Off To Mecca We Went

Our 3 day hiatus from responsibility proved successful. Will and I took a mini holiday, rented a car and went (and ate and drank) where ever our hearts desired. We shopped 'til we dropped at Chadstone, boozed our way through the Mornington Peninsula, dined at the Docklands and nearly bought half of Dan Murphy's. I really feel rested enough to make it through to my next holiday from school in September, but not quite rested enough to download photos and such.

I was set of having Middle Eastern food for some reason so we headed off to Mecca Bah at Melbourne's up and coming boardwalk area, New Quay at Docklands. It'd been ages since I'd been down to the area to eat, but the yum cha places I ate at seems to have since closed...

Mecca Bah kind of lacks the individual character and personality that the majority of Melbourne restaurants seem to have, but the interior is sleek, trendy and popular with diners of all ages. You have a great view from anywhere you choose to sit, the waitstaff is attentive, the kitchen seems to run efficiently and the menu is comfortably 'arabesque'. The menu as a whole isn't that vegetarian friendly, but the silverbeet rolls (which were unavailable) and fatoush are well worth trying. For entrees we settled on the dips and Turkish bread, which included hummus, tatziki and babaganoush. Nothing spectacular, but the the smokiness and creaminess of the babaganoush was enough to keep me spreading lashings of it the Turkish bread until my main came. For vegetarians, there were only two options: tagine or Turkish pizza. I don't think the tagine at Mecca Bah could have topped what I had in Morocco, so I opted for the roast pumpkin, feta, chili and pomegranate jam pizza.

I still have visions of pomegranate dancing around in my head; the pizza was that good. It was shaped like a miniature gondola topped with a bit of rocket splashed with balsamic vinegar. The size of it just about sparked a conversation on the ever increasing portion sizes in contemporary eating establishments until I discovered that the base is nearly paper-thin. Every topping was just the right bite-size and eat mouthful was just as good as the last. The slight tartness of the pomegranate jam blew me away with the way it went so well with the saltiness of the feta and the sweetness of the roasted pumpkin. At $15 for the dish, I'd go back again just to have another bite of vegetarian deliciousness.

Thumbs for a fantastic vegetarian option that doesn't include mushrooms, risotto or a stack of vegetables.

Mecca Bah
55a Newquay Promenade
Docklands, Melbourne (next to Livebait)

A Tribute to All Things Moorish, etc.

I fell in love with the unique taste of olive oil in Spain, but only at the every end of my 3 years in Spain. I remember my father always had it drizzled over his salad with a bit of white vinegar. I tasted it once, in secret of course, and I wanted nothing to do with it. One of the first few days in my off-campus (university-owned) apartment, I was set up in the kitchen, ravenously hungry from who knows what and about to cook myself some potato product that looked charmingly round ("Oh look, globe-shaped potato product, let's eat this for lunch", I said to myself in the supermarket). Upon extracting the potato balls from the oil and letting them sit on a pile of kitchen towels, I popped on into my mouth and just as quickly spit it out. I had mistakenly purchased olive oil instead of standard vegetable oil and found the new flavour quite unpleasant on my poor undeveloped palate.

It was my first year away from home and my first year cooking food for myself as new vegetarian. I'll be honest, I lived on cheese sandwiches, tortilla (española) sandwiches, chips, candy and pasta for the first two years in Spain. That sounds absolutely horrendous to me know, but back then I never dreamt of buying a cookbook or eating tapas in the bars. Every time I browsed over the selection of tapas in the bars I could never decipher one greasy pool of food from the one sitting right next to it, plus, most of it didn't look vegetarian, which is why I lived mostly on potatoes. It wasn't until I left Spain at the end of two years and spent a year and a half in America, that I learnt about Spanish cooking and began to cook with olive oil and never looked back.

I've been back to Spain twice since then and it was during my time living in the southern tip of Spain, Seville to be exact, that I began to appreciate the vegetarian-unfriendliness of Spain and how to work around it to get what I wanted. I went out for tapas, drank sangria by the litre, dowsed myself with tinto de verano when it was hot -- I was like everyone else, for once. There was no longer a need to stuff my face with hot chips.

Some weeks ago I borrowed a book titled Shaha: A Chef's Journey through Lebanon and Syria along with Moro Cookbook. The cuisines of the Muslim- Mediterranean all share so much in common. For some reason, I like to throw Italy in there as well -- there is a focus on simply cooked food and good ingredients.



On a previous Dirty Tuesday I posted photos of Manoushi Bread, which is a Syrian/Lebanese bread similar Italian pizza, but with chewier tendencies and an all-together different vibe. It's typically not loaded up with toppings and sent to the oven to cook until crisp. These fantastic little rounds of bread cook up in about 3 minutes and taste best just out of the oven, although they can be reheated under the grill for a minute or two.

Manoushi Bread (makes 12 rounds) adapted from Saha: A Chef's Journey Through Lebanon and Syria

355 g plain white flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar
175 ml - 200 ml warm water

1. Sift the flour, yeast and salt into a bowl. Dissolve the sugar in the water.
2. Slowly add the water while using one hand to mix. The dough should be on the stickier side, but you should be able to form a ball and knead it until smooth. This should take between 5 and 10 minutes.
3. Roll the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and leave to rise for 2 hours. While the dough is rising, prepare the toppings for your bread. Less is more in this case as the bread itself imparts it's own delicious flavours.
4. Divide dough into 12 pieces and form into balls on a lightly floured surface. Preheat oven to highest temperature if you're using a baking stone or 230-40º C if using a baking tray and set balls aside until ready to use. Roll out the balls into rounds and top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Try caramelised onions and feta or minced sun dried tomatoes and Granda Padana cheese (or a proper Parmesan if you're not that strict with your vegetarian diet)
5. Bake for 3 minutes, cool only slightly and enjoy.