New To Me Recipe:Week 6

One of my goals for 2018 is to try a new to me recipe each week. As I mentioned when I first started this, even a sauce or dressing counts as a recipe. I put the blame for this recipe on the backs of Son2 and GF2. They ate lunch at a local restaurant and came home singing the praises of a sauce they had with falafel called skhug. I had never heard of it before, so of course I had to try and find how to make it.

It turns out it is a sauce originally from Yemen that made it ways to Israel, and has fast become one of the countries most popular sauces. It is spelled several ways, Skhug, Schug, or Zhug. It can be either red or green (depending on the amount and color of peppers you use) and it is a thick albeit spicy condiment. It is not the prettiest sauce I have ever seen, but the taste more than makes up for it

Use it on falafel, shawarma, mixed with a little mayo as a sandwich spread, mixed with a little whole grain mustard as a binder for chicken salad. Also try it on eggs, or with a cheese and bread plate. It is incredibly delicious slathered on hot cooked chicken.

If you are not a fan of heat in your dishes you might try this using 1/4 of a jalapeno that has been seeded and had the ribs removed ( since that is where the heat lives)
. I found several recipes online and they are all similar with slight differences. This is a compilation of about 3 different ones, since I was going to only use what I had on hand.

This is a snap to make,

Zhug

2 bunches cilantro (leaves and stems), chopped.
1 bunch parsley (leaves only)
4  green chiles If you want really hot stuff move on up to some of the reds
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
Juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Salt

Put the cilantro and parsley into a food processor using the blade attachment. Whirl it for a few seconds until it is coarsely chopped (I processed mine too long). Add the peppers and garlic and whirl about 20 seconds. Toss in the lemon juice, lime juice and the oil along with the spices and salt. Whirl about 30 more seconds and it is ready for you to enjoy.

I imagine you could mess with this up and down the ingredient list and make it your own. Several recipes said to use 4 cloves of garlic. I did and those people are either huge fans of raw garlic or my cloves were gigantic. I had to go back to the store and buy more cilantro, parsley and chiles, so I essentially doubled this recipe, just to knock out some of the strong garlic flavor.  I think for someone like me who had never eaten it before 2 cloves is plenty. If you make it and find it too tame for your garlic tastes, by all means, bump up the amount .

I have had it several times since I made it and really do love it. The recipe makes about 3/4 of a pint mason jar. I washed the jar, then ran some boiling water in it to kill any lurking cooties. I spooned it in the jar and have a very tight lid on it.  Some recipes say it will last at least 2 weeks in the fridge, others say one week. I am living dangerously and will keep it a week and a half before I toss it. I am pretty sure I will be making this on a regular basis, but I will probably cut the recipe in half in hopes that we will finish it all without having to throw any out.

I have only eaten this in my chicken salad and on top of some baked chicken. It was insanely delicious in both of those, but Son2 at it with falafel and on pita bread. He absolutely loved it.

Spread your wings and try something different this week! Life is short and there are so many things for us to enjoy if we just try them.

p.s. This is probably a really bad food to eat right before a date, business meeting or a wedding.