Tags - cooking
As the seasonal cycle of Galilee's local foods turns from spring to the heat of summer, the array of produce in the markets and vegetable shops is changing before our eyes. At my local greengrocer in the Bedouin village up the road, there are tiny, tender okra, long stalks of maluhiya, and neatly stacked piles of grape leaves, which are at their best still early in the season - the size of my open hand, with their characteristic natural sour flavor. Women all over the Galilee, whether they are Christian, Muslim or Jewish, are rolling grape leaves around a myriad different stuffings - that could include meat or not, rice, cheese, cinnamon and pine nuts. My mother-in-law, of Romanian descent, makes her grape leaves in a sweet and sour, tomato based sauce, while my Bedouin friend Nadya skips the tomato paste, opting to line the bottom and top of the cooking pan with slices of fresh tomato and onions. She packs the pot snugly with dozens of stuffed leaves and stuffed baby zucchini, which cook together to make a densely layered summer meal for an entire extended family. The advent of freezers means that this seasonal specialty is now being enjoyed year-round.
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