Street-Food-Style Spiced Cauliflower by Anas Atassi
Ma’aleh is usually deep-fried cauliflower, served in a sandwich with raw vegetables and tarator.
Ma’aleh is usually deep-fried cauliflower, served in a sandwich with raw vegetables and tarator.
Most Syrians eat cauliflower this way, but any vegetable can be made into ma’aleh—just deep-fry it and make a sandwich as described above. But in my opinion, my mother’s oven-roasted cauliflower is even better; it’s a perfect side dish or sandwich filling.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius (425 degrees Fahrenheit).
On a large baking sheet, toss the cauliflower florets and its leaves with the olive oil, cumin, paprika and some salt. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and just starting to char at the tips.
Take the cauliflower out of the oven, toss with the garlic, and bake for another 3 minutes.
Serve Zahra, street-food style, in a pita or flatbread sandwich, stuffed with fresh herbs and tarator, or as a snack or side dish with tarator dipping.
Reprinted with permission from
Sumac: Recipes and Stories from Syria
Anas Atassi.
Interlink Books, 2021.
interlinkbooks.com.
You may also be interested in...
Recipe for Fennel and Potato Biryani
Food
Biryani is a whole and very elaborate genre of rice dishes, not be confused with pulao or pilaf.
Recipe for Protein Balls With Dates and Nuts
Food
Al-Baghdadi wrote his hit medieval cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes) in 1226 CE at the height of Abbasid sophistication and power. It included this recipe for hais or date sweetmeats.
Traditional Afghan Rose Ice Cream Recipe
Food
During the hot summer months, ice-cream shops, called shir yakh feroshees, would sell an assortment of ice creams and other cold desserts. My sister Fatema remembers going into beautiful little shops after school to buy shir yakh. They were colorful and decoratively tiled and had Bollywood music playing in the background. The shir yakh, with rose and pistachios, is a favorite at Parwana, one of her restaurants.