Greek Koshari
Melomakarona (Greek honey cookies)
Harvest of the day : garlic, green chili, lettuce, rocket, edible flowers,
Koshari (x15)
Ingredients
- 1 kg Macaroni uncooked (use gf, if needed)
- 4 cups basmati rice, rinsed 3 times to remove the starch
- 2 passata tomato sauce
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 4 cups lentils
- 3 whole garlic
- 3 chickpeas tin, drained
- 5 onions, grated
- 1 cup Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 3 tbsp cumin powder
- 4 tbsp paprika powder
- 2 vegetable stock cubes
Instructions
- Start with a casserole or pot, add olive oil wait until it is hot. Add onions and fry them for around 15 minutes or until brown, season with salt and pepper.
- While frying, set a pot filled and vegetable stock with water and cook the macaroni according to the package directions.
- Next, set aside the onions and use half of the oil to fry the rice and vermicelli for a few minutes. Cook the rice and vermicelli by adding 8 cups of boiling water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until soft.
- Separately cook the lentils according the the packaging instruction
- With the other half of the oil, fry grated garlic cloves until brown. Add passata, vinegar, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Warm chickpeas and serve everything on plates or bowls start with lentil and rice mixture, followed by Macaroni and sauce, chickpeas and finally with fried onions.
Melomakarona (Greek honey cookies)
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour (420g plain flour)
- ½ cup semolina (80g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cloves (or allspice)
- 6 tablespoon sugar (80g)
- ½ orange zest
- 120ml orange juice
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil (240ml)
- 2 tablespoon brandy optional
For the dipping syrup
- ½ cup honey (120ml)
- ¼ cup sugar (4 tbsp)
- ¾ cup water (180ml)
- 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
- 3 cloves (optional)
To top
¼ cup walnuts 35g, ground, to top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.
- In a medium-large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, apart from the sugar, ie flour, semolina, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves.
- Rub the orange zest into the sugar in a separate large bowl- it should become slightly soft and fragrant. (This helps to bring out the flavor from the oils.)
- Add the oil, orange juice and brandy to the sugar and mix well.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix to combine.
- Take spoonfuls of the mixture and form egg-like ovals and place on a lined baking sheet. Press the mixture together pretty firmly in your hands to get it to hold well. If you like, form a criss-cross on top of each cookie with the prongs of a fork.
- Bake the cookies until firm and lightly golden, around 20 minutes.
- While the cookies bake, make the dipping syrup by warming the honey, sugar and water until the sugar dissolves and it starts to simmer. You can optionally add a cinnamon stick and cloves to help infuse it with a bit of spice. Let the syrup simmer 5-10 minutes then remove from heat. Let it cool and skim away any foam.
- If your walnuts are not already crushed, put them in the food processor and pulse until they are relatively fine crumbs.
- Dip the cookies in the syrup while they are still warm in small batches (say 3-5 at a time). Let them soak on both sides for 30 seconds to a minute before taking them out and placing on a lined baking sheet.
- Immediately sprinkle on some walnuts and leave to dry.
We also made tzatziki, pineapple juice and Greek salad!
Thank you Marnie for the pictures!
Grow Dundee 