It was a pleasure to host my Israeli guest Yasmin. Not only because of the delicious Israeli food we made on her last evening. I learned a lot about Israeli culture as well and had a pretty good time hosting Yasmin.
Her Israeli friend Naama also visited us for dinner together with her host Robert. Oh and my Paraguayan cooking guest Rodrigo came as well. You can see him on the picture next to Naama. He was hosted by Yasmin in the Netherlands last year so the two know each other as well. The vegan world is pretty small sometimes! 😉
After meeting Yasmin & Naama I really have to say I´m in love with Israelis now! I think I have to travel to Israel as soon as possible because I seem to be very fond of the people there! But also of the food of course.
And you will be as well when you try those recipes Yasmin taught me. Let´s start with the Bourekas today. These fake cheese-filled pastries are relatively easy to make and pretty delicious.
Vegan Bourekas טבעוניות בורקס
- 1/2 firm tofu
- about 300 g spinach (fresh or frozen)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 pound filo dough (about 10 sheets)
- about 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Put the tofu in a bowl and scamble it. Chop the spinach and garlic and mix with tofu. Add nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
Take one sheet of the filo dough. Cut in half like you can see in the picture.
Take half of the filo dough sheet and put a teaspoon of the filling in the middle. Fold the end of the strip diagonally over the filling to form a triangle until you reach the strip’s end.
Press down softly. Take a fork and close the pastry at the open sides like you see in the pictures. Repeat with the rest of the filo dough.
Brush the Bourekas with water or melted vegan butter and sprinkle them with sesame seeds.
Bake them at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
They are ready to serve now. I would suggest to eat yummy Hummus with them – that would fit perfectly. Of course Hummus originally is from the Arab world and because Israel is in the middle of them now… check this out: http://www.jewishrecipes.org/jewish-foods/hummus.html
Hummus חומוס
- 265 g chickpeas (without water – one small can)
- 165 g tahini
- juice of 1 1/2 lemons
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- cumin to taste
- pine nuts (roast them)
- parsley, chopped
- sweet paprika powder
- salt & pepper to taste
Put the chickpeas, some water and salt in a pot and heat them. Just a bit to warm them up.
Put chickpeas in a bowl (safe some for decoration), add chopped garlic, tahini, lemon juice and some of the cooking water and blend until smooth.
Season with cumin, salt and pepper.
Serve on a plate. Make a ditch like you see in the picture. Sprinkle left chickpeas, roasted pine nuts, chopped parsley, paprika powder and some olive oil.
Enjoy with pita bread, salad and/or Bourekas.
בתאבון
Like you can see we also had Israeli stuffed pepper and a very, very delicious Israeli salad.
