Our international supermarkets of mystery discovery tour takes us to Arncliffe, with lebanese sausages and basturma from the local butcher.
Hourani Halal Meats is just up the hill from Arncliffe train station, and worth a trek if you are in the neighbourhood grabbing some pizza from one of the great bakeries nearby.
Walking past to El-Zahraa Bakery, we spied two types of sausages in the window - sujik we were familiar with, the other called ma'anet was new and we just had to try them.
Hanging above the butchers block in the store was a beautiful piece of basturma, the Lebanese equivalent of pastrmi. It has a chilli/paprika crusted edge and a bright red colouring that works wonderfully with eggs or a plate of pickles and a little cheese. We bought about 12 slices for around $3.50, a similar amount at David Jones Food Hall is around $9.00. We ate almost all of it while waiting for our pizza.
I only asked for half a dozen, but was pleasantly surprised to realise I had a dozen sujik to enjoy. Maybe the butcher had no comprehension why you would want so few. The bag had a wonderful fresh smell of spices when it was opened at home. He recommended the ma'anet as a little less spicy, good for the kids he said, so we picked up half a dozen too.
Six little sujik sausages, ready for the grill.
I delved into the pantry at home to pull out something to try with the sujik, and found a tin of hummos with tahina and some fava beans, or foul medammas. You might think hummos in a can is something strange, but believe me this stuff can save you when you need to whip up something quickly. I've seen it in the big supermarkets and anywhere in Auburn/Lakemba for around $1.50 a can, not much more than a tin of chick peas. You can also get baba ganoush.
Basically it is just crushed chick peas and tahina as a nice smooth paste.
I like to add in some fresh crushed garlic and lemon to give it a kick.
The fava beans are meaty beaty big and bouncy. They have a great texture that works really well with salad or as a side. They come in a lemony juice, so there is no need to add too much to them.
Last of all the sausages went on the grill. They split and sizzled and cooked to a dry-ish state, perfect with the hummous and beans and a little green veg wrapped in a fresh piece of pita bread.
Our next trial might be baking them together with eggs, or slicing or crumbling them over home made pizza with haloumi. We also tried the ma'anet, they weren't too mild and had a lovely sweet spiciness to them. The sausages are absolutely delicious, highly recommended.
Hourani Halal Meats is at 19 Belmore Street, Arncliffe, NSW, 2205 Ph: 02 9556 2124
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummus
ReplyDeleteThe Holy Trinity
1. Garlic
2. Lemon
3. Olive Oil
Ya forgot the Olive Oil.
I know I didn't add any olive oil - I'd run out! Need to get my giant can refill soon.
ReplyDelete"The term fava bean (from the Italian fava, meaning "broad bean") is usually used in English speaking countries such as the US, however the term broad bean is the most common name in the UK."
ReplyDeleteSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_faba
LOL (sorry)
HOLY SHIT YOU CAN GET BABA GANOUSH IN A CAN?
ReplyDelete