#Green Matbucha

[formeryelpers]

Mazza Modern Kitchen, 12050 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

Mazza calls itself a Mediterranean restaurant; the menu is more eclectic and goes beyond Mediterranean (e.g., chicken tikka meatballs). Even the Mediterranean food is “modernized” – which seems to mean fewer carbs? There was no option to add rice to the meal. The décor and ambiance are very nice – reminiscent of being somewhere on the Mediterranean coast. Choose from soups, spreads (e.g., hummus, baba ganoush), flatbreads (khachapuri!), salads, appetizer, chef specialties (e.g., kebabs, whole branzino, uzbek plov), desserts, and a full wine/beer/cocktail menu. The food is served family style. Portions were good for sharing.

Masabacha hummus ($15): caramelized onions, garbanzo beans, tomato matbucha, adjika chili – served with freshly baked tandoori bread. The hummus was excellent, even Mr. Froyo thought so. The texture was thick and creamy and the additions kept it interesting and flavorful.  The bread was fresh, warm, thick and soft, dusted with sesame seeds – similar to barbari bread.

Kefta kebab platter ($29): Five thick patties with ground lamb, ground beef, and spices, charred veggies, Jerusalem salad with cucumber, tomato, onions, pickles and two sauces: a thick, potent garlic sauce and housemade spicy ketchup. Very tasty. The patties were moist and heavily spiced. The sauces were both flavorful and married well with the kebabs. The veggies were fresh and simply prepared. It was a bit odd since there was no rice or bread.

Mediterranean chopped salad ($16): red cabbage, cucumber, cherry tomato, feta, green apple, jalapeno, olives, red onion, lemon-tahini dressing. I thought it was fine – fresh, lots of ingredients, chopped well. Mr. Froyo thought it had too much dressing and that the elements didn’t come together. The dressing was on the sweet side.

Service was friendly but slow. They forget Mr. Froyo’s salad but they did apologize. We sat in the outdoor patio which had heat lamps and was well-lit. It’s on the second floor of a strip mall that once housed Yogurtland and Studio Yogurt. It was very noisy; we could hear the traffic on Ventura Blvd. The water in the carafe wasn’t chilled at all.

Online ordering and reservations are available. Reservations are recommended. 

4 out of 5 stars

By Lolia S.

[allwayshungry]

Green Matbucha

[ronniefein]

Matbucha

Spring has sprung and for me, that means more salad.

So I got to thinking about that word salad, which I realize means so many things that I was never able to fit all of my salad recipes into a file folder simply marked “salad.” I had to sub-categorize them into files such as “grain salads,” “tomato salads,” “fruit salads” and so on.

Over the years I’ve made salads of all sorts. Some based mostly on greens and some that had no greens at all.

I’ve made beet salads, dinner salads, fish salads and quinoa salads.

I could go on. But really, there is no one way to describe “salad,” even though a dictionary might say something like “a mixture or raw and cooked vegetables served with dressing.”

No.  

Because recently I prepared some Matbucha, which is in an entirely different salad category.

Matbucha is a “salade cuit” — that is, “cooked salad.” In fact the word Matbucha, is an Arabic word that means “cooked salad".”

Cooked salad may seem odd to Western thinking except for the fact that most of us actually eat lots of cooked salads, such as potato salad and egg salad too. We just don’t think of them as “cooked salads,” but that’s what they are.

Matbucha is a Moroccan dish, especially popular in the Moroccan Jewish community, which was once large and thriving in North Africa. When good numbers of Moroccan Jews migrated to Israel, they brought their love of this dish with them and it is now wildly popular in Israel too.

For good reason: Matbucha is vibrantly tasty, easy to cook and is ideal for Shabbat because, even though it’s cooked, you can serve it at room temperature. Use it as a salad course or as a side dish with dinner. I’ve always served it with hors d’oeuvre, as a topping for crackers or pita wedges (it works well with other Middle Eastern nibbles and dips such as hummus, raheb, baba ghanoush and so on).

You can make Matbucha 3-4 days ahead. That’s handy isn’t it?

Matbucha

2 large red bell peppers

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 serrano pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

6 medium tomatoes peeled and finely chopped

1-1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

Preheat the broiler. Place the peppers under the broiler, about 4-6" away from the heat, and broil for 2-3 minutes, until the skin has blistered. Turn the peppers and repeat this process until the entire surface is blistered and lightly charred. Remove the peppers and place them in a paper bag. Let rest at least 10 minutes. Remove the peppers from the bag, peel off the skin and discard the stem and the seeds. Cut the peppers into pieces. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the peppers, serrano pepper and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, paprika, sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook for 30-35 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick.

 Makes 1-1/2 to 2 cups

[thisisthedungeonthatneverends]

Ok. I was unsure about posting the finished product, but @prettyprompto inspired me with their potatoes.

I won't tell you how to cook your fish. I can cook darker fish like salmon and tuna at freaking advisor level, but lighter fish like the tilapia pictured above? Needs work. I over cooked and over seasoned it (basil and pepper) and it was a little bland and dry. Rice is pretty simple, just follow the directions on the bag. I use boil-in-bag brown rice because I'm a lazy ass.

Now for the matbucha. It's NOT traditional matbucha because it does not contain schug, a spicy chutney that is too overpowering for my bitch tastebuds. If you like spicy, add a teaspoon or two of schug, store bought or homemade, to the blender.

That's six Roma tomatoes, two green bell peppers, and 1/2 white onion. Cut them in half, drizzle with olive oil and season with ground pepper, sea salt, and crushed coriander. Bake on 375 for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Everyone's oven is diferent, and as you can see I'm working with a toaster oven, so you'll have to pay attention.

Once it's done, toss it in a blender or food processor with 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, juice from half a lemon, and chop on low speed until it's a chunky salsa. This is also where you would add the schug if you want it spicy.

I dont have pictures of the squash and zucchini by itself unfortunately. But you get yellow squash and zucchini and cut it length wise into quarters. Do the same thing to those as you did with the ingredients for the matbucha, skin side down. They are done when they are dark brown-black. Traditionally there would also be eggplant with this dish, but my grocery store sucks and was all out. Oh well.

[fishing-exposed]

@LambInnSandford: Fish Special on The Chargrill - Local Mackerel from Exmouth served with greens, salad & a fire roasted red pepper matbucha 😋👌🏼 #foodlover #lovefood #thelambinnsandford #fishdish https://t.co/QCsRBQsdv6

[njbellydancingbysoraya]

Some #Arabic delicacies and nutritious #MiddleEastern #poolside #Tapas small plate #snacks consisting of #Moroccan finger foods like #hummus, #Vegan #felafel, oliveOil, #Shawarma, #matbucha #eggplant #Mezze with refreshing #Lebanese #RoseWater, #Tagine, green beans, #Tahina dip, #spice and everything nice 🌹 💦 Cheers from a hot and steamy #JerseyShore 🏊‍♂️

[loveecologicalgardening-blog]

The word 'Matbucha' literally means 'cooked salad' in Arabic. INGREDIENTS (Serves 6) 8 tomatoes 2 red bell peppers 1-2 hot green peppers, depending on spiciness level 4 cloves garlic, sliced 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp paprika 4 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp sugar PREPARATION This recipe teaches you two tricks for peeling tomatoes and peppers. Useful for matbucha…