean salad, especially if you’re totally out of fresh ingredients, and need to make something other than rice or pasta. Joe Yonan just came out with a wonderful new book all about beans, and it’s the perfect time to buy it. So many wonderful pantry ideas for now, and so many beautiful produce-forward things we can all make once this is behind us. If you’re improvising a bean salad, you can simply use a little splash of red wine vinegar, a spoonful of dijon mustard (or a very small squirt of the yellow stuff), a generous glug of olive oil, a clove of garlic crushed through a press (or some garlic powder), and all the dried herbs you can find (basil, chives, dill, parsley, and black pepper all work great together). Or mayo, chipotle, lime juice, and fresh cilantro (if you’ve got extra!).
  • Once you’re totally sick of kebabs, you can even start repurposing them a bit. Crumble them up and throw them in a grain or noodle bowl. Crumble and add to tomato sauce for shakshuka. Don’t feel limited to what you’ve already created.

Oh and, here are some tips on making your ingredients and leftovers last throughout the week:

  • Buy extra cilantro and green onions, wash them really well, dry them really well, and store them as described in this post. They’ll last for at least a few days, if not the whole week (sometimes even longer, especially if you plan on cooking them). Use the extra in salads, guacamole, etc. Don’t forget that the stems are really tasty too!
  • Check the expiration date on your ground beef, and make sure you use it a day or two before it goes bad. If you don’t plan on making these kebabs this week, freeze your ground beef as soon as possible. If you freeze things sooner rather than later, you’ll always have fresh ingredients, and you won’t have to waste anything.
  • Immediately freeze however many
    grilled kebabs you don’t plan to consume in the first couple days. It’s best to freeze things at most within a day or two of making them, so they’re the best possible quality once you eventually thaw them. This also helps make sure you don’t get sick of eating the same thing every day. Your freezer will eventually turn into a treasure trove of things you kinda-sorta forgot about from a few weeks ago, and are excited to see again now that some time has passed (instead of turning into a sad dumping ground for expired leftovers that you felt too guilty to throw away).
  • Alternatively, you can freeze them in raw form and grill them one at a time, but I find that it’s much easier and more efficient to just grill them all at once, and enjoy the rest as leftovers.
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grilled lula kebabs

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 12 kebabs

Ingredients

2 lb 3 oz 80/20* ground beef (1 kg)
1 cup chopped cilantro (40g)
1 1/2 cups chopped green onion (90g)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

  1. Combine the ground beef, chopped cilantro, green onion, and black pepper, but do not yet add the salt.**
  2. Once combined, shape into 12 ovals. Sprinkle evenly with salt, to taste (I like to use the full 1 1/2 teaspoons, but you might like less).
  3. For outdoor grilling: Heat your grill with the lid down, until its temperature reads about 400°F/205°C. Once it’s hot, place the kebabs on the grates, lower the cover, and let them cook for about 7 minutes per side. Keep an eye on them; if they are browning too quickly, lower the temperature.
  4. For broiling: If you don’t have an outdoor grill, preheat your broiler to its highest setting. Once it’s heated, place the kebabs on a clean broiler tray and place under the broiler for about 7 minutes per side. Keep an eye on them, and make sure they’re not burning or cooking too quickly.
  5. The kebabs are done once they register 160°F/71°C and are nicely charred in many spots.***

Notes

* This isn’t the kind of recipe where you should use lean beef—definitely go with 80% lean/20% fat.

** Adding salt to the mixture gives them a more sausage-like texture, but adding it after shaping them gives them a more tender and crumbly texture.

*** Lula kebabs aren’t usually served medium rare, like you’d serve a steak or a pub burger. At least in my experience, Middle Eastern ground beef tends to be either 100% raw or 100% cooked, without a ton of middle ground.

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greek salad with oranges and kale

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Although it’s getting chillier here in Australia, I was going to wait all the way until November to post this wintery variation on Greek salad for my friends in the northern hemisphere. But since everyone’s trying to go a bit longer between trips to the market during this pandemic (visit this post to read about why), I thought it would be a good time to post a salad recipe that keeps really well for days in the refrigerator. Here, I’ve essentially taken a Greek salad and replaced its most perishable components with ones that will last forever in your fridge.

While romaine is actually pretty hearty to start with, kale is even tougher. Romaine sometimes starts to turn brown a few hours after chopping, it wilts a few days after purchasing, and it does not appreciate being covered in dressing ahead of time. Kale, on the other hand, lasts for a really long time when stored properly, and a dressed kale salad will go strong for at least a day or two in the refrigerator. Kale that’s been coated in dressing might get a little wilted, but that’s not going to stop it from being delicious. Wilted, soggy, next-day romaine, on the other hand, is not ideal.

Furthermore, oranges keep way longer than tomatoes and cucumbers, especially when washed, dried, and kept in your fridge’s fruit drawer (if it’s got one). Plus, they’re delicious, and a fun way to mix things up a bit. And the rest of the ingredients in a classic greek salad last forever in the fridge or pantry. So this salad is a great option if you’re looking for ways to make your supplies last longer between market trips. Here are a few tips to further extend the shelf life of the ingredients in this recipe:

How to make your ingredients last longer

Kale: Stem, wash, and spin-dry your kale as soon as you get it home (the video in this guide to washing herbs shows how to do it without a salad spinner). Don’t just rinse your kale with a light sprinkle, but actually submerge it in water, squish and swish the kale around like you’re shampooing hair, dump the water, and repeat a couple times, (you’ll see the water go from green to clear after a couple rinses. It’s best to lift it out of the water at the final rinse, to make sure any leftover grit settles to the bottom). Get a big container or plastic bag, line it with a layer or two of paper towels (or a clean tea towel) , fill it with the clean/dry kale, and store in the refrigerator. Try to make sure the kale is only touching the towel as much as possible (especially on the bottom of the container), rather than touching the container itself, which will help it stay fresh longer. If you’re going to use it in a salad, I’d try to use it a few days after washing, but if you’re going to cook it, you can usually get away with much longer. I have some I’m cooking later today that’s been in the fridge (stored this way) for a week. Oh, and don’t throw out the stems! Slice them thinly on the diagonal and sauté. They taste just like broccoli stems.

Feta: If you can find it, buy the kind of feta that comes in a tub of brine, rather than the kind that comes shrink-wrapped. I usually eat the whole thing way before it goes bad, but the brined kind is supposed to last for at least a few weeks in the fridge, as long as you keep it consistently chilled, use a clean knife to slice, and keep the feta itself completely submerged. The vacuum packed dry kind lasts a long time before opening, but once you open it you only have between a few days to a week to consume it. I like to slice pieces off the top of brined feta instead of the sides, which helps ensure that the brine level doesn’t lower as you eat more of it. If you slice pieces off the side, the water level will keep falling, and one day you might open the tub to find a not so nice pink surprise on the part of the cheese that’s poking out like an island. Keep it submerged, and you should be good for a while, and throw it out if it starts to smell or look off.

Oranges and lemons: Wash them, dry them, and store them in your refrigerator’s fruit drawer, if you’ve got one. If your lemons have seen better days, but are still totally fine to eat, prepare them for freezing before it’s too late: If their peels are still in good condition, zest them, and place the zest in a little plastic snack bag. Squeeze as much air out as you can, and throw it in the freezer. After zesting (or skipping zesting, as the case may be), cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into ice cube trays. Freeze the trays, pop the frozen cubes out, place in a plastic bag or reusable container (this is a great place to reuse an old yogurt container or something similar), and throw in the freezer. On the other hand, if your citrus is moldy or unnervingly squishy, absolutely don’t use it, and just let it go.

Onion and garlic: Do not store in the refrigerator. Instead, find a cool, dry, dark place and leave them in an open basket or bowl. Pantries work great! Just do not store them in close quarters with potatoes, which will make your onions rot faster. I’ve also linked to a method for pickling onions in the recipe below, which is a good way to save the other 3/4 of that onion after slicing a bit for a salad.

Olives: Feel free to use canned or jarred here, rather than the ones from the fresh olive bar. Besides the fact that jarred/canned olives last a lot longer than ones from the olive bar, I think we’re probably a little skeeved out by self-serve food bars at this moment in time, so I’m personally going to be taking a break for a while. Jarred olives are your friend right now.

Za’atar, black pepper, and oregano: Total no brainer. Keep them sealed tightly in a cool, dark place, and try not to sprinkle them directly over a big bubbling pot, because dried herbs do not appreciate steam. I am the worst about this, and am trying to change my ways, but you won’t get into any trouble with this recipe.

Mustard: Keep it in the fridge once opened.

Olive oil: Keep it in a dark container or in a dark place. Try not to let it get warm.

And above all, don’t forget to wash your hands really well with soap and water before massaging the kale!! Get one of those old fashioned fingernail brushes your granny uses. Seriously, scrub up! If the idea of touching your food really creeps you out right now, you can always use gloves or place your kale and dressing in a plastic bag, and massage the bag from the outside.

ways to use these ingredients beyond this salad

Buy two big bunches of kale, instead of one, wash and store it all at the same time, and make some sautéed kale a few days after you’re sick of kale salad. Just heat a pan over medium-high heat, add a tiny bit of neutral oil, and sauté the kale until it wilts. Then sprinkle on a little bit of soy sauce, a little to a lot of dark sesame oil, a little bit of rice wine vinegar, and a generous pinch of sesame seeds. Or if you have a more mediterranean pantry, start with some sliced garlic in some oil for 30 seconds, then sauté your kale, and finish it with some lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, crushed red pepper, and sesame seeds.

Use mustard, za’atar, black pe
pper, and oregano as flavor boosters anytime you’re cooking a bland protein.

Enjoy feta with fresh or dried fruit as a snack. It’s so good with apricots and other stone fruit (dried, canned, fresh), especially on some toast with a little bit of honey.

Olives: “you will certainly not regret eating 30 to 40 olives” (anyone else??)

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greek salad with oranges and kale

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: serves 6 as a side (add grilled chicken to make this a main for 4)

Ingredients

6 packed cups chopped kale leaves (150g), from about 1 big bunch
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (55g)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (15g)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or use 2 extra teaspoons vinegar) (15g)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard (15g)
1 teaspoon dried oregano (0.5g)
1 tablespoon za’atar* (7g)
1 teaspoon black pepper (3g)
1–2 cloves of garlic, crushed through a press (5g)
Salt, to taste
1 orange, supremed (100g after supreming)
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion** (30g)
1/3 cup pitted green olives (60g)
1/4 cup crumbled feta (or more, to taste) (40g)
Extra lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Place the kale in a large mixing bowl, and cover with the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, oregano, za’atar, black pepper, garlic, and salt (go easy on the salt, because the kale will shrink down slightly, and you’re going to add some salty feta and olives soon). Wash your hands very well, and “massage” the kale until it softens a bit, feels less crinkly, and the dressing is evenly distributed.
  2. Top with the oranges, red onion, green olives, and feta, and more lemon to taste (optional), and serve. If you’d like to store it longer, store these toppings separately, and top the kale mixture for each serving as you go. The salad will keep in the refrigerator for a day or two, even after dressing and combining everything, but it will last a couple days longer stored separately.

Notes

* If you don’t have za’atar, feel free to use a little extra oregano to taste. But don’t replace the whole tablespoon with equal parts oregano, because oregano tends to be a lot more fragrant and overwhelming—just use a little extra. If you don’t have oregano, feel free to use as much extra za’atar as you’d like to replace it. And if you don’t have either, feel free to use about 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, or another herb of your choosing.

** Feel free to use pickled red onion, as I’ve done in the photos here. This recipe explains how to make pickled red onions, which keep for a while in the fridge, and are a good way to make sure you don’t have to find an immediate use for the rest of that onion after slicing just a little for this recipe.

More substitutions: You can use supremed grapefruit instead of oranges, if you have those around. Or even feel free to use clementines, but instead of supreming them, simply peel and separate their segments. You can also use whatever kinds of olives you have—I just personally love Sicilian green olives (AKA, Castelvetrano olives), so I listed them here because I think they go the best. If you have romaine instead of kale, go ahead and use it, skipping the massaging step. If you don’t have fresh garlic on hand, you can substitute about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon powdered garlic (to taste). The feta is hard to replace, but you can always skip it, especially if you’re vegan.

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