Recipe: Brush aside mood swings with foods from Turkish cuisine in Hot Mezze Box

Turkish cuisine is blessed with food that uplifts the mood instantly. Hence, this Sunday night, we are preparing and bracing to drool over Hot Mezze Box which has a variety of mood boosting food like Chicken Shawarma, Falafel, Kebab Meshwai, Classic Chickpea Hummus, Fattoush Salad, Za’atar Yogurt Dip and freshly baked Pita.

Chicken Shawarma

Ingredients:

Chicken Leg bones with skin 100gms

Hung Yogurt 50 gms

Cloves 5 nos.

Lemon 1 no.

Cinnamon powder ½ tsp

Chilli flakes ½ tsp

Black pepper corn 5 nos.

Salt to taste

Olive oil 5 tsp (For 2 tsp marinade, 2 tsp cook and 1 tsp finishing)

Chicken stock 1 tablespoon

Method:

Flatten the chicken with steak hammer and keep it aside. For marinade - mix olive oil, salt, lemon ring and all the spices together with yogurt. Marinate the chicken overnight in the refrigeration using this marinade.

Before cooking, heat the pan add olive oil and sear the chicken when the oil is hot, start searing first from the skin side. Cook evenly from both the sides 5 minutes each.

Add little chicken stock and cover it with the lid for another 10 minutes. Once its fully cooked, gently shred the chicken. Drizzle some olive oil and lemon juice on top. Serve hot with accompaniments

Kebab Meshwai

Ingredients for 1st marination:

Lamb shoulder chunks boneless 100 gms

Lamb fat 50 gms

Onion (white, roughly chopped) 20 gms

Parsley (leaves, small stems) 5 gms

Ingredients for 2nd marination:

Parsley (chopped) 5 gms

Salt to taste

Black pepper powder to taste

Cinnamon powder 1/4 tsp

EVOO 5 ml

Butter (melted) 5 ml

Ingredients for accompaniments and garnish:

Pickled vegetables 20 gms

Pickled Bhavanagari or Habanero chilly (grilled) 1 no.

Method:

Combine all the ingredients of the 1st marination. Pass the above through the meat grinder using the fine setting 4 times till the mince is very fine. Marinate for 4 to 6 hours or overnight.

Combine the ingredients of the 2nd marination with this fine mince and marinate overnight. Check seasoning and skewer on rods by wetting hands and place in a tandoor on a medium high heat. Close the lid of the tandoor for a while.

Keep rotating/turning the meat skewers at periodic intervals to ensure even cooking & doneness of meat. Brush with melted butter during this process.

Drizzle EVOO when the meat is removed off the skewer. Serve with above accompaniments.

Falafel

Ingredients:

Chickpeas- 250 gm

Onion - 50 gm

Garlic- 4 cloves

Parsley- 50 gm

Mint- 10 gm

Coriander – 30 gm

Salt- 15 gm

Ground cumin- 5 gm

Ground coriander- 3 gm

Black pepper- 2 gm

Method:

Rinse the chickpea and place in a large bowl and cover with cool water. Cover and soak overnight. Drain the chickpea and dry them.

Add chickpeas, onion, garlic, herbs, salt, ground spices, salt, black pepper to a food processer and grind. Transfer the mixture into the bowl and refrigerate for at least 15 mins.

Heat oil in a pan to medium heat, make small balls of the mixture and flatten them like a gallates or use Falafel scoop.

When the oil is medium hot (165C), add gradually in the hotel oil and cook for while till it gets golden brown.

Classic Chickpea Hummus

Ingredients :

Cooked chickpeas - 3 cups

Garlic- 1 to 2 cloves, minced

Ice cubes - 3 to 4 no

Tahini paste – 1/2 cup

Kosher salt – 1/2 teaspoon

Juice of 1 lemon

extra virgin olive oil – 1 cup

Sumac for garnish

Method:

Add chickpeas and minced garlic to food processor. Puree until a smooth. Add ice cubes, tahini, salt, and lemon juice. Blend for another 4 minutes or until you reach desired silky-smooth consistency.

Spread in a serving bowl and add a generous quantity of extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle sumac on top.

Za’atar Yogurt

Ingredients:

English cucumber– 1no (peeled)

Kosher salt- 1 teaspoon

Garlic- 4 to 5 cloves (finely minced)

White vinegar- 1 teaspoon

Extra Virgin Olive Oil- 1 tablespoon

Greek yogurt - 2 cups

White pepper powder- ¼ teaspoon

Za’atar Spice – 01 tsp

Method:

Grate the cucumbers. Mix it with ½ tablespoon of salt. Transfer the grated cucumber into kitchen towel and press out the excess water from it.

In a mixing bowl mix add cucumber with remaining ½ teaspoon of salt, garlic, vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Mix it well with fork.

Add Greek yogurt, Za’atar spice and white pepper powder to cucumber mixture. Refrigerate it for an hour before service. Transfer to serving bowl, drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil.

Freshly Baked Pita

Ingredients:

Refined flour- 3 cups

Active dry yeast- 7gm

Kosher salt- ¼ teaspoon

Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Lukewarm water- 1 ½ cup

Extra virgin olive oil – for drizzling

Method:

Sieve with flour with salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture. Place yeast and sugar in it pour in the lukewarm water.

Knead the soft dough it should bounces back when you push into it. Drizzle Olive oil on it. Cover it with kitchen towel and place in a warm place. It should rise double in size. Approximately it will take 45 mins.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees c and lay a baking tray in the oven to heat. Cut the dough into 10 equal pieces. Roll them and cover it with kitchen towel, let them rest for another 10 min.

Flatten each with rolling pin. Will need excess flour for dusting. Bake them in over on pre heated baking try for 5 mins. Serve immediately.

(All recipes: Himanshu Taneja, Culinary Director, Marriott International)

Mood swings, anger, frustration, fear, sadness, irritability, snapping at people and aggression are all symptoms of being ‘hangry’ which occurs when our brains are starved of glucose which is the main source of energy for one’s body functioning. The state mainly occurs when there are large gaps between your meals hence, it is important to have a meal that is balanced with enough carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals that sustain you for a longer time and prevent your sugar levels from spiking or dropping quickly.