Balela

If you are like me and love tabbouleh or any refreshing salad suitable for hot days then you willl fall in love with this one. It resembles tabbouleh very much but I have never been able to find any reference to its origin. It could have been created by somebody simply dumping a can of garbanzo bean in a bowl of tabbouleh by mistake for what I know. I have done things like that in the past and some of the unintended concoctions actually tasted great! My view is: who cares! Balela is nicely refreshing and also filling. So, of if you have nothing else to eat but some bread, possibly pita or similar, you are in great company! Enjoy this wonderful balela.

Balela

• 1 (15 oz or 420 g) cans organic black beans, rinsed well, drained and blotted
• 1 (15 oz or 420 g) cans organic garbanzo beans, rinsed well, drained and blotted
• 1 cup chopped green onion or 1/2 chopped red onion
• 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Dressing Ingredients

• freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons 
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground black pepper

1.  Remove husks from chick peas by rinsing them very vigorously in a colander to loosen     the husks by gently squeezing them between two fingers.

Monthly Bakery. April: Spelt bread with tomatoes and black sesame seeds.

Tomato - spelt bread with black sesame seeds

For the leaven
• 55g active sourdough rye flour,
• 200g white spelt flour, (type 63 or 70)
• 200 g water,
• 1 apple, grated on a vegetable grater.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, cover with plastic sheet and leave for a minimum of 12 hours.

Bread dough

• Leaven, about 500g,
• 400g blended, canned tomatoes,
• 350g white spelt flour, (type 63 or 70)
• 300g plain bread flour (type 75)
• 1 TBSP honey,
• black sesame black (optional, quantity depends on individual liking)  
• sea salt, about 15g
• In addition, flour for dusting, while transferring and forming dough.

In a large bowl add blended  tomatoes to the levain followed by salt, honey, sesame seeds.

Gradually add both sifted flours and mix well.
Knead dough either by hand or a mixer until combined, by hand at least 10 minutes, mixer, half the time.
Cover dough and let rise, for about 3 hours.
After 1 hour, remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface, flatten stretch and fold and put back in a bowl.
1 hour later repeat the process from step 5.
Now shape dough into 2 round round or oblong shapes. You may leave it as 1 piece.
Transfer to a basket, the 2 pieces will touch. Cover dough for the final rise.
Make incisions to your likings and bake at 250°C/ 480° F with some ice cubes on bottom of oven, lower temperature to 220°C/430°F another 30 minutes.

Remarks: dough will be quite loose, but with each stretch and fold it will become more resilient.


Pomidorowy chleb orkiszowy z czarnym sezamem
Przepis na chleb pomidorowy zafascynowal mnie od momentu, w którym Amber przyslala mi zaproszenie do tradycyjnego comiesiecznego pieczenia, a przepis wybrała Dorota . Wiedziałam, ze chleb na mace orkiszowej musi byc pyszny, ale z pomidorami w chlebie nie miałam zadnego doświadczenia. Na chlebie, owszem, kocham, ale przepis nic nie mowil o plasterkach posolonych i oproszonych pieprzem. Nic z tych rzeczy. Amber, dziękuje ci za podsyłanie nam tak ciekawych przepisów!

Przesladowal mnie ten przepis i wreszcie nadszedł dzień przygotowania zaczynu. O malo nie spedzilo mi to wszystko snu z powiek. Jak nastolatka czekająca na cudowna randkę. Ja, starsza pani! Niesamowite!

Spring in the kitchen

Zima, prawdę mowiac, w ogóle u nas nie zagoscila. Wiosna cala para, wiec czas na porządki w ogrodzie, sadzenie kwiatów, sianie ziol i warzyw. Z ziołami bywa tu roznie. Pietruszka  z ubiegłego sezonu nadal stoi w  zielonych wielowarstwowych kieckach, rozmaryn ze szczypiorkiem maja się dobrze, oregano troszkę przybladło z braku gorącego slonca, a kolendra zupełnie mnie zaskoczyła, bo ni stad ni zowąd sama się wysiala w październiku i dzielnie nam sluzy do tej pory. A ja zawsze myslalam, ze kolendra to delikatna panienka. Blad. A mięta, która jak chwast się rozgoscila gwałtownie spakowała się wlasnie wtedy, kiedy jej najbardziej potrzebowałam, wredota do kwadratu. Ziolka!

Czas na czesciowa przeprowadzke dla pietruszki. Uzbrojona w noz, podcielam jej skrzydła i z czuloscia zlozylam je na deseczce w kuchni. Sama mysl o tabbouleh zawsze wprawia mnie w dobry nastroj. Cala reszta leciala jak z platka. Kuskus namoczony, szczypior posiekany, pomidory w kosteczkach lsnia w miseczce, oliwa puszcza oczka, cytryna sie az prosi o uscisk. Lepiej byc nie moze. Noz zgrabnie tanczy po deseczce i w kilka minut pozniej miska jest wypelniona aromatami i kolorami: tabbouleh.

Winter, to tell the truth, did never visit us. Spring has descended upon us full blast, so it’s time for gardening: planting flowers, sewing herbs and vegetables. Herbs here are a
different story. My parsley from last year still stands from tall wearing multi-layer green
dresses; rosemary and green onions are doing very well; oregano looks somewhat pale,
missingthe heat of the summer sun; but cilantro has totally surprised me. Last October it
came out of the blue from the scorched soil and has served us all the way through to now.
I have always thought of cilantro as being a frail young lady. Wrong. And mint, which
normally takes over like a pest, suddenly has packed up and departed from me just as I
needed her the most. What a rotten beast! Herbs!