Ground Sumac

Larousse Gastronomique defines Sumac as:

“A shrub originating in Turkey, certain varieties of which are cultivated in southern Italy and in Sicily. It's fleshy petals and small berries are dried and reduced to purple powder, which has an acid taste and is very popular in Middle Eastern cookery. Mixed with water it can be used in the same way as lemon juice, particularly in preparations of tomatoes and onions, chicken forcemeats, marinades of fish and dishes with a lentil base.

Varieties of sumac cultivated in Britain are ornamental and not used in cookery. The dried and ground leaves are also used in tanning and dyeing.”

Deb from Murray Hill 5 defines Sumac as:

“The best damn new spice I've tasted in a long time and the best thing to use to liven up what would have been the blandest turkey meatballs this side of Manhattan. YEAH BABY ”

I bought this little 2 oz bag for $1.99 on a whim the other day. I was in one of my favorite stores in "Little India" which is in and around my neighborhood and which I've also heard referred to as "Curry Hill". There are quite a number of Indian specialty stores and restaurants here and Kalustyan's is by far one of the largest and best for spices and a boat load of other things at very reasonable prices. I wish the web site reflected how fabulous they really are, because to really experience it, requires a visit. Anyway, I was stocking up on spices and herbs because they sell more than just Asian herbs and spices there, you can find quite a few things from many parts of the world. I periodically clean out my spice cabinet and refresh the dried stuff because the older it gets the more inferior I believe it becomes. The sumac caught my eye, the price was right, and so I bought it thinking I'd find out what I could use it for some other time. Little did I know it would save our Saturday night soup, a rosemary-flavored chickpea and spinach soup that would have otherwise been as bland as licking plaster. I was making another soup (no blender required this time...damn!) from my copy of Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian cookbook. I was modifying the recipe to include meat because some folks (read: Tom) can't handle 2 vegetarian meals 2 nights in a row! I think the addition of the meatballs made this resemble the soup that is known as "Italian Wedding Soup" I doubled the soup recipe this time, because the curry lentil soup was so good I definately wanted extra from this batch. The soup needed more doctoring than I expected and after adding quite a few more herbs and other things to it, (like an old shoe and some smelly socks NO! NO! NO! just kidding), it finally started tasting like I wanted it to taste, which was rich and brothy with intense rosemary flavor and aroma. The turkey "mini" meatball mixture consisted of: turkey meat, fresh sage, fresh parsley, fresh tarragon, fresh oregano, fresh basil, parmesan cheese, one egg beaten with a tablespoon of water, bread crumb, salt and pepper and yet it was still bland, bland, bland. On a whim, I looked up sumac in my Larousse Gastronomique, liked what I read and added it to the meat. I tasted, added a bit more and then added another little pinch for good luck. I rolled the meat in my hands and dropped the raw meatballs into the boiling soup about 20 minutes before the soup was timed to be done. The sumac imparted some of it's lemony flavor into the broth and made the soup pleasantly tangy! I served the soup with orzo pasta that I had cooked in chicken broth and colored with tumeric for a pretty presentation. It was REALLY good soup. I have to apologize for not having a picture but by the time it was all ready we were so hungry I decided not to further delay dinner by fussing with pictures and set ups, lighting and whatnot. I'll make this soup again, and include my modifications, I think Jaffrey can sometimes be too conservative with her herbs and spices, either that or I have no taste buds. ACK! that would be awful.

Some sumac links:

Ediblewild (scroll down to the bottom for some links to interesting recipes.)

Strat's Place

The All Seeing Eye (for a picture and explanation of wild sumac)

Written by Deb on April 6, 2003 05:27 AM