Bibimbap with Carrot, Spinach, Zucchini and Shitake Mushrooms

Bibimbap is a very nice looking and a very tasty main dish. A bed of rice is made in a stone bowl on which are arranged all the mix-ins like carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and spinach. The idea is to mix it all together and eat. I made this dish as part of a Korean meal. As luck would have it this was picked as the recipe for the Daring Bakers challenge for the month of July. Since I had it ready I posted it as is even though it was the star dish of my Korean meal.

This dish was very tasty especially when eaten with some soy sauce and spicy sesame sauce.

To prepare the carrots
You will need
1 carrot
1 tsp. sesame oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Peel the wash the carrots. Heat oil in a pan and saute the carrots until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.

To prepare the zucchini
You will need
1 zucchini
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. scallion greens, chopped
1/2 tsp. sesame seeds
salt and black pepper to taste

Peel and chop the zucchini. Heat oil in a pan and saute the zucchini until cooked through. Season with garlic, scallion, sesame seeds, salt and pepper.

To prepare the mushrooms
You will need
10 shitake mushrooms
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. scallion greens, chopped
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. sesame seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Wipe the mushrooms clean and cut into slices. Heat oil in a pan and saute the mushrooms with the other ingredients until cooked through.

To prepare the spinach
You will need
10 leaves of spinach
1/4 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. scallion greens, chopped
1/2 tsp. sesame seeds
salt and black pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil in a pan. Blanch the spinach for a minute. Drain the water from the spinach. Squeeze the water out of the spinach using a paper towel. Season with the rest of the ingredients.

Maftoul Mediterranean Salad (Palestinian Couscous Salad)

The May Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by the incomparable Sawsan from chef in disguise. Sawsan challenged us to try our hands (literally!) at making maftoul - hand- rolled Palestinian couscous that is as versatile as it is tasty!

Making maftoul from scratch is like playing with your food and ending up with a delicacy. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will be making this again. Everyone in the family loved it. Leftovers were willingly packed for lunch the next day.

I followed the given recipe exactly. The instructions provided by Sawsan were very good and easy to follow. The only change I made was to half the recipe. I quickly found a rhythm in the moistening and mixing of flour in the making of the maftoul that worked with my untrained hands. I realized I was not very deft at mixing in the water so I used just about a tablespoon of water at a time. That allowed me to get the developing maftoul moist without clumping.

You will need
For the maftoul
1/2 cup fine bulgur
1 tbsp. salt
1-2 cups water
1 1/2 cups whole what flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Spice mixture to cook the maftoul
1/2 stick cinnamon (I used the stronger Indian variety)
3-4 pods cardamom
2 bay leaves

For the salad
2 cups maftoul (all the maftoul made from the recipe above)
1/2 cup black olives, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
2/3 cup Greek feta cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
2-4 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. dried oregano

Combine the all purpose flour and whole wheat flour in a bowl. Dissolve the salt in the water in a separate container. Put the bulgur in a flat big rimmed plate.

Add a couple tablespoons water to moisten the bulgur. Sprinkle a couple tablespoon flour over the bulgur and using your fingertips swirl in a circular motion to get the flour to attach to the bulgur.

Repeat until the bulgur grows to the desired size.

The next step is to steam the maftoul in a couscous pot. I don't have a couscous pot but I have a steamer attachment on my rice cooker.

Add the cinnamon, bay leaf and cardamon to the steamer water. Steam the maftoul uncovered for 15 minutes. During this time add a little warm water to the matfoul and turn it over to allow the top layer to come in contact with the hot steam. When done the color will change to golden.

Transfer the cooked maftoul to a bowl and mix in a little olive oil. Let it cool.

Meanwhile slice the pitted olives, cherry tomatoes and cilantro.

Sprinkle it over the cooled maftoul. Crumble feta cheese over the top along with dried oregano, lime juice and salt. Mix it all together.

Enjoy!

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

This is a recipe from Greece. It is a delicious, flaky spanakopita - a spinach pie in a phyllo pastry shell.

I have eaten spanakopita in Greek restaurants and always wanted to try it.

The prep time is long but the end results were awesome! This would be a great recipe to make with family. There are a lot of simple but distinct steps and multiple people would cut down on the prep time.

The recipe after I halved it is given below. I adjusted the proportion of onion to cater to the taste of my family.

You will need
1 box of baby spinach
1 box frozen whole wheat phylo dough sheets
1 red onion
2 shallots
7-8 scallion, white and some green
1 leak,, white and some green
a bunch dill
6 oz. feta cheese crumbles
1 egg
1 pod garlic
1 tsp. grated nutmeg
salt and black pepper to taste

To start defrost the frozen phyllo dough. Chop the baby spinach and put it in a large mixing bowl.

Chop red onion, shallots, scallion, leeks, garlic and the dill. Add it to the spinach.

Add the feta cheese crumble. Grate nutmeg and fresh ground black pepper over the mixture.

Now is the time to get your hands dirty. Mix and knead the mixture until the volume reduces to a fourth of the original. It is amazing how the mixture comes together.

Pick up a handful of the spinach mixture and squeeze out the juice.

Place the spinach in another bowl. Continue until all the spinach is in another bowl and the liquid remains. Add couscous to the liquid and let it sit for at least 5 minutes.

The couscous will expand and absorb the liquid.

Now put the spinach back into the bowl with the liquid. Season with salt, note that feta is salty. Add black pepper if needed. Add an egg and mix well.

The filling is ready.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare a mixture of butter and oil. Grease the casserole dish. Cut the phyllo dough sheets to fit the dish and keep under a damp towel. Using butter and oil mixture coat a sheet of dough and place it in the dish. Using another 9 sheets cover the bottom and sides of the dish completely. Coat every alternate sheet with the butter and oil mixture. Let the sheets overhang from the sides. Spoon in the filling into the dish.

Spread the filling evenly in the dish.

Fold the dough hanging over the sides and smooth it out. Place another 6-9 sheets to cover the top coating every alternate sheet with the butter and oil mixture.

Cut the pie into squares. Ensure the knife goes through all the layers to the bottom of the dish.

Place in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. The top of the pie should be a golden brown.

Serve hot.

The pie tastes just as good the next day. Leftovers can be warmed in the microwave.