Siwa Dates

Photo by Combos Momn

Dates are Siwa’s pride and joy! With so many traditional varieties, many Siwans prefer dates to chocolate or baked sweets, as this form of sugar is natural.

Dates are used in many creative ways from date-filled crepes to date soufflé and date-stuffed biscuits. Traditionally, the pitted dates are used as a delicious and highly nutritious filling; for example in the preparation of Elhuji, a dish made of eggs with dates and olive oil; and Tagilla, made of flour, dates, water and olive oil. A date syrup can be used as a condiment.

Some of Siwa’s date production is bought up by Italians who love to eat dates at Christmas time, a tradition that goes back to the early days of Christianity when the Magi brought dates along as gifs for the newborn king. Dates in the Muslim world are traditionally eaten first to break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

Visitors to Siwa remember fondly a unique dish they enjoyed at breakfast: eggs cooked with dates, a memorable combination!

Pomegranate Craze

At a recent wedding in Siwa, guests were really drawn to the duck dish cooked with pomegranate seeds and Debs Romman (Pomegranate Concentrate). Not only for the duck, but guests also reached for the Debs when enjoying their dessert: they added it next to their pudding (mehallabeya)!

Traditionally, many meats were prepared using fruits, as "sweetmeats" (photo: tastingtable)

 The trend is to add the pomegranate to any dish you like, whether salad, meat or dessert. Known as a superfood for its extraordinary anti-oxidant activity, the pomegranate is popular also for its tart, fresh taste that it imparts to any dish.

Visually appealing, pomegranate seeds add tartness
to the taste of this salad (photo: hungryaustralian)

Using the concentrate made from the seeds makes cooking with pomegranate easy: simply add it in the final stages of cooking, or incorporate it off heat in any sauce or preparation for a fabulous flavor, color and taste.
 
The pomegranate concentrate is available at SIWA store on Ahmed Heshmat Street in Zamalek. 

Lors d'un mariage qui a eu lieu récemment à Siwa, nos rédacteurs ont remarqué que les invités étaient très attirés par les plats de canard cuit avec des grains de grenade et du Debs Romman (concentré de grenade). Non seulement pour le canard, les convives se sont également servi du Debs pour mieux savourer leurs desserts en l'ajoutant à la mehallabeya, un pudding au lait!

Les grains de grenade attirent l'oeil! (photo: theroastedroot)

Traditionnellement, les volailles, le canard ou le boeuf étaient souvent préparés avec les fruits desseches ou frais, comme «viandes dulcinées ou sucrées». La tendance de nos jours est d'ajouter la grenade à n'importe quel plat que vous aimez, que ce soit la salade, le plat principal ou meme le dessert (Photo: theroastedroot). 

Connu comme un "super-aliment" pour son activité anti-oxidante extraordinaire, la grenade est populaire aussi pour son goût acidulé et frais qu'elle impregne à n'importe quel plat. L'utilisation du concentré fait à partir des grains rend la cuisine à la grenade facile: il suffit de l'ajouter 6dans les étapes finales de la cuisson, ou de l'intégrer sans chauffer dans la sauce ou la préparation pour une saveur et couleur fabuleuses.

Le concentré de grenade est disponible au magasin SIWA sur la rue Ahmed Heshmat, à Zamalek.

Protein of the Future?

Photo: fao.org

Nawaya's was locally sponsored to attend an international conference hosted by Wageningen (pronounced "Va-khe-nin-gen) University and the FAO, whose focus was on the potential of farming insects for human food, as well as for animal feed. Attending this international event with over 450 participants was an inspiring event, presenting insects as a healthy and easily farmed protein source. The main interest was to better understand how Nawaya's Fayoumi (Bigawy) slow-growing chicken could be more cost-efficiently grown with a local feed source that could be implemented by small scale farmers. Interestingly, insects can be raised on food scraps and waste that aren't suitable for composting, making a highly attractive conversion rate, turning one creature's garbage into another creature's high-quality feed. What's more, chicken are genetically programed to eat insects, their development requires the intake of amino acids like methionine and lysine, naturally present in insects but chemically added in commercial chicken feed. To top it off, the ecological argument is that in such a small space with such little resources, protein can be farmed, and replace traditional soybean meal* that requires large amounts of land, water and resources -- better fit for human consumption, not for chicken!

Photo:wageningenur.nl

Insects in many countries have been traditionally eaten and collected, or for example in the Arab peninsula eaten during seasonal infestations. Insect consumption does however have a big "ew" factor, let alone that many people do not associate insects as healthy source of food. At the conference presenters tackled the consumer preferences, looking at everything from festivals, high end restaurants and chefs, just as importantly as research on infant growth and food industries exploring how insect protein also act as flavor enhancers. This idea is looking at the insects industry from a "bottom-up" approach, as cheap protein - then from a "top-down" as a new food fashion, that takes ground fast like Sushi restaurants. Farming insects will be accepted over time, and could be the future for cheaper more ecologically produced proteins, however it was constantly reminded that this industry is not the silver bullet that will save a 9 billion world from starvation. It is rather a new sector full of potential, and full of research needs - indeed the conference created a platform for many new partnerships and collaborations to take place. Nawaya will build on these to seek out its own path in Egypt to experiment with insects for chicken feed, hoping to find a silver bullet for indigenous poultry breeds to be competitive in the market, and in the long term to offer a healthy feed alternative that is locally produced.

by Laura Tabet

*Soybean meal is a solid by-product flour made from leftovers after grinding the soybean to extract soybean oil. It is used as a source of protein in animal feed, including chicken, cattle, horse, pig, sheep, and fish feed (adapted from wikipidia).

Mucaja do Brazil

Terra Madre in Torino, Italy (2014) a snapshot from The Voices of Indigenous Peoples Workshops

For 50 years and for as long as he remembers, Mr. Pingao Osbalda (second left) used to make "Ningawre Mucaja" and sell it from a cart as street food. Mucaja is a round and firm fruit that falls from palm-like trees in Brasil from October to  December. Osbalda collects the fruits that fall, crushing and grinding them in a large wooden mortar along with a live (yes, live!!) small, local crab caught fresh and, Voila: the "juice" that results is then strained, cooked and thickened into a sort of pudding: "Ningawre Mucaja," sold only in season as a snack or meal. 

Mr. Osbalda explains that he was soon going to stop because it is physically tiring to make Ningawre Mucaja, but then he decided to teach it to his children, encouraged by the Slow Food members who are doing research on Mucaja fruits and exactly this type of traditional food culture. Such traditional foods, once re-valorized can now be kept alive thanks to this family's dedication. One of many such stories told at Terra Madre this year.

A “Spanish fusion” restaurant in Zamalek

This review of a restaurant in Zamalek, "Jambalaya, a new 'Spanish fusion' restaurant in Zamalek", appeared in the Amcham Business Monthly magazine (March issue):

http://www.amcham.org.eg/resources_publications/publications/business_monthly/issue.asp?sec=8&im=3&iy=2014


"The signature Louisiana Creole dish, a rice-based concoction that mingles French, Spanish and Caribbean influences with hot peppers, sweet onions, shrimp and other staples of the American South, is a close cousin of paella, the Valencian specialty. That’s the idea, I suppose, that Jambalaya is a melding of cuisines and cultures. But with dishes like Pure de Garbanzos con Chorizo (hummus with spicy sausages, LE 28) and the Hamburguesa de Paella (a “Paella Burger” of chicken, chorizo and shrimp, LE 65), Jambalaya takes traditional dishes from southern Europe and North America well outside of their comfort zones.
..

Rejuvenated, and thirsty, I requested a Fresca Limonada (LE 16) as well as a glass of non-alcoholic Sangria (LE 18). If there is one thing Egypt always gets right, it’s juice. The Limonada, a strawberry lemonade, was neither too sweet nor too tart. The Sangria was a little less exciting, but then again, grape juice is not really a substitute for wine, which is traditionally the main ingredient of sangria. Jambalaya had also added a substantial amount of spice, the most prominent being cinnamon, which gave this summer drink a discordant, Christmas-ey flavor, like mulled wine. It wasn’t bad—it just wasn’t really sangria."

"Slow" Iftar at Abusir in Egypt

In the village of Abusir, near Sakkara, Egypt, organic products, some of which are present on the Ark of Taste (Slow Food Foundation), like chicken Begawi, were prepared for an Iftar gathering to break the Ramadan fast. Slow food members led by Sara El Sayed, Slow Food International Counselor for Egypt, and the Nawaya organization organized the Iftar.

As reported on the Slow Food Foundation page:
"The dishes were cooked by four chefs: a mix of city chefs, with modern interpretations of traditional dishes, and women of the village, keepers of the traditional recipes of the dishes. The event, which was attended by over 140 people, gave rise to a menu rich in fruits and vegetables, including couscous with fried chicken breast and grilled vegetables with apricot juice, alternating between the sweet and savory tastes typical of these meals."

Read more here: http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/pagine/eng/news/dettaglio_news.lasso?-idn=304#.U_LfQiiFgrw

في قرية أبوصير، بالقرب من سقارة في مصر،
تم إعداد المنتجات العضوية لحفل إفطار لكسر صيام رمضان
مع"سفينة الطعم" (مؤسسة الغذاء بطيئ Slow Food)،
مثل الدجاج  البيجاوي.

أعضاء Slow Food
بقيادة سارة السيد، المستشار الدولي لمصر،
نظمت منظمة Nawaya الافطار،
  الذي حضره أكثر من 140 شخص.

كما ورد على الصفحة مؤسسة الغذاء البطيء:
"تم طهي أطباق أربعة شيفات: مزيج من شيفات المدينة، مع تنوع حديث في الأطباق التقليدية، ونساء القرية، حافظات  للوصفات التقليدية من الأطباق.

على قائمة الأغذية في الفواكه والخضروات، بما في ذلك
الكسكس مع صدور الدجاج المقلي والخضار المشوي مع عصير المشمش،
بالتناوب بين الأذواق الحلو والمالح في هذه الوجبات ".

  اقرأ المزيد هنا:

http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/pagine/eng/news/dettaglio_news.lasso?-idn=304#.U_LfQiiFgrw

Healthy Living and Farmer's Market in Kattameya

It seems that Healthy produce is gaining popularity!! A new "Healthy Living and Farmer's Market" was recently organized at Kattameya Heights Country Club on June 4th. Our friend Menar Mebed of Minnie's Dried Fruits & Vegetables took part. 

The event was held indoors, on June 4, all day long from 11 to 7pm. Entrance was free.

يبدو أن المنتجات الصحية تكتسب شعبية!! نظمت "سوق صحيا" الجديد مؤخرا في نادى القطامية هايتس في 4 يونيو.شاركت صديقنا Menar Mebed.

وقد عقد هذا الحدث في الداخل، في 4 حزيران، من 11 إلى 19:00. وكان الدخول مجانا.

Menar's Blog: http://cut-and-dried.blogspot.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/minnies.dried.fruits.vegetables