By zamorse
Israeli food is phenomenal, cheap, and healthy, so it was hard to choose a top 5 list. And of course, writing this post is going to make me very hungry, but here we go:
#1: Skakshouka- A dish of poached eggs simmering in a tomato sauce broth, with chili peppers, onions, cumin and other spices. It's a North African dish originally, but is popular in Israel because of Jewish immigrants from Tunisia. What I love about shakshouka the most is that it's easy to make at home. First you sautee whatever vegetables you want, pour in the tomato sauce, and then you poach the eggs in the sauce. Look up a recipe online, it's easy to make.
#2: Hummus and Pita- This dish, which I eat more of as a snack, is easy to get in any grocery store in America. But the hummus and pita is just better here. Hummus is made from mashed chickpeas, tahini sauce, lemon, olive oil, salt and garlic. It's a little complicated to make at home, but it can be done. There are restaurants here that are entirely devoted to hummus---imagine a restaurant in D.C. entirely devoted to cream cheese.
#3: Schnitzel- Brought to Israel by its German Jewish immigrants, Schnitzel is essentially a flattened chicken breast coated in bread crumbs and flour and deep fried. Served with french fries and lots of ketchup. This I mostly get frozen from the grocery store, which is still delicious, but every time I find it in a restaurant, I have to order it.
#4: Pomegranates- This fruit is one of my favorites back in the states, but in Israel, again, they're just so much better. Cut open the pomegranate over a bowl of water and let the seeds fall into the water, then drain the water, and you have a bowl full of pomegranate seeds. This is my go to snack when watching a movie or a TV show, rather than popcorn or chocolate.
#5: Shwarma and Falafel- This should really be two different foods, but i'm going to combine them both into my top 5 list because I couldn't figure out which one I liked better. Shwarma is meat of some sorts, usually lamb, turkey, veal, or beef served on a vertical spit. It's basically a rotating vertical spit of meat. When you order it, the restaurant takes what looks like a clothes iron and cuts the meat off, puts it in a pita or laffa bread, then adds hummus, tahini, tomato, cucumber and other sides to your liking. Falafel is served also in pita or laffa, and the various sides, but is a totally different dish. Falafel is a deep fried ball of chickpeas and is a healthy vegetarian alternative to shwarma. Both are street foods and easily about $5-$6. Restaurants here specialize in falafel and shwarma, so they are usually found in the same place.
Israeli food draws from its immigrant culture who come from all around the world, and come together to make a melting pot of food heaven. And I can't wait to try more.