- I just love all the layers and flavors and textures that go into Middle Eastern cuisine.

And with all the vegetables that get added, it's a perfect healthy choice for a weeknight meal.

We'll start with my take on falafels.

We'll make the traditional falafel patties, but put them in a salad for a crunchy, healthy version of the popular street food.

Then, we meet the up and coming Israeli chef, Einat Admony.

Her restaurant and cookbook, Balboosta, is so popular for its Mediterranean recipes, and I can see why.

She'll be here in my kitchen to cook a Middle Eastern version of shepherd's pie called sinaya.

It's got eggplant, tahini, ground lamb, and tomatoes.

And it's so satisfying.

I can't wait to taste this food, Middle East meets West, that's today on Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(lively music) Funding provided by: - [Voiceover] Family owned and Indiana grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens, Maple Leaf Farms duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester, with symmetrical all-wheel drive and plenty of cargo room.

A recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru, a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

- [Sara] And thanks to the generous support of: (gentle music) The hamburger of the Middle East is how author Martha Rose Shulman describes falafel.

In this recipe, I've streamlined and sped up the process of making it.

So we're gonna start with the onion here, about like one small onion.

Okay, good.

Got a little pan heating up, we're gonna use olive oil cause this is Mediterranean.

Get our onions in and softening, and then I'm gonna go slice up all the parts of my salad.

Cherry tomatoes, about a cup.

We're just gonna pulse them a few times.

OK, that's just gonna go in here.

And then, I'm gonna add one of my favorite, sort of secret ingredients, it's pickled cherry peppers.

It's got a little bit of spice and they're pickled, so they're sour, they're crunchy, but they give you that nice little kick.

So, let me take off the tops.

And I'm gonna pulse 'em just like I did the cherry tomatoes.

(lively music) I've gotta slice some cucumbers.

So we're gonna switch off and use our slicing disk.

Okay, we're only using about a half a cucumber.

And, I like these English cucumbers, they also call them hydroponic, or seedless cucumbers.

Now why did I pick iceberg lettuce?

Iceberg lettuce has the best crunch, so we're gonna use it for its crunch.

Okay, here's my background, I used to work in a Greek restaurant, diner and I was a waitress, but sometimes I had to help prep the lettuce, and here's how you get the core out.

(bang) Which is sorta fun.

Yeah, there you go.

You want about six cups total.

(soft acoustic music) Got a nice little bit of color here.

I'm just gonna pull this off for half a second while I mince my garlic.

And the best way to mince it is really just to be aggressive.

Come, on there we go, wack away.

And sometimes, if you really wanna get fancy, you can use two knives, if you have two knives.

And another thing I like to do with garlic is to add a little bit of salt.

Cause when you add salt to the garlic, you know how you're chopping garlic and it always climbs up the side of your knife?

And suddenly, you look down on the board and there's no more garlic on the board it's all on your knife?

Well if you use a little bit of salt, the garlic won't stick.

Plus which, the salt acts as an abrasive.

Okay, so, onto my spices.

I've got three very typical spices used in Middle Eastern cooking.

We've got coriander, cumin, and cayenne.

Now cayenne is spicy, so we're gonna start with the least amount of that, just a quarter teaspoon.

And this is all gonna go into our falafel, which is our chickpea patties, and I'm gonna talk about that some more in a minute.

So, there's a quarter of a teaspoon, and now here is half a teaspoon of coriander.

And then, here we have cumin.

This is three quarters of a teaspoon.

Okay, so you just really wanna stir this and let them sort of, you know, come alive again, these dried spices, for a minute or two.

So, now I've gotta get the star of the show together, and that's the chickpeas.

I've got a can over here, just a 15.5 ounce can that I've rinsed and drained, and we're gonna put the whole thing in here and just pulse.

Now, I like texture, you know, I'm gonna try to regain that texture that I've lost by using canned chickpeas, let me just give it two more pulses, by keeping some of it a little coarser.

So, I'm gonna take out a half a cup of this mixture that's been pulsed, we're just setting it aside with the rest of the spices.

It's not that we need to cook it, we just don't wanna grind it up anymore.

Then, to the mixture that's in here, we're gonna add some tahini.

Tahini is sesame seed paste.

It's used a lot in the Middle East.

It's delicious.

(lively music) About two tablespoons.

Then, we're gonna add an egg, one large egg, and this will help to bind the whole thing.

And a quarter teaspoon of salt.

And then, we're gonna puree the heck outta this mixture.

We want it to be very smooth.

Then, I'm just gonna stir it all together in here.

We're not cooking anything anymore.

We just wanna make sure it's all well mixed.

(lively music) Alright, now we need to quick chill this, and to quick chill it, the best thing to do is to put it into a very shallow container, spread it out, and then in 10 minutes we should be in good shape and able to shape this.

Give it about 10 minutes.

And then, while that's chilling, I'm gonna make the dressing.

Okay we're making a creamy garlic dressing, and I've already minced some garlic in here.

As I mentioned, you could use a garlic press if you wanted to.

This is one clove of garlic.

Then, I'm gonna add a little bit of Dijon mustard.

And we just need two tablespoons, and, pinch of salt.

Sherry vinegar again.

About two tablespoons.

Now, I'm gonna whisk this up to dissolve the salt.

It's very important to start your dressing with the salt in the vinegar and to whisk it, because the salt won't dissolve in oil and it won't dissolve either, if you don't whisk it.

You gotta whisk it.

So we need a quarter cup of heavy cream.

And then, after we whisk in the cream, we're gonna whisk in a quarter cup of olive oil.

So, it's equal parts of heavy cream and olive oil.

Now, this has become my family's favorite dressing.

They just love it.

Let me get my chickpea mixture and we'll shape up our burgers.

Alright, so this looks set up.

It's still a very loose mixture.

I've got my panko breadcrumbs set up here.

Those are those coarse Japanese breadcrumbs that are so great and give you wonderful crunch.

First, I'm gonna dip the scoop into some water so that this mixture comes out easily, and then, I'm just gonna scoop it up.

(lively music) We're gonna toss them around in there.

We've got a nonstick pan.

These take about three minutes a side.

So, I'm gonna toss my salad while they just finish getting crispy.

Add my cream garlic dressing.

Now, let me put these falafel around the edge.

And then, just a little bit of a drizzle on top.

So, there you go.

My falafel salad with creamy garlic dressing, a salad that would make any vegetarian happy, and I think it might even please the husband.

And I'm gonna put the last touch.

A cherry, meaning a cherry pepper, on top.

My guest Einat Admony runs one of the hottest restaurants in New York City called Balaboosta.

We're gonna go visit her at her home in Brooklyn, New York.

- So, Balaboosta mean a perfect housewife, the woman that bring everybody together.

I name my restaurant Balaboosta because I wanna create a place that people come and feel warm and nurture.

Balaboosta is like you eating in your kitchen at home, even to the way that we serve people.

Balaboosta is like Mediterranean.

It's very straightforward, it's simple.

I don't know, I want real food, that's how I believe.

I want real food.

Food that is delicious, simple, friendly, bold, and just great.

So, I grow up in a town called Bnei Brak, it's five minutes out of Tel Aviv.

My mom is Iranian, my dad Yemenite, and, basically, it's all about food.

I grew up with a orthodox, kind of orthodox Jewish family, that everything was around the Shabbat dinner, so I grew up with like helping and I used to love it.

I always loved cook.

So, since I remember myself, I always cooked.

I joined in Israeli military when I was 18, it's mandatory.

I was a driver, but then very fast they make me a cook of the unit, I was in air force, but everywhere, all my life, I knew that the only things I could do forever, and never get tired of, would be cooking.

I went to culinary school in Israel.

I moved to New York and I work my way through a great kitchen in New York.

My husband, Stefan, he used to work at Bolina, (mumbles) and I met him there.

I had in my head already that I wanna do a falafel that is a little bit higher in quality, Israeli or Tel Aviv street food.

So, my husband and myself, like we saw this opportunity.

It was a great, great, cute location in the West Village and then, we opened Taim, which mean delicious in Hebrew.

So, now we live in Brooklyn in Fort Green.

We have two children.

We have Liam, he's nine years old, and Mika, she's six.

I was so determined that I can have kids, I can have a family, I can have a good marriage, I can have it all, and I can still be successful, and open a place, and run a place, and more and more things happen much bigger than I ever imagine.

Best things about food for me, I don't know.

That it's really comfort.

I remember my biggest excitement in life was regarding food, but I remember I got like almost cry, like I can get cry from something very new and very unique.

I don't know, the idea that you can take totally different ingredients, put them together, and make something that is delicious and make you feel so happy, it just great.

(lively music) - Middle Eastern food is on the menu today, and I have the absolute right guest for this subject cause she spent so much time in that part of the world.

And not only that, somewhere in there she figured out the time to write a cookbook on top of opening four restaurants.

I'm here with Einat Admony and there's two of them now.

- Yes.

- And Balaboosta and now?

- And we have as well, Taim mobile, so we have a food truck.

- Oh goodness.

- And last year we opened modern Israeli cuisine resaurant in West Village called Bar Bolonat.

- Well, alright, let's get started, and we'll talk more about your restaurants.

So, I'm gonna mince some garlic, and you're gonna slice the eggplant.

And as we do that, tell me what are we making today?

- So, today we make sinaya.

Sinaya, it's basically a Palestinian dish, and the way I describe it usually is like a Middle Eastern shepherd's pie.

- Oh, shepherd's pie, my mom used to make it.

So, what takes, so that means there a meat base, and there's something on top.

- So, usually it's layered by fresh tomato, fried, or roast eggplant, today we're going to do, we're just going to bake the eggplant.

And then, there is a mixture of meat that you cook with a lot of onion, - [Sara] And what goes on top - [Einat] and spices.

- [Sara] in place of the potatoes?

- Tahini.

- Brilliant, brilliant, I like that.

- A little bit thicker than the regular Tahini, so it's can caramelize nice.

- Well, alright, let me just ask you a few questions about eggplant.

Cause I know eggplant's key to many cuisines, but also to Middle Eastern cuisine, Mediterranean cuisine.

- [Einat] Definitely yes.

- [Sara] And your food is really a mix of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean, it's not just Middle Eastern.

So, when you go to pick an eggplant, first of all, you don't mind the big guys, they're fine?

- They're great, and it need to be light, and I want it a little bit darker as possible.

Try not to have too many bruises.

- Alright, so now you just salted the eggplant.

Why did you salt the... - Both sides very lightly, it's going to get, you see, it's already start.

Basically, salt getting out of moisture of everything, and it start like sweating, and get a bitterness out.

- [Sara] This takes about an hour right?

- [Einat] Yes.

- [Sara] We already salted some, so do you want to just go grab it back there?

- Of course.

- And we're gonna see how different it looks, it sort of gets a little floppy right?

- Yes.

- A little soft because all that salt.

Cause now, I preset the oven to 375, and these go in, the eggplant, to brown in the oven, as you said.

- We goin' to put around two tablespoon of olive oil.

- Oh yeah, here you go.

Now, is olive oil a very important ingredient in your cooking?

- Of course, yes.

- I love eggplant, it's so meaty.

(soft acoustic music) Now, how did, were you just naturally a good cook?

- I cook, since I'm probably five years old.

- Your mom was a good cook?

- Yes, my mom, my aunt, in our family, it's all about food.

- So, that's how you got started.

I'll open the oven, and we can put it in.

So, it's 375 for about 45 minutes.

As short people we have to be careful with this oven.

- I'm not sure, oh I am.

- You didn't doubt us.

OK, I'm gonna start the tahini sauce, so we need about a teaspoon of garlic, minced.

OK, so this goes in, three quarters of a cup of tahini, which is sesame seed paste.

- We have a third cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

We need cold water for tahini.

So, very, sometimes I even make, like, ice water.

Because the tahini consist and change really fast, and if you're going to put in in a fridge afterwards, you're gonna get really, really thick.

So, you want to see what is the consistent goin' to be from the beginning.

Salt, around half a tablespoon, and a little bit black pepper.

- Oh, you go some pepper, OK. And I'm gonna get the heat on under this.

Wow, OK, so we need a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, I believe, for the meat sauce.

So, now I'm getting the onions in.

- [Einat] Alright, that's ready.

- One onion chopped, we're just getting these onions softened, right?

- [Einat] Yes.

- OK, and then once these get softened, we'll add the garlic.

- I can slice the tomato in the meantime.

- OK, you wanna come down here?

- Yes.

- I just got started on, and I'll get the meat out.

So, go ahead, yes, look at us with our weapons.

Let me get my big weapon out of your way, so.

(soft music) - [Einat] (mumbles).

- [Sara] Should I add the garlic?

- Yes.

- OK, good.

Five cloves of garlic, minced.

OK, so I'm gonna add a table spoon of tomato paste.

Good.

So, you're gonna add spices to this now.

- Yes, so we gonna have two teaspoons of paprika, we have cumin, that we make a joke in the kitchen that it's made everything Middle Eastern.

- Makes everything Middle Eastern.

- So, if we do something that is a little bit more (mumbles) to Asian style, we say, "Oh, let's put some cumin, it will be fine."

And I have baharat.

Baharat, it's basically, it's... - Let me just say it slowly for people.

Baharat.

B-A-H-A-R-A-T, OK. - Baharat, basically it's a mixture of spices, and there is few different kind.

Some of them have a little bit more cinnamon, some of them have a little bit less cinnamon.

- [Sara] And you make, you have your own spice blend of baharat, right?

- [Einat] Of course.

- You know what it reminds me of a little bit, you know how in India they have they're garam massalas.

And you know, and it's sort of unique to each household.

It's a spice mix with a lot of these, same warming spices that you're using.

- Yes, there's cinnamon, and clove here, and black pepper.

- OK, good, so that goes in next, or the meat?

That goes in, and I will stir.

And what we've got here, we've got half lamb, and half ground beef.

And how come we're not doing all lamb?

- Because it tend to get really dry, and also it get really strong in smell.

- It could be a little gamey.

Oh this, oh boy, this smells so good.

You have to cook your spices, right?

Cause otherwise they just won't go anywhere.

- The best is actually to do fresh spices, and then grind them, but it's like.

- That's a lot of work, - [Einat] I know, exactly.

- [Sara] and for the home cook.

- Can I put this in?

- Yes.

- OK, you want to put one in, and I'll put in the other.

- Yes.

- Oh, you're just, I'm like worrying about how to do it.

There we go.

- And then we break it down slowly.

- Alright, so this now goes for about 20 minutes.

And then, I think we'll go to pick some parsley.

And we'll get some lettuce, cause you say what's nice to have with this.

- Just to balance it out with something fresh and green.

- Alright, I think that looks good, we'll come back.

Come see my garden.

(soft acoustic music) Isn't this lovely looking lettuce?

- It's beautiful.

- We'll just make a lovely little salad with it.

And then we've gots to get our parsley over here.

Let me just do this in one bunch.

Alright, oh nice.

OK, alright, let's head back.

Isn't this beautiful, my lettuce?

I'm so excited, and my parsley.

And I gave it a nice little hose, you saw with the water out there.

So, it's all clean.

OK. - [Einat] Alright.

- [Sara] Oh, wow, look at, that looks pretty good.

- Yes, and smells great.

And we're gonna put pine nuts.

- I'll chop this up.

- I'm gonna take the eggplant out.

- And then we'll start layering.

- Yes.

- We got you to as far as your first restaurant, the falafel place, and then you moved, you opened up Balaboosta.

- Now tell us about that.

Yes.

- 2010 I opened Balaboosta.

- Let's just pause, how do we know it's done?

- It's just, it's gonna continue cooking.

We can.

- [Sara] It's just pliable.

- This is nice, the bottom layer, it's crispy and brown.

This is what you want to get.

So, now I'm gonna layer the tomato on top of the eggplant.

(soft acoustic music) So, here we put a little bit salt.

And we gonna have little bit... - So, I noticed that you season every step of the way.

So, I'll save a little bit of this parsley for garnish, but the rest goes in?

- [Einat] Yes.

- [Sara] OK, good.

And then, we'll put the meat sauce in.

Maybe we do this together, I'll hold it, and you'll tumble it out.

- Alright, great.

- [Sara] Alright, good.

Boy, this really, I love lamb too.

I could've done all lamb, but I understand what you're saying.

- You can do it, then you need a lot of lamb fats to have inside.

- Finally, let me grab this offset spatula.

So, here comes the tahini sauce.

This is like shepherd's pie, but the tahini sauce is standing in for the potatoes, but doing a great job of standing in for potatoes.

I love that tahini sauce.

OK, good.

Then, last, we need to get this in the oven, right?

It needs another 20 minutes, and I'm getting hungry.

So, if you wouldn't mind opening the top, and I'll pop this in.

And this just is really heating through and finishing a little bit.

OK, and I know you brought some family photos to show me, I want to see your kidlets.

So, let's go.

(upbeat acoustic music) Wow, so those are your little guys.

Now, what are their names?

- So, Liam, my boy, is nine years old.

- Liam, I love that, OK. - I always said, from Israeli and French come Irish, so Liam, and then we have Mika, she's six.

- Oh, little cutie.

Oh, and that's you and the husband.

- Yup, he's my partner, he's the reason that all the great things happened the last 10 years.

- That's so great.

Oh, and that's your restaurant.

- Yeah.

- [Sara] And whose motorcycle is that?

- [Einat] Mine.

- [Sara] You have a pink motorcycle?

That's you too?

- Yeah.

- You look very tough there.

You know what, we should probably go check on everything inside, don't you think?

Alright, let's go.

Wow, this smells and looks so good.

Oh, it gets a nice brown color on top.

I'm so excited, yay!

This is what I wanted you to make for me.

- [Einat] It looks like cheese.

- [Sara] Yes it does, doesn't it?

Get this out of your way.

- [Einat] Wow.

- Just beautiful.

Oh boy, oh my God.

That is a happy, happy thing, OK. Alright, (mumbles).

- [Einat] I would like to garnish that with some roasted pine nuts and parsley.

- I like that there's all sorts of different flavors and textures in here.

Alright, OK, chow down.

(soft acoustic music) I cannot wait to taste this, wow.

- It smells good.

- But tell me one, very quickly about Bar Bolonat, which is your latest.

- So, Bar Bolonat, we opened it last year and it's a modern Israeli cuisine.

- (mumbles) that is so good.

- Good.

- Oh my God, modern Israeli cuisine.

- So, it's modern Israeli cuisine.

The idea is to basically showcase really and it's combination of multicultural, ethnicities in a more sophisticated way.

- Lovely, thank you so much for making this wonderful homey dish.

I think it'd be great on a Sunday night, or for entertaining, just fantastic.

- Thank you for having me.

- And thank you all for joining us on Sara's Weeknight Meals.

I'm hear with Einat Admony, I'll see you next time.

OK, let's have a little wine.

- [Einat] Cheers.

- [Sara] Cheers.

So, how do you divide your time between all the restaurants.

Do you like... - I clone myself.

- Brilliant.

Oh, I love the pine nuts, crunchy.

You get a bite of eggplant, a bite of tomato, it's so good.

Sara's Weeknight Meals continues online.

For recipes, helpful tips, messages, and lots more, visit us on the web at saramulton.com/weeknightmeals.

And go to our YouTube channel: Sara's Weeknight Meals TV.

Funding provided by: - [Voiceover] Family owned and Indiana grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens, Maple Leaf Farm's duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester.

With symmetrical all-wheel drive, and plenty of cargo room.

A recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru, a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

- [Sara] And thanks to the generous support of: (piano music) (intense music) (synth music)