{"id":2443,"date":"2010-02-14T17:17:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-14T22:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.com\/2010\/02\/february-2010-daring-cooks-challenge-mezze\/"},"modified":"2019-04-07T15:16:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T19:16:29","slug":"february-2010-daring-cooks-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.com\/february-2010-daring-cooks-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2010 Daring Cooks Challenge: Mezze"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mezze,dhal <\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n

This is going to be a very long post! But this was a great challenge though!<\/p>\n

\"The <\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n


\n<\/b><\/i>The 2010 February Daring Cooks\u2019 Challenge was hosted by <\/span>Michele<\/a> of <\/span>Veggie Num Nums<\/a>. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.<\/span>
\nPita Bread \u2013 Recipe adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors<\/a> by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid<\/strong>
\nHummus \u2013 Recipe adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food<\/a> by Claudia Roden<\/strong>
\nCucumber Raita \u2013 Recipe adapted from The Indian Grocery Store Demystified<\/a> by Linda Bladholm<\/strong>
\nFalafels – Recipe from Joan Nathan and Epicurious.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nPreserved Lemons \u2013 Recipe from Paula Wolfert and Epicurious<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

*Mezze<\/a> is a Middle Eastern way of serving a selection of small dishes or appetizers all at once.<\/p>\n

The pita bread and hummus were mandatory and the rest were up to your creativity and imagination.<\/p>\n

My mezze was a vegan one and consisted of:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Half wholewheat and half white flour pita<\/li>\n
  2. Vegan cucumber raita (with basil and coconut milk)<\/li>\n
  3. Mushroom and sweetcorn cannelli bean humous<\/li>\n
  4. Dhal-chili cake<\/li>\n
  5. Preserved lemons with green chilies and whole black pepper (these were not pickled enough to be eaten on the day, but now they are delicious!)<\/li>\n
  6. Sauteed broccoli and asparagus<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Much to my surprise this challenge didn’t really take much of my time! Just the usual time I take to make dinner (well, except for the waiting time of the pita bread to rise…). I actually took more time to write this post and the recipes!<\/p>\n

    Pita Bread<\/b><\/p>\n

    \"pita <\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n

    For the pita bread, I pretty much used the recipe provided in the challenge which is adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
    \nI did not follow the exact measurements of water and flour as these need to be adjusted anyway while making the dough. I also omitted the olive oil in the recipe (because I forgot to add it in!) and it didn’t make a difference.<\/p>\n

    Ingredients (about 16 pita breads, depending on size)<\/b><\/p>\n

    2 teaspoons regular dry yeast (.43 ounces\/12.1 grams)
    \n2.5 cups lukewarm water (21 ounces\/591 grams)
    \n5-6 cups flour (50% whole wheat and 50% strong white flour) (17.5 -21 ounces\/497-596 grams)
    \n1 tablespoon table salt (.50 ounces\/15 grams)
    \n2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)<\/p>\n