Does anyone else like halvah? I decided to try making it, and it turned out pretty well, but then it gave me another idea to try sesame cookies.
I took a peanut butter cookie recipe, used tehini instead of peanut butter, and honey instead of brown sugar. I added some slivered almonds, and baked.
They were great. They tasted like halvah, but had the texture of PB cookies.
Just some MPS I wanted to share.
Anyone else have some recipe tweaks, or even lucky accidents to share?
My uncle - who was a baker - made the most amazing halvah honey cake, with chunks of halvah in it. I think it was his own secret recipe.
Off to Cafe Society
Growing up in a mostly Jewish neighborhood, halvah was one of my favorite treats. But I had absolutely no idea what was in it for the longest time. I remember being surprised when I learned the ingredients.
Last week I bout a pork shoulder and a jar of this stuff called: “Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce” (Found it in the international food aisle)
I had no idea what this stuff was. Never heard of it, never tasted it. I just told myself I’d buy this and some pork, throw it in a crock pot and see what happens.
It turned out awesome. (Served it over a bed of Jasmine rice)
My parents and siblings loved halvah. I couldn’t stand it. I preferred the sesame honey candies at the kosher deli counter instead! 
You have halvah? The super sweet tasting marbly looking sorta grainy chunky yummy cake confection? almost looks like a block of clay or something halvah I remember my Grandpa getting (had to special order it, nobody to this day has been able to figure out where it ordered it at)
♪♫:DIf you have a recipe for that, that you will let me have, I’ll be your best friend:D♫♪:heart:
My stepdaughter turned up her nose at veggies, but pasta was OK. So . . .
In the blender with a whole onion, a whole green pepper, enough water to puree. Put that in a sauce pan with a little can of unsalted tomato paste, and cook a few minutes to defeat the raw taste of the onions, adding liquid as necessary. A little olive oil for body, red wine for haute-cuisine, olive juice for salt, and Italian seasonings. All done before the spaghetti is cooked. Presto, lots of sneaky hidden veggies and hugs.
I’m not a fan of green bell pepper or raw onions. But I do use these both pureed in chili and a home made steak sauce I like to make.
When my son was between the ages of 3 & 4, he would not tolerate a vegetable on his plate. Unless ketchup is a vegetable.
So we used to buy things like green beans and carrots pureed as babyfood, and add them to his ketchup, with a pinch extra salt, a bissel garlic, a dash more vinegar, and a drop of red food coloring. He never knew we were sneaking him vegetables.
Eventually, he got interested in battered, deep-fried vegges that he could dip in ketchup, so he ate carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, Russet potatoes, and green beans. He was very thin at this time, so the “deep-fried” part was not a concern.
Also, at this time, he would eat virtually anything that was a fresh fruit, and he ate eggs and fortified peanut butter and tofu hotdogs, so we didn’t worry about his iron.
We also made him cookies with fortified oatmeal, peanuts, and raisins and low sugar, and brownies that had black beans in them.
His doctor said he was very healthy, and we should write a book on feeding vegetarian kids.
I don’t know how much parents would like ideas that involved “sneaking” foods into other foods, though.
FWIW, our son also drank some Carnation Inst. Breakfast (1 tsp) and 1/2 & 1/2 (1 tblsp) in his milk for a while, because he grew 6 inches from age 1 to age 2, and was in the 95th percentile for height, and the 10th for weight. Now he is above the 99th percentile for both. Anyway, we were really motivated to get him to eat.
DH would sometimes mix whole milk, 1/2 & 1/2, vanilla inst. breakfast, and juice, and call it a “baby smoothie.” The boychik loved those.
There’s a Roman recipe for roasted peaches in honey that features the addition of a garum*, cumin, pepper & herb sauce. This tastes a lot better than you would think fish-sauce-and-cumin peaches would. In fact, it’s fucking amazing.
That is not the innovation. The innovation was applying that honey+cumin+pepper+fish sauce basting to other roast fruits. It works on pears, apples, plums, grilled pineapple…
*garum, or liquamen, was a sauce made by pressing salt-fermented and autolysed fish. Vietnamese nước mắm or Thai nam pla fish sauces are pretty much the same thing.
I think I related this one before. At the end of an RV trip, we had some leftover items to use up on our last night on the road. I cut up a chicken breast and a hot Italian sausage and fried them in a bit of olive oil, added a small can of chopped tomatoes and a can of white beans and a sprig of rosemary, let it all simmer for about 20 minutes and voila!: camper cassoulet.
For any stews/chilies/etc I like to add some anchovies or anchovy paste. It adds “depth” without any fishy taste, IMO.
Similarly, I add a tablespoon or so of cocoa powder to chili.
Or a couple ounces of dark chocolate. To beef stew, I add soy, fish sauce and Worcestershire in small amounts. Gives it a real umami punch.
Thin strips of beef liver, sauteed in sliced onions and cut up orange wedges, with orange juice added as necessary for sauce consistency. Curry-spiced on basmati rice, with yogurt on top or side…
It’s very easy, but you have to have a mold for it. A glass cup that is graduated will work. Make sure it’s big enough. Spray it down with non-stick cooking spray.
Cook 1/2c. white sugar & 1/2c. honey until they just bubble, stirring constantly. Add one c. tahini and 1 tsp. vanilla. Remove from heat and stir thoroughly, then pour quickly into mold. Let cool, then remove from mold.
Don’t try halving the recipe, or the texture won’t turn out right (so says the recipe-- I haven’t tried it).
Thanks, what about doubling it? If I know my family as well as I think I do, well, nm, I can just make more I guess.
A follow up, did you make your own tahini? Some of the recipes I’ve seen called for making your own.
Anyway, thanks again for trying that recipe and then sharing.
Coffee and/or dark beer is another one for chili. I’ve even heard of cola or raisins. Seriously, chili probably has the widest list of “secret ingredients” of any dish out there. Personally, I keep it simple. That said, as a general rule, a little bit of fish sauce or anchovies in a stew do a good bit to up the meatiness and umami of the dish. That said, you can always just go straight for the MSG or bouillon cubs if you want. But I do use a few shakes of fish sauce in a lot of dishes, like tomato-based stews and sauces, to amplify the flavor a little bit. Then again, I also do often just go straight for the bottle of MSG, depending on who I’m cooking for.
My favorite recipe idea – although I’m sure I’m not the only one to have thought of it – is to combine pierogi and chicken paprikash into one dish. Stuff the pierogi with paprikash chicken, serve with the sour cream paprikash sauce and you have a nice elegant meal combining Polish & Hungarian influences. (Typical paprikash is served with spaetzle/galuska/nokedli–little dumplings of dough, so it’s not a strech to think this would work well as pierogi, ravioli, or any other stuffed dumpling.)
Everybody says that if you make salsa too hot, you add fresh fruit (and that works). One day I found I didn’t have any, but I did have a jar of black strap molasses from a craft fair.
Only use a tablespoon per 2 person batch, but it works and it holds up to hot peppers in a way pineapple, peaches, pairs, and apples just can’t.