Recipe - Green Prophet

Fresh Fava Bean Soup, A Vegan Springtime Recipe

Miriam Kresh — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:48:12 +0000

Image via thehappylentils.com

Big, gnarly fava bean pods are in season right now, just as winter gives way from cool nights to bright, warm days. Heaps of the greens loved in the Middle East appear in the shouks (Arabic word for market): peas, string beans, asparagus, and for a short while, these fresh fava beans.

Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.

Fresh beans are peeled twice: once when when you slide them out of their pods, and again when you squish each bean out from its rubbery covering. True; a little extra work. But it’s a restful task, and the soup is wonderfully herby, and redolent of green Springtime.

Image via thehappylentil.com

The preparation time listed relates to fresh beans. Frozen beans won’t need the peeling.

You’ll notice that the recipe calls for a fair amount of cilantro, but you can easily swap parsley for it if you prefer.

Fava Bean Soup Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups fresh or frozen fava bean pods
1 large leek, well washed and sliced into thin rings (about 2 cups)
2 celery stalks sliced
2 carrots, sliced thinly
2 zucchini, diced
2 large potatoes, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
A bunch of coarsely chopped cilantro (about a cup)
8 cups/2 liters water or more as needed

Pull the strings off each pod and open it along the slit to expose the green beans. Use your thumbnail or a small knife. Push the beans out. Make a small cut in each bean, along the black stripe on its side, and squish it free of its sheath.

Image by amirmasoud via unsplash

If using frozen beans, skip this step.
Heat olive oil in a deep pot over medium heat. Add the leeks, celery, carrots, zucchini and potatoes. Add turmeric, salt and black pepper, stir and let the vegetables cook gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add 8 cups of water, stir and bring to a boil. Cook, covered, for 45 minutes over medium heat until all the vegetables are tender.

Add the peeled fava beans, bring back to a boil and continue cooking for another 45 minutes. Check the soup once or twice: if necessary, add a little water.

Using a potato masher, mash the vegetables very coarsely.

Taste for seasoning and add a little more salt and pepper if needed.

Turn off the heat and add a bunch of finely chopped cilantro or parsley.
Serve right away, and enjoy.

Photo by Miriam Kresh for Green Prophet

Love fava beans and want another recipe? Try this fava bean Iranian salad

Potato salad with fresh fava beans

The post Fresh Fava Bean Soup, A Vegan Springtime Recipe appeared first on Green Prophet.

Haman’s Fingers, A Moroccan Purim Specialty

Miriam Kresh — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 10:49:56 +0000

Sweet, nut-filled Haman’s Fingers, a Purim treat.

The Purim holiday is coming up next week: this year, 2026, it occurs from the evening of March 2nd until the evening of March 3rd. (In Jerusalem, where Shushan Purim is celebrated, the festival takes place on the following day, from March 3rd to March 4th.) Read about Purim and building a good society here.

There’s feasting at home on the night and the next day, and to make sure everyone gets good things to eat, families send out packages of treats to friends and neighbors. Traditional goodies are hamentaschen, and other treats like our chocolate nut clusters .

Now here’s another treat for sending around: a delicate nut-filled Moroccan pastry called Haman’s Fingers. It’s a sweet take on savory Moroccan cigars.

Haman’s Fingers
Yield: 20 rolled pastries

Pastry Ingredients
2 cups whole walnuts
2 cups whole almonds
½ cup sugar syrup (recipe below)
1 tsp orange blossom water (optional)
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp kosher salt
15 sheets of frozen phyllo pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator
1 stick (½ cup) melted butter

Syrup Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp orange blossom water or 1 tbsp lemon juice
Zest of 1 orange

Directions

Remove the phyllo dough from the freezer to the fridge the night before starting. 2 hours before starting, remove the package from the fridge to room temperature. When ready to start, open the package and cover the phyllo with a damp towel or plastic wrap, to prevent drying out.

Make the syrup:
Bring water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat to a steady simmer and cook uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until syrup has reduced to about ⅔ cup. Add orange blossom water or lemon juice and orange zest. Set aside to cool.

Prepare the filling:
Place the walnuts and almonds in a food processor. Pulse until the texture resembles coarse crumbs, with some chunks.
Add ½ cup of the sugar syrup and the cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, salt, and optional orange blossom water. Pulse another couple of times until mixture comes together. Don’t overwork the filling; you don’t want a smooth paste, bu a mixture with some texture.

Roll the pastry:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Place a sheet of baking parchment on your work surface. Melt the butter (30 seconds in the microwave should do it) and set it aside to cool.
Place 1 sheet of phyllo on the baking parchment. Brush with melted butter. Place a second sheet over it, brush with butter. Do the same with a third sheet, finishing with brushed butter.
Roll the filling into a tube shape on a clean surface. Place it half an inch from the edge of the phyllo layers, on the long side. Carefully roll up the dough. Slice it into 4 pieces.
Transfer the cigars to the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining phyllo and filling.

Glaze the fingers:
Brush the finished cigars with more butter and then brush generously with syrup. There will be some syrup left for a final glazing.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and while still hot, brush with additional syrup to glaze.
Trim any filling that oozed out of the “fingers” off with a knife.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.

Recipe and photo via Chabad.org

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Make nettle dumplings, also known as nettles malfatti

Miriam Kresh — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 22:07:41 +0000

Nettles malfatti dumplings, covered in grated Parmesan

It’s late winter, almost spring in the Mediterranean, and the time to harvest wild greens is now. In a week or two, the best will be gone to seed, gotten leggy and tough, or infested with bugs.

I went out foraging for nettles, my favorite wild edible. I was aiming to make nettles dumplings, or as they’d be known in Italy, malfatti. See our other 5 ways to eat iron-rich nettles. And here we show inventive ways to make dumlings.

Malfatti means “badly formed,” and these dumplings, quickly shaped in the hand, have an awkward, rough look. Traditionally, spinach is the leafy ingredient, and the malfatti come out white speckled with green. These, based on nettles, are a rich, dark green.

I found this recipe in the late Leda Meredith’s book, “The Forager’s Feast.”

When I mention harvesting nettles to people who don’t forage, I get plenty of rolled eyes and the usual question: “Don’t you get stung, picking them?”

I do get stung. In my first years of picking nettles, I found that wearing gloves and taking scissors along was the way to deal with them.

Snip the stems and holding them with the scissor blades, put them down, all facing one way. That makes them easier to handle when rinsing them and hanging them up to dry.

But that was years ago. I pick nettles with bare hands now, and while I feel the sting, I don’t mind it anymore. Remember, all the sting goes away in the cooking. If you’re new to eating nettles and curious about their flavor, I’ll say that they don’t taste like spinach.

All wild greens are described as tasting like spinach, but the truth is that each has its distinctive taste, as with artichokes and lettuce, which are botanically related but taste nothing like each other. Nettles’s taste is dark, if you like, and a little salty; a little like seaweed.

This is how I learned to make delicious green malfatti. Like the ancient recipes that start, “First go out and catch a rabbit,” you need 4 ounces of raw, rinsed nettles that you went out and picked yourself.

Nettles Malfatti Recipe

Serves 2 as a main dish; 3-4 as a hot appetizer or side dish

Ingredients:

4 oz. – a tightly packed 1/2-cup of raw nettle leaves – stripped from the stems. My note: ignore any seeds present; they’re also excellent nutrition when young and green.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped finely
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or more if liked
1/2 cup cup flour for rolling the malfatti in
About 1/2 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup grated extra Parmesan for saucing the malfatti

Instructions:

Arrange ingredients for nettles malfatti, via saborina

Blanch the nettles. Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil.

Drop the nettles in and cook for 3 minutes. I set the timer on my phone to avoid over-cooking. You’re only blanching the greens here.

Have ready a bowl of cold water. Remove the blanched nettles from the hot water with tongs or a slotted spoon and immediately drop them in the cold water. Let them sit for a minute or so or until cool.

Drain the nettles in a colander or sieve, and squeeze as much liquid out of them as possible by pushing them hard against the side of the colander. Do this over a bowl, to catch that dark-green juice. It’s tasty and sky-high full of nutrients. You can add it to soups or green smoothies later.

Coarsely chop the wad of squeezed-out nettles.

Empty the pot you boiled the nettles in. Pour the olive oil in and set it over medium heat to warm. (Leda’s tip for reducing the washing up by one pot).

Cook the onion in the oil until soft and translucent, stirring, 4-5 minutes.

Using the knife blade of a food processor, blend the onions and nettles together with the salt and pepper, eggs, breadcrumbs, and cheese until you have a coarse paste.

Scoop the nettles mixture into a bowl, cover it, and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. I’ve let it mature as long as 24 hours.

Set a large pot of lightly salted water to boil.

Either flour a surface like a baking sheet with the 1/2-cup flour, or dump the flour into a wide bowl. Either way, flour your hands. You’ll need to flour your hands again at intervals.

Pinch off a generous tablespoon of the chilled dough and roll into a torpedo shape. Some prefer a nice round dumpling like a mazah ball; your choice. In either case, your palms will be green.

Rolling the malfatti makes green hands.

Roll each malfatti in the flour and set it aside on a floured surface while rolling the rest. If your bowl is wide enough, just place them around the inside and roll the rest of the malfatti in the flour heap in the center of the bowl.

Gently lower the malfatti into the water, which by now should be boiling. Don’t crowd the dumplings; they swell and need room to move. You’ll know they’re close to done when they rise and bob around. Cook them 4-5 minutes, no longer or they’ll break apart. You may need to do this in 2 batches.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked malfatti to a platter or serving bowl.

Gently pour melted butter over the malfatti, and sprinkle with the extra grated Parmesan. Serve right away.

Some take malfatti to another level by baking them, cooked as described above, in a bechamel or a tomato sauce for 15 minutes at 350° F – 175°C. Sprinkle with more cheese before serving.

The post Make nettle dumplings, also known as nettles malfatti appeared first on Green Prophet.

Simple Qatayef recipe makes fabulous nut-filled pancakes

Miriam Kresh — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 15:54:56 +0000

Imagine a pancake stuffed with sweet cheese. You may dream that the pancake’s filled with nuts, instead. Then imagine it was drizzled with perfumed syrup while still warm. Garnish it, in your dream, with pistachios and whipped cream. You’re dreaming of qatayef, the fabulous, fabled, Arabian dessert.

Qatayef – also spelled katayif or qatya’if – is traditionally eaten at Ramadan (get our Ramadan vegetarian ideas here), but it’s a treat anytime. In fact, it’s a treat that’s gone through history.

A recipe for qatayif appears in a tenth century Arabic cookbook by the writer Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, who compiled recipes going back to the eighth and ninth centuries. People have been eating qatayif for a very long time.

The filled pancakes are still popular in the Middle East. All over the Levant, people buy qatayif from bakeries and pastry shops, or pick some up from street vendors. They can even buy them frozen and ready to fry at home. So can you; if not at a local Middle Eastern grocery store, then online.

But there’s nothing like home-made, although it does take some time and patience. Plan to cook qatayif on a free morning, or when you need to put your mind on something with gratifying results.

First, make the batter. Choose a nut stuffing or a sweet cheese one (recipes below). Or halve each recipe and have both kinds.

Qatayef, Stuffed Pancakes

An Arabian Dessert

Blender
skillet

The Batter:

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1-1/2 cups warm water
1-1/2 all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil for frying

Nut filling:

2 cups finely chopped (toasted walnuts or almonds)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons orange flower water (not the concentrated essence)
Mix thoroughly.
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cheese Filling:

13 oz. – 370 grams Mozzarella cheese packed in water
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons rose or orange flower water

The Syrup

The Syrup:
2-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons rose or orange flower water

The Garnish

3 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios
Whipped cream

Make the batter:

Put all ingredients in a blender until you have a smooth batter. Leave the batter in the blender.
Alternately, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water; add the flour and salt and beat until smooth.
Cover the batter and leave at room temperature 1 hour. 2 hours is better if you have the time, to allow an appealing fermented flavor to develop.
While the batter is resting, make the filling and the syrup.

Make the Nut Filling:

Mix thoroughly

Make the Cheese Filling:

Drain the Mozzarella.
Put everything through the food processor to make a crumbly mass.

Make the Syrup:

Boil the sugar, water, and lemon juice until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5-8 minutes.
Add the flower water. Cook a few more seconds.
Cool the syrup then put it in the fridge.

Fry and Fill The Qatayif

Blend the rested batter again for a minute, or whip it up if it’s in a bowl. This helps produce the characteristic little holes in the pancakes.
When the batter’s ready, take the syrup out of the fridge to have it ready.
Oil a frying pan, preferably non-stick. Start with high heat, then reduce to medium.
Pour about 2 tablespoons batter into the pan. Tilt the pan around to spread the batter into a circle, or gently push the batter into a circle shape with the back of a spoon. This is the first, experimental pancake, from which you’ll judge if the temperature is right or needs adjusting. It’s also practice for making the pancake circle. An oval is OK.
Let the pancake cook until it’s spongy, pocked with bubbles, and detaches from the pan easily. This is done in a few minutes. The bottom may be pale or golden according to your preference. Do not flip the pancake over.
Transfer the pancakes to a platter and cover with a kitchen towel to keep them pliable.
Fill the center of each pancake with about 2 tablespoons of your chosen filling.
Fold it over to make a half-circle.
Press the edges together well, to keep the filling inside while frying.
Heat oil to the depth of 1/2” – 1 cm. in a skillet.
Fry the qatayif on all sides until golden, 2-3 minutes altogether. Some prefer a darker color, but take care not to over-cook because that will harden the qatayif.
Put the qatayif on a rack to drain or set them on paper towels.
Dip them in the syrup with tongs or a long spoon while they’re hot. Let the excess syrup drip off. .
(A tip from the modern pantry: skip the boiled syrup and use your favorite pancake syrup to drizzle generously over the hot qatayif.)
Garnish with finely chopped pistachios and/or whipped cream. Pass any extra syrup around for those who want more.

Dessert

Arabic

nut filling, pancake, sweet cheese filling

Eat, and drift off to qatayif heaven.

Photos by Laila Ibrahim via Serious Eats.

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Recipe: Mushrooms Cooked in Grapevine Leaves

Miriam Kresh — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 19:09:14 +0000

Grapevine leaves are usually thought of as wraps or savory little parcels stuffed with rice and/or meat. But as our previous post on fish grilled in grapevine leaves shows, the leaf of the grape is more versatile than that.

This recipe is said to have originated in France. I can’t guarantee it did, but a dish like this one logically evolves wherever mushrooms and vineyards thrive in the same local. The tangy, woodsy flavor of the grapevine leaves complements the earthy mushrooms. Olive oil and garlic are natural added ingredients. You’ll be wafted to the Mediterranen when you lift the leaf cover and the irresistible aroma rises.

A jar of grapevine leaves in brine makes cooking quick and easy if you can’t get fresh leaves. Make sure to extract the leaves gently from the jar, because the brine makes them fragile. Although you’re not filling and rolling them, as in Iraqi stuffed grape leaves, you may want the unused leaves to make dolamades some time later.

You’ll need a shallow baking dish with either a tightly fitting lid or foil to cover the dish well.

Mushrooms Cooked In Grapevine Leaves

An easy Mediterranean mushroom dish

4 cups – 300 grams – fresh button mushrooms.
Grapevine leaves to cover the bottom of a baking dish in one layer (plus added leaves to cover the mushrooms)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
8 whole (peeled garlic cloves)
1/2 tsp. Ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325° F – 165° C
Rinse the grape leaves and leave to drain in a colander or on a kitchen towel.
Rinse the mushrooms and pat them dry.
Remove and chop the stems coarsely; set the stems aside.
Halve any particularly large mushrooms.
Line a baking dish with grape leaves in a single layer.
Pour half the olive oil over the leaves.
Place the sliced or whole mushrooms over the leaves.
Put the chopped stems around the mushrooms.
Poke the garlic cloves into any empty spaces around the mushrooms.
Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper to taste.
Cover the dish with grape leaves.
Pour the second half of the olive oil over all.
Cover the dish with a tightly fitting lid or foil.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Spoon some of the cooking juices over the mushrooms and garlic cloves, and serve.

Side Dish

Mediterranean

mushrooms, grapevine leaves

The leaves covering the mushrooms will be dark and crunchy. If you cooked this with fresh grapevine leaves, they will be tender enough to eat, and tasty.

Any remaining cooking juices can be added to a sauce, poured over steamed vegetables or stirred into mashed potatoes.

Photos by Miriam Kresh

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Recipe: Fish Grilled in Grapevine Leaves With Chilli Dipping Sauce

Miriam Kresh — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:19:11 +0000

If you’ve only ever eaten grapevine leaves as dolmades, you’ll be surprised to learn that those tangy grape leaves add luxurious flavor to a variety of other dishes.

You’re lucky if you have access to a green, growing grapevine in the spring, when you can pick the fresh leaves and process them at home. It’s easy enough. Just a matter of blanching them briefly in boiling water, then cold. You’ll have the satisfaction of successful foraging.

But say you have a yen for stuffed grape leaves and it’s way past the season for picking. You can forage the leaves, already preserved in brine, at your local grocery store. Here’s our Iraqi Stuffed Grape Leaves recipe for starters.

Keep a jar of grape leaves in the pantry for inspiration. Go vegan, or not. Choose to wrap cheese, or mushrooms, or fish in grapevine leaves. We’re offering you the first in a series of grape vine leaf-inspired recipes to brighten meals any time: grilled fish in vine leaves, then dipped in a spicy-hot, herby sauce. The fish is marinated for an hour in a coriander-based chermoula dressing.

Grilled Fish in Grapevine Leaves With Sweet and Sour Chilli Sauce

Fish wrapped in grapevine leaves and grilled, served with a spicy sauce.

For Fish:

30 vine leaves in brine
4-5 firm white fish fillets (such as haddock, snapper, grouper)

Chermoula:

1 Small bunch of fresh coriander leaves
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tsp ground cumin
4 Tblsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt

Dipping Sauce:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 cup superfine sugar or 1/2 cup plus 1 tsp granulated sugar
1-2 Tblsp water
Pinch saffron threads
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
3 scallions (finely sliced)
1 oz. Fresh grated ginger root
2 hot chillies (seeded and finely sliced)
Small bunch fresh coriander leaves (finely chopped)
Small bunch fresh mint (finely chopped)

Process the chermoula ingredients in a food pr0cessor or blender. Pour into a large bowl.
Rinse the vine leaves, then soak in cold water to remove most of the brine.
Cut fillets into eight bite sized pieces.
Marinate the fish pieces in the chermoula for 1 hour.
Heat the vinegar or lemon juice, sugar and water. Stir until sugar dissolves.
Boil one minute, then cool.
Add the remaining ingredients; blend.
Drain the vine leaves and pat dry.
Lay a leaf flat on the work surface. Place a piece of marinated fish in the center.
Fold the edges of the leaves over the fish. Make a parcel by wrapping with extra leaves.
Repeat until all the fish pieces are wrapped in the leaves.
Thread the parcels onto kebab skewers. Brush with any leftover marinade.
Heat the broiler to the highest setting.
Cook the kebabs 2-3 minutes on each side.
Serve hot with the chilli dipping sauce.

Main Course

Middle Eastern

Moroccan, Spicy

Note: the chilli sauce is also wonderful with our chicken-stuffed mulberry leaves, which our editor Karin kitchen-tested and loved.)

Recipe and photo from Recipes From A Moroccan Kitchen by Ghillie Bașan.

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Frozen juice ice pops recipe – for low-sugar summer treats

Naomi Ben-David — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 18:04:15 +0000

Make your own ice pops, popsicles or ice lollies. Homemade fruit or veggie pops on a stick, inspired by SolPops.

Portland, Oregon is not known for its hot, humid weather, unlike the sticky heat we get over here in the Middle East, yet it is home to a new summer treat – the SolPop.

This is one of the healthiest alternatives to ice-cream and sugar-packed Popsicles since it is made mainly from fruit and natural juices. Finally something you can give your children without feeling guilty about sugar content and chemical coloring. Read on for recipes.

The idea of SolPop began in May 2008 when Aaron Harmon, his wife Danielle Koppel and their friend Noah Cable started testing out different flavors and combinations of fruits to see what worked best. They now have almost 40 different flavors including sweet and tart, savory, coconut-based and “wellness pops” to counteract the rainy weather.

Made from different fruit, vegetables and herbs, all of which are organic, these pops take the name SOL meaning Sustainable, Organic and Local. “Sol” is also the Spanish word for sun, referring to the brightness of the Latin-American sun. These SolPops bring some of that brightness to Portland with their great natural flavours.

The principle is a light refreshing summer treat, where there is only a limited amount of sugar added in the form of cane sugar, agave and fruit cider making this dessert essentially fruit on a stick. If you are not in the Portland area, however, you should try making your own healthy fruit Popsicle.

Recipe 1 – Frozen Strawberry Pops
Ingredients:

½ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 strips lemon zest
1 cup orange or apple juice
2 cups strawberries

Method:

1. Put the sugar, water and lemon strips in a saucepan and bring to a boil, waiting until the sugar dissolves
2. Remove the lemon strips and allow the syrup to cool
3. Puree the strawberries
4. Combine the pureed fruit with the syrup and fruit juice
5. Pour this mixture into moulds and put it in the freezer.

Experiment with the fruit: all you have to do it put your choice into a blender and freeze

Recipe 2 – Simple Fruit Popsicles
Ingredients:

450g crushed pineapple undrained
3 firm bananas
450g strawberries

Method:

1. Puree the pineapple, bananas and strawberries
2. Pour into moulds

So here you have a treat you can make for yourself based on anything you have around, from watermelon (which is packed with nutrients), to mint and other herbs which have their own benefits. Play around with the ingredients and find your favorite flavor for summer.

Read more on healthy fruit treats:
4 New Ways to Have Fun with Watermelon
Indulgence Locavore Style: Homemade Strawberry Jam

The post Frozen juice ice pops recipe – for low-sugar summer treats appeared first on Green Prophet.

Make Verdurette, Natural Vegetable Bouillon

Miriam Kresh — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 20:52:27 +0000

Once you’ve got a jar of verdurette in the fridge, you’ll never buy vegetable broth again .

Verdurette is a home-made seasoning mix originating in France: an umami-rich mix of vegetables and herbs ground together and preserved in salt. The salt, which is 20% of the blend, is a preservative. A similar preserved food is our Middle-Eastern salt-preserved lemons.

A teaspoon or two of verdurette adds great flavor and character to soups, grains, sauces, even scrambled eggs. It’s always there in the fridge and lasts a year, unless you use it up sooner.

Learning to recognize wild edibles with Leda

The late Leda Meredith confessed that she’d become lazy about making vegetable stock, because it’s so easy to stir a couple of teaspoons of the mix into hot water, simmer it 10 minutes, and voilà, broth. Or at least, a flavor base to go on from.

I often think of Leda when I dip a spoon into the verdurette jar, remembering her soft New York-accented voice and the flair she brought to all things culinary. I’m grateful to her memory for many life-enhancing things, and among them, this verdurette.

It’s easy to make this natural broth base yourself. Most or all of the ingredients are probably already lurking in your fridge and pantry. A food processor is the kitchen tool I recommend for making it; otherwise, be prepared to do some very fine chopping. I myself just feed everything into the food processor and let it whizz.

Verdurette consists of 5 parts:

1 part finely chopped alliums: onions, leeks, chives, shallots, garlic
1 part finely chopped root vegetables: carrots, celery root (celeriac), sweet potatoes – but not white potatoes, which discolor and go unpleasantly mushy, or turnips.
1 part finely chopped leafy greens: kale, spinach, nettles, cress, celery, lettuce, beet greens, etc.
1 part finely chopped aromatic herbs: parsley, thyme, oregano, sage, basil, etc.
1 part kosher or sea salt (non iodized)

Caution: go easy with strongly flavored ingredients like garlic, sage, cilantro and rosemary. Too much of any one may dominate the whole mix. Mild aromatic herbs such as thyme, marjoram, parsley and chives can be used freely.

Nothing from the cabbage family, including broccoli and cauliflower, should go into verdurette.

You may combine several kinds of the vegetable or herb in each category. For example, in the alliums part, use several of the ingredients listed above, or use just one: for example, only onions. If you’re like me, you’ll use whatever’s at hand in the kitchen. I like a complex mix, myself.

As long as you stick to the ratio of 1 part salt to 4 parts finely chopped vegetables and herbs, the verdurette will be fine.

How to Make Verdurette

You can make as little as a half cup of verdurette, using tablespoons to measure, and up to a gallon if you need to. But to make a reasonable first-time amount for ordinary cooking, go for 1-1/4 cup of verdurette. A digital scale helps, but cup measurements work too. The main thing is to keep the balance of 80% vegetables to 20% salt.

Finely chop or process each part before measuring. This might mean there will be surplus veg to use up some other way.

Measure 1/4 cup (40 grams) of each pre-processed or chopped vegetable part. Note: Leafy greens should be packed in well when using cups. Altogether, there will be 1 cup mixed vegetables and herbs.

Add 1/4 cup (40 grams) non-iodized salt.

Stir everything up thoroughly. Pour the slightly fluid mass into a clean glass jar.

The last of my current batch.

Cover the jar and store it in the fridge. Now you have vegetable bouillon at hand whenever you need it.

You can start using your fresh batch right away. But you’ll notice that verdurette’s flavor becomes more complex as it continues to mature in the fridge.

You may also preserve one ingredient only, if you wish. Leda Meredith used to preserve a favorite wild edible, daylily flowers, this way.

Leda Meredith, urban forager pioneer

How To Use Verdurette

When cooking with verdurette, leave out any other salt called for in the recipe.

* Add 2 teaspoons verdurette to a quart of water for a simple vegetable broth.
* Mix a little verdurette into marinade ingredients, for extra umami. Omit other salt in the marinade.
* Sauté verdurette in a little oil before adding the main ingredients for rice, soup, sauce, a braise, or stew. It goes wonderfully in a tomato-based pasta sauce. And in mushroom soup. You get the idea.
* It’s fine to add more during the cooking, but a little at a time – verdurette is salty! Keep tasting, and stop adding verdurette when the flavor is right.
* Verdurette may be cautiously added to salad dressings, but let the mixed dressing sit 10 minutes for the vegetables to release their flavors and soften.

Top photo of green verdurette via the garturstichfarm blog

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Think Eat Cook Sustainably is a philosophy book in sustainable food, in edible form

Karin Kloosterman — Sun, 11 May 2025 07:25:01 +0000

Eco-chic cover of “Think. Eat. Cook. Sustainably.” by Rachel Khanna — the ultimate guide to intuitive, seasonal, and sustainable cooking. Her philosophy carries through to cooking shows like With Love, Meaghan

It’s like finding a map back to your grandmother’s pantry, but with the tools of a climate-conscious chef.

Written with a deep reverence for local ingredients and a mindful kitchen, the book Think Eat Cook Sustainably teaches readers how to cook from intuition, not instruction. The philosophy behind the book is the method that surely grandmother’s knew once: and can now be passed in eco-conscious circles and permaculture kitchens. And it may be influenced from the authors experiences growing up in France. Everyone there knows that a soup stock needs celery, carrot and an onion.

Rachel Khanna

The book by Rachel Khanna offers formulas—not rigid recipes—so that you can cook anything, from anywhere, with whatever the Earth gives you.

Are you drowning in recipes, influencer chefs videos, and master chefs showing you hot to cook with ingredients that are hard to find, or too expensive –– or simply not local to you? Do you find you get confused and can’t keep up with the latest Ottolenghis recipe?

Rachel Khanna offers something far more liberating: a formula for freedom in your kitchen. Her book Think Eat Cook Sustainably is not about following recipes to the letter. It’s about understanding the language of cooking—so you can improvise with what you have, honor what’s local, and reduce waste, all while creating deeply nourishing meals. She is a mother of four girls so no doubt earned her chops as a cook and it follows from her second book, Live Eat Cook Healthy. She understood the message of eating more vegetables and buying organic food was not enough to help people feed themselves more sustainably. She went for a “macro philosophy” in this book.

We were sent this book in 2020 and lost in the COVID madness, we just opened it recently and to our surprise, it’s a book that gives cooking tips along with a tour around the world to some of the most loved foods, which include meat, yes meat, and poke bowls and falafel and fish. It shows you in a handy guide on how you can choose a protein or a base for a recipe you want to cook and additional food items and seasonings to make a first class dish. It’s a guide on how to cook everywhere and anywhere, no matter what the pantry offers.

We have so many friends who have become global nomads and are now with kids living in rental homes in Thailand, in cheaper European countries like Portugal. This kind of book can also help you adapt to the palettes of children, working with local ingredients that may be unfamiliar at first.

Build a grain bowl with this formula

Khanna, a former corporate strategist turned public servant and wellness advocate, writes with the clarity of someone who has lived many lives—and decided to root herself in the soil of sustainability.

With degrees from Columbia and a background in public policy and nutrition, she’s as comfortable discussing the US Farm Bill as she is fermenting vegetables in a glass jar. She served as a Connecticut state representative, advocating for food system reform, and brings this practical, community-grounded insight to her food philosophy.

Khanna worked for Morgan Stanley and Euromonitor International before entering politics. In 2007, Khanna started an organic meal delivery service Tiffin based in Banksville and serving Greenwich and Stamford and has now published two cookbooks.

With Love, Meaghan, a Netflix series featuring Meaghan Sussex.

Whether Rachel Khanna originated this movement of common-sense food philosophy or simply tapped into its rising current, I’m not expert enough in the culinary world to say. What I do know is this: in a time when food media often glorifies complexity, I found something refreshing in her approach.

I was especially taken by a recent and charming episode of With Love, Meaghan on Netflix, where a member of the royal family Meaghan Markle Sussex takes us into her life in California where she chooses to live with intention and simplicity—teaching others to do the same through the lens of food. The idea of returning to basic, adaptable formulas in the kitchen isn’t just empowering; it’s practical.

It nurtures community, teaches resilience to kids, and gently reminds us that sustainable living often starts right where we are—with what we already have. She also shows us, at least on camera, that preparing food and experiences for your children can be deeply satisfying as a parent and as a woman. The world needs more of that.

Some mouth-watering recipes on Green Prophet:

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Luqaimat means Saudi Arabia did doughnut holes first

Isabella Hannah — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:33:34 +0000

Luqaimat are traditional Gulf donuts, often enjoyed during festive occasions, especially during the holy month of Ramadan. These small, fried dough balls are coated with honey, date molasses, or sugar syrup and sometimes garnished with black cumin seeds. The sweet, golden Luqaimat are a beloved treat, providing a perfect balance of crispy and soft textures. You can find them cooking in many Middle East kitchens and markets, even in Jaffa, Israel where there is a thriving Muslim population.

Luqaimat also called lokma, lugaimat or awameh (or loukoumades in Greek) are crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, and absolutely delicious drizzled with a homemade sugar syrup.

During Ramadan, they are often served as a delicious dessert to break the fast, offering a sweet and comforting end to the iftar meal. The rich, syrup-soaked dough balls are not only a culinary delight but also a symbol of celebration, community, and tradition. In recent years, modern chefs have embraced the classic recipe and experimented with new variations, such as maple syrup, melted chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, and jam, adding contemporary twists to this cherished dish.

Try our simple and delicious recipe below to recreate these light, golden donuts at home and enjoy a taste of Saudi Arabia’s rich culinary heritage, especially during the Ramadan season.

Preparation Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the dough (serves 4 people):

170g all-purpose flour
12g sugar
1/4g salt
Oil for frying
4g instant yeast
13g cornstarch
200ml water

For the homemade syrup:

420g sugar
225ml water
3 cardamom pods
6ml lemon juice

Method

For the dough:

In a deep bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar, cornstarch, and yeast until well mixed.
Gradually add water while stirring continuously for 2 minutes until a semi-liquid dough forms.
Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 40 minutes to ferment.
Heat oil in a deep-frying pan over medium heat for 5 minutes until hot.
Reduce the heat to low, and drop spoonfuls of dough into the oil to form medium-sized balls.
Fry the dough balls, turning them continuously for 2 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Increase the heat to medium for 1 minute, then return the Luqaimat to the oil. Fry for another 2 minutes, turning them until golden brown and crispy on all sides.
Place the Luqaimat into the sugar syrup to soak thoroughly, then transfer them to a serving plate.

For the homemade syrup:

In a medium-sized saucepan, combine sugar, water, cardamom pods, and lemon juice. Heat over medium until it begins to boil (about 2 minutes).
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 8 minutes, allowing it to cool. The syrup is now ready to use.

To Serve:

Dip the still-hot Luqaimat into the syrup, ensuring they are thoroughly coated.
Place three pieces on a serving plate.
Optionally, sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds for a decorative touch.
Serve immediately while they are crispy, paired with Saudi coffee for an authentic experience.

Luqaimat and Ramadan

PuckArabia adds cream cheese

Luqaimat are particularly cherished during Ramadan, where they play a special role in the iftar meal. After a day of fasting, the sweetness of Luqaimat provides a satisfying and energy-boosting treat to break the fast. The dough balls, soaked in syrup, are a source of comfort and a reminder of the rich cultural and culinary traditions of the Gulf region.

Luqaimat are not just a treat for the body but also a connection to the spirit of Ramadan, a time for reflection, family, and community. Sharing Luqaimat with loved ones during this special month brings people together, creating lasting memories and a sense of unity.

Enjoy your homemade Luqaimat, a delicious taste of Saudi Arabia’s rich culinary heritage, especially during the Ramadan season!

The post Luqaimat means Saudi Arabia did doughnut holes first appeared first on Green Prophet.