Spicy Fennel Slaw w/ Schug and Beets in Tehina

This is obviously not a fresh review, since I already love these recipes - my two favorite Zahav recipes, and 2 favorite non-Asian veggie dishes of all time, are these two below. We had beets in tehina when we ate there last November, and the spicy fennel is as refreshing and light as it sounds from the book.

This is actually FOUR recipes - two for the base sauces, and two for the dishes. The sauce recipes here yields more than necessary for the dishes themselves, but they’re super versatile just to have around, or they freeze well for next time.

Schug via immersion blender

Freshly tossed slaw

Huge beets! Only used 2 for 4 cups of shredded

Beautiful purple color

Beets in Tehina Sauce

Tehina sauce (about 2 cups of sauce)

This is Chef Michael Solomonov’s base sauce that can be adapted into lots of things -> flavored with anything you want as a sauce for …anything you want, mixed into other things as as base, hummus, flavored into a vegan ranch dip, good by itself on top of charred eggplants. It’s super good.

Can also scale up and make a lot with a food processor.

1. Blend together into a coarse puree, and let sit for 10 minutes:

   • 6-8 cloves garlic

   • 6 Tbsp lemon juice

   • 1/4 tsp salt

2. After 10 minutes, strain garlic liquid and discard solids.

   • This allows the garlic flavor to infuse into the lemon liquid, but without getting harsh and pungent. You can use this technique for anything that calls for raw garlic but you’re worried about the rawness - very handy for Asian cooking on a work night, hah.

3. Onto the garlic mixture, stir vigorously:

   • 1 cup tehina (aka tahini)

   • 1 tsp salt

   • 1/2 tsp ground cumin

4. At this point, the mixture will seize into a broken ugly thing. Add cold water, a little at a time, and stir (with fork or spatula for this size batch, not whisk) until incorporated. Repeatedly adding water, a few tbsp at a time, until it becomes smooth, thick, and creamy. Mixture will lighten in color as well.

5. The amt of water is ??? so just use judgment to desired thickness.

6. Season with more salt & cumin to taste.

7. Use for next recipe, repurpose or freeze the rest.

Beets in Tehina

The original recipe calls for salt roasting the beets without explaining why that method was preferred over the usual, and I followed it the first time I made this. It was a big mess, and so much salt is needed to bury and cover all the beets. But it was delicious. The salt kept the moisture in and also seemed to get pretty hot. The outside of the beets were able to caramelize and sweeten. In contrast, the usual water roast method is a million times easier, but also just not as concentrated beet flavor. Not enough of a difference for me to go through the relative hassle of salt roasting though.

1. To salt roast beets: bury whole unpeeled beets in kosher salt in a baking dish, and bake at 375F until done, 90min or more depending on size.
   To regular roast beats: place whole unpeeled beets in a baking dish, add water to about half way up the beets, cover tightly with foil. Bake at 300-350F until done, maybe 2-3 hrs depending on size.

2. Peel beets when they’re cool enough to handle, then allow to cool completely.

3. Grate beets with the big holes of a box grater. For every 4 cups of shredded beats (8 smallish beets or 5 medium beets, or like 2 giant beets) , add about:

   • 1/2 cup tehina sauce (from above)

   • 1/2 cup olive oil

   • 1/4 cup lemon juice

   • 1/4 cup chopped dill

   • 2 Tbsp chopped mint

   • salt

4. Taste and season to taste. I usually bump these measurements up a tiny bit more. Serve at room temp or cold, and top w/ more herbs if you’d like.

Spicy Fennel w/ Schug

Schug (fresh green chili condiment)

I really like this fresh versatile spicy condiment, in place of a hot sauce a lot of times. Most hot sauces are strong and ferment-y and I feel like most of the time, it overpowers rather than complements. This is the herbaceous, spicy, bright hit that can zhuzh up anything that tastes a little sleepy and boring, especially those leftovers that you’ve been eating for the nth day in a row, without blasting your palate.

1. In a food processor (or the cup of a powerful immersion blender, if you cut the pieces smaller to begin with), combine:

   • 10 serrano chilies (or whatever spicy or not spicy green chilies to preference)

   • 1/2 cup parsley (I use the stems too, chopped finely before blending)

   • 1/2 cup cilantro

   • 2 garlic cloves

   • 1.5 tsp kosher salt

   • 1.5 tsp ground cardamom

   • 1.5 tsp ground coriander

   • 1 Tbsp lemon juice

2. Pulse until a coarse paste forms.

3. Stir in:

   • 1/2 cup canola oil

   • If you choose to use extra virgin olive oil, definitely don’t blitz it in, since it’ll break down compounds in oil and make it bitter. I like this sauce both ways, with either evoo or neutral oil.

4. Season more to taste with salt and lemon.

5. Can store for a long time in the fridge.

If you have the patience, you can also make this in a mortar & pestle for more vivid herb flavor.

Spicy Fennel in Schug

SO fresh, so light, so refreshing, and perfect to cut through any heavy meaty dish, like a braise or a roast. It’s not even very regionally characteristic since the spices in the schug are very subtle, so it can go with many cuisines. We’re going to eat this with a Korean braise this week.

Fennel is classically super delicious with fish too, so next time serve this w/ your salmon dinner instead of the typical fennel & orange slaw.

1. Combine in a bowl:

   • 4 cups fennel sliced by mandolin (cut “lengthwise” - where you’d end up with 2 skinny halves) through the root, and slice on mandolin while holding the root (across the “grain” of the fennel) to get pretty half moons. (3-4 small fennel bulbs)

   • 1 cup cilantro, rough chopped

   • 2 Tbsp olive oil

   • 1 Tbsp schug (from above)

   • salt

2. Garnish with fennel fronds and serve! Or keep in the fridge for a couple of days.