On my way home from rock climbing, Beebs and I stopped in at the Mid-East Food Centre to grab some food and groceries for the week. Mid-East Foods is the biggest Middle Eastern grocery store in Ottawa, and offers a huge range of Middle Eastern groceries, sweets, and freshly prepared foods such as meat pies, salads, and dips. This store is more Lebanese focused. Middle Eastern is a broad term, much like the term ‘Asian’, so if you are looking for Persian groceries for example, you likely won’t find everything you are looking for, and are better off going to a Persian store.
One of the things we picked up was majdouli cheese. Beebs has had majdouli many times before, and was so excited when she saw it. Having never tried it before myself, I picked some up to see what all the fuss was about.
Majdouli, a type of string cheese, is a salty table cheese where the curd strings are grouped together and braided into a loop. It is lightly spiced with black cumin, and is heaps of fun to eat! The strings are formed by the way it is pulled during processing, and the cheese is rubbery in texture
I found the cheese a little too salty when we bought it, so I rinsed it in water and then let it dry a bit to keep that rubbery texture. The black cumin (also called black caraway, or Nigella seeds) in the cheese produces a nice fragrance, and is not too overpowering.
We cut a small amount of the cheese into a bowl, and set it out on the table for people to eat it plain or with toasted pita bread.
Mid-East Food Centre
1010 Belfast Road
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-244-2525
Posts
11 comments:
I've never seen cheese like that before! Sounds tasty, but I don't think I can find it on my side of the world in Asia..
Interesting. I've never tried this before, but I'll look for it.
it looks like a ball of yarn!! O_O!
What gorgeous photos!
Michelle
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/
Wow - I have never seen that cheese - or anything like it - before. It looks remarkable - I will have to track some down here in London. Does it melt I wonder?
I have never seen this before, thank you for sharing. Your photos are awesome.
I have tried this cheese before, and it is sooooooo fun to eat. It is like a healthier version of twizzlers pull and peel. I personally love the rubber texture of the cheese, except you are right, it can be a little too salty. When buying it fresh it is preserved in salted water i believe, just like fresh feta. Yum
Wow - amazing looking cheese! Can you cook with it as well?
I grew up in the Syrian community in New York, and kids used to bring this cheese to school for a snack. It is intensely fun to eat.
This cheese makes a wonderful middle eastern version of grilled cheese sandwich.
Slice open a pita pocket and stuff it wiht cheese, then drizzle some olive oil inside the Pita pocket, and sprinkle some dried mint in it.
Toast the Pita pocket in a panini toaster or in the oven for about five minutes, but keep on eye on it.
baobabs and lisaiscooking,
Good luck and hope you find some. It's worth trying.
Tony M,
We did try melting the cheese on a bagel. It melted but it didn't stick on to the bagel all that well. One yank the wrong way, and all of the cheese will fly off at once.
Y,
This cheese is meant to be more of a table cheese. I don't believe it is used much in cooking.
May,
The pita sounds great. I'll have to try that. Thanks!
C, oneordinaryday, Ariel, hungry hippo, and yehudi,
Thanks so much for dropping in!
Post a Comment