My very talented long-time blogger friend Faith had a long vacation in Middle East earlier this year and was very sweet to send me three wonderful spices to try: za'atar, sumac, and nigella seeds. If you would like to know more about these spices and ways to use them, visit Faith's blog An Edible Mosaic where you would find lots of excellent information and terrific recipes.
In my post, I'm going to share what I did with the spices so far. I wanted to taste all three spices side by side and the way I decided to do that is to make three kinds of fried haloumi cheese bites: za'atar crusted, sumac crusted, and nigella seeds crusted cheese bites. I whisked the egg together with a tablespoon of tapioca flour and a pinch of salt, brushed square pieces of haloumi with this batter, dipped each either into za'atar, or sumac, or nigella seeds; and then fried the cheese squares in a skillet with oil until golden brown on each side.
5 Star Foodie Junior and I were in disagreement on what to serve our haloumi bites on: slider buns, or pita rounds, or puff pastry. While the cheese bites were frying, I was thinking about the options, trying to make up my mind, while cleaning up the leftover spices and the egg mixture. I put the leftover spices in the egg mixture and was about to throw everything away when all of a sudden I got an idea. I added more tapioca flour to the bowl to make a thicker batter and fried tablespoonfuls of the batter on a griddle. The result was spiced tapioca flat cakes that were very unique in taste and texture, incredibly delicious, and a perfect accompaniment to the fried cheese bites topped with fig jam and a dollop of Greek yogurt.
The fried cheese bites were scrumptious and tasted very differently depending on which spice they were crusted with. While the nigella seed crusted cheese bites were the prettiest, the za'atar crusted cheese bites won for the best flavor.
5 Star Foodie Junior liked the cheese bites, but she absolutely loved the little spiced tapioca flat cakes and requested them again the next day. This time, we just had them with fig jam and Greek yogurt, and I wrote down the measurements for a small portion recipe.
Ingredients: (about 8 little flat cakes)
1 egg
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 teaspoon za'atar
1 teaspoon sumac
pinch of salt
3-4 tablespoons tapioca flour
Fig jam, Greek yogurt
Directions:
Whisk egg and spices together in a bowl, then slowly whisk in tapioca flour. Drop tablespoons of batter on a pre-heated griddle and fry until lightly browned on each side. Serve immediately, topped with fig jam and Greek yogurt.
