Street food - Best Places of Interest

September 12, 2018 Food

What is your favourite street food? Part 9

In Tunisia there are several street foods that often only exist there and that one can even eat on the go:

Street food Tunisia

Ojja/Chakchouka: Ojja is prepared with tomatoes and tomatoes to paste, a bit of olive oil and eggs. Chakchouka is the same recipe but with more vegetables (pumpkin, peppers…) and both recipe can also include some Merguez (spicy lamb or beef sausages).

Maqloub: A sandwich with meat (usually poultry but sometimes also lamb) and Harissa – Wikipedia filling (other fillings or vegetables are also possible)

Kafteji: A preparation of fried vegetables (usually pumpkin, peppers and tomatoes) and eggs, that can be eaten as a side or used in a sandwich.

Lablebi: A hot soup of steamed chickpeas, a lot of spices (cumin, harissa) and some lemon, sometimes also with tuna and an egg. (This one is a winter favourite by many Tunisians)

Pizza: Since Italy and Napoli is at 30 minutes by plane, Tunisians very soon adopted the dish as their own before it even made it to the US. Now the most iconic pizza in Tunisia is the “Neptune”, made just with a tomato-mozzarella base plus shredded tuna (delicious from the Mediterranean Sea) and olives.

Fricassé: Those little-fried dough sandwiches are filled with tuna, eggs, olives and (of course) some harissa paste.

Brik: A very thin pastry fried to become crispy while usually filled with an egg, some parsley and tuna (some other recipes exist with octopus, poultry or potatoes instead)

Gelat: From the Italian “Gelato”, artisanal ice-cream adopted from Italy. More so, you can find in Tunisia original flavours such as Zgougou (Aleppo pine seed), Bsisa (flour & roasted barley with anis) or rose/orange flower essence. Or even some traditional gelat sandwiches in the region of Sfax.

Tunisian tea with pine nuts Image credit-sky#walker

Mint tea and Coffee: Tunisians fascination with those drinks made them available pretty much in every street and terraces.

Bambalouni, street food in Tunisia — Bambalouni Image credit-wikivisually.com/

Bambalouni: honeyed fried dough that is far more aired and malleable than a doughnut and thus easy to eat.

Zlabia: special honeyed fried dough with spices (cardamom and sometimes also Curcuma) that is very demanded during Ramadan in street shops. It’s a bit crispy on the exterior but rather gooey and sweet on the inside.

There are probably many more that I missed, I also wanted to show those who are more or less specific to Tunisia, we also have less commonly Shawarma or Shish Taouk from Lebanese and Turkish cuisine but those were already shown in an earlier blog post. Even then, Tunisian cuisine is pretty rich, (3000 years old rich as they like to say) but in my opinion, the best dishes are to found in people’s home and are better than street foods.

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September 10, 2018 Food

What is your favourite street food? Part 8

Street food Indonesia

Gorengan (frites)

Martabak: There are 2 types of Martabak, sweet and savoury. For the sweet one, you can choose so many different kinds of toppings like peanuts, cheese, chocolate, blueberry, strawberry, etc. So basically it is like a pancake but in a bigger size.

Martabak, Indonesia street food — Martabak Sriwedari | by is-goose

For a savoury one, it is more like an omelette with bits of vegetables and minced meat.

Sate Padang: This food is originally from Padang, West Sumatra. It is grilled meat (kebab) with spicy sauce. If you love spicy food, you should try this.

Mie Ayam (Chicken Noodles)

Mie Ayam, street food Indonesia — Mie Ayam
Image credit- Orangescale Studio

Bakso (Meatball)

Bakso, street food Indonesia — Image credit- Wikipedia

Soto: traditional Indonesian yellow soup mainly composed of broth, meat and vegetables with various spices. You can eat it with rice, or glass noodle (bihun).

oto Ayam, street food Indonesia — My mother’s homemade Soto Ayam (chicken Soto). Popular chicken soup and comfort food in Indonesia. Jakarta, Indonesia. Boiled chicken in clear yellow turmeric and chicken broth soup, served with rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, celery, boiled egg, potato, leek, tomato, and fried shallot. Image credit- Gunawan Kartapranata

Siomay: Steamed fish dumpling with vegetables served in peanut sauce.

Siomay Udang Glodok-(shrimp dumpling) in a restaurant in Glodok area, Jakarta Chinatown. This dish is similar to Chinese dim sum, it is Chinese Indonesian delicacy.
Image credit-Gunawan Kartapranata

Es Cendol: a dark-green pulpy dish of rice (or sago) flour worms with coconut milk and syrup of areca sugar. It used to be served without ice.

Cendol is a traditional dessert popular in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Vietnam, Thailand and Burma.as a sweet snack/beverages made from rice flour and other ingredients that are formed by filters, then mixed with palm sugar and coconut milk (for beverage).

Satay

Satay or most people would call sate is by far the most popular street food. It is basically marinated chicken meat with spices, barbecued and mixed with sauces and lontong which is similar to rice cakes. You could find lots of variations and personally, the best would be sate Padang.

Pisang Goreng

Goreng Pisang- street food Indonesia — Fried banana fritters. Also known as “goring pisang” in the Malay language- ProjectManhattan

This is probably the simplest street food, but it has one of the best pleasing taste compared to the rest. These are thinly sliced unripe bananas dipped in a batter and deep fried. It is then topped off with the chocolate chip/cheese + condensed milk. It’s crisp on the outside with sweet mushy bananas on the inside, the sweet toppings compliments and goes well with it.

Risol

Personally, this is my favourite street food, what makes it more interesting is that the filling could vary from crisp bihun (thin noodles) to ham, cheese, eggs and mayo. It is wrapped in a thin pastry-like wrapping and is deep fried. It’s very crisp on the outside and the savoury filling just oozes to your tongue with juicy ham slices.

Bakwan

This street-food doesn’t pale in terms of taste compared to others, but it’s quite unhealthy. It’s basically flour batter mixed with veggies (mostly corn, cabbage, carrot and onion) and is deep fried. Flavor-wise, it’s chewy and gets crispy when chewing on the crisp veggies. It has a common taste with Korean pancake, except that it has a tint of Indonesian savoury spices, although can be quite oily at times.

Tapai

Tapai is also a popular street food/ snack. It is steamed fermented cassava topped with shredded cheese or chocolate chips at times. It is easily chewed and flavour-wise is a mixture of sweet and alcohol-ish. It has that semi alcohol taste as a result of fermentation and it it’s great with the sweet toppings that compliment it.

I can’t mention all because there are too many street foods here. These are foods which you can find in most cities in Indonesia. So if you visit Indonesia, don’t forget to try all these foods.

August 31, 2018 Food

What is your favourite street food? Part 6

Street food LEBANON

Food in Lebanon is the essence of each gathering. Most of the Lebanese food is done with olive oil, garlic, onions, mint. Lebanese dishes are known to be very healthy and don’t contain many fatty ingredients. Nowadays, it is very popular in Lebanon to do the Food markets. This is how important food is in the country.

I’ve heard many times as well many Lebanese friends nagging about how they hardly they find food places opened when they are in a foreign country. In Lebanon, there are 24/7 opened restos, and mainly they are close to the pubs and nightclubs. And most of these places are Lebanese food and not the junk and fast food type.

The most popular street food is as follows, the majority is done with Lebanese bread:

Shawarma sandwich chicken and meat.

shawarma sandwich, street food Lebanon — shawarma sandwich-Taste of Beirut

Mankoushe or Sajj (a thinner type of mankoushe) with Thyme, Cheese, Labneh, Meat, etc… with vegetables are the most wanted breakfast street food.

Labneh with vegetables.

Cheese

Lahm Baajine can be eaten with pepper and lemon and with laban aside.

Zaatar, with vegetables

Saj mankoushe

Falafel can be eaten with or without bread. It is made from crushed chickpeas that are deep fried and served in Lebanese bread with vegetables and tahini sauce.

falafel middle eastern food chickpeas health food, street food Lebanon — falafel middle eastern food chickpeas health food

Knefeh mostly eaten in the morning but before it used to be only in the early mornings or after midnight, but nowadays can be found in a few places all day long. We can serve it as a dessert as well.

Knafah, Knafeh | by watashiwani, street food Lebanon — Knafah, Knafeh | by watashiwani

Shish taouk & Kafta.

chicken shish taouk, beef kabobs and Kafta, street food Lebanon — chicken shish taouk, beef kebabs and Kafta
Image credit- Pinterest

Ice cream, the standard flavours or the Ashta ice-cream.

The Lebanese Bakery: Daily baked "kaak", street food Lebanon — The Lebanese Bakery: Daily baked “kaak”
Image credit- TripAdvisor

Kaak, filled with Picon, Cheese, Thyme.

And many other delicious creations. Lebanese are known for mixing food together to get something extremely delicious at the end.

You may also like to read What is your favourite street food? Part 5

Street food Syria

There is not much to say about falafel, it has its own fame. Chickpeas dough, fried in hot oil, it can be eaten alone or in a sandwich with tomatoes, pickles and tartar sauce. It is cheap and tasty, can be found everywhere in Syrian cities.

Shawarma is a very, very popular meal in the middle east. It’s usually chicken meat, but you can find also beef or lamb meat. It is Very delicious, an average price for an amazing meal.

Aljetaily Meat Fatayer | by Samiha.Aljetaily, street food Syria — Meat Fatayer | by Samiha.Aljetaily

Manakish/Fatayer. A dough cooked on round pan and topped with thyme(Zaatar), halloumi cheese or red pepper sauce. Originally from Damascus, it spread all around Syria and Lebanon. Perfect for a park promenade!

Pinterest Mshabak with honey, street food Syria — Pinterest
Mshabak with honey.

Last but not least for the dessert, we have Mshabak/Loqmat al-Qadi. They are pretty much the same but the shape is different. A fried wheat dough, dipped fast while hot in sugar syrup, with a pinch of cinnamon and it’s ready to be served! This sweet is perfect for the cold days of winter.

Arabic Ice cream/Bekdash Ice cream.

This is a very special kind of sweet, it’s originally from Al Hamidiah Souk, Damascus. It’s made from cold sweet cream, rolled in a plenty of pistachios. Many tourists visit Al Hamidiah to eat this delicious ice cream

Saha w Hanaa, Bon appétit!

So, what is your favourite #streetfood”?

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August 29, 2018 Food

What is your favourite street food? Part 5

Street food Italy

In Italy, the type of street food depends mostly on which region you are in.
I’ll post just a few examples of savoury food (the most popular example of sweet street food is ice cream obviously) but there are literally hundreds of different things.

Pizza

Pizza al taglio, street food Italy — Pizza al taglio at Trastevere in Rome
Image credit- Shoebill2

I don’t think you need an explanation for what is that!
But there is one type of pizza made to take away, called “pizza al taglio” (sliced pizza), which is prepared differently than normal round pizzas in restaurants. The dough is thicker and there are more toppings

Focaccia

Garlic and Cheese Focaccia - Michaelangelo, Aspendale Gardens, street food Italy — Garlic and Cheese Focaccia – Michaelangelo, Aspendale Gardens | by spits

This soft and oily bread is delicious even plain, but it’s often filled with various stuff (ham, mozzarella, tomatoes, salad, etc)

Porchetta sandwich

A sandwich filled with pork which has been stuffed with herbs and spices and then spits roasted

Lampredotto sandwich

Found mostly in Florence, Siena and nearby areas of Tuscany.
It’s a sandwich made with tripes/stomach from the cow, cooked in broth and herbs and topped with green or spicy sauces.

Farinata/cecina

Cecina, street food Italy — Cecina | by fugzu

Popular in Liguria and Tuscany regions. It’s a pancake made of chickpea flour. It can be eaten like this or be the filling for focaccia as well

Deep fried stuff
Many different options could be fried: seafood, polenta (corn porridge), mozzarella sticks, potato sticks, etc.

Piadina

Originally from Emilia-Romagna region. Can be filled with everything. “Stracchino” cream cheese is a popular filling

Arancini & Supplì

arancini, street food Italy — arancini | by stu_spivack

Deep fried rice balls with various fillings (tomato sauce, meat sauce, veggies, cheese, etc). different shapes and sizes, depending on the area. Arancini are from Sicily and Supplì are from Rome.

Panzerotti

Deep fried dough with fillings. Most common is just tomato sauce and mozzarella (similar to “calzone”). Originally from Puglia region

Obviously around the world pizza is the most famous Italian food but if you visit Italy, you will be surprised about how many different things you can easily find at every corner, most of them you probably never heard of.

So, what is your favourite “#streetfood”?

You may also like What is your favourite street food? Part 4

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