![\"Dave](\"http:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Dave-Hamilton-Publicity-SML.jpg\")
<\/a>I love Middle Eastern food in all shapes and forms. Nothing satisfies me more than tucking into a nice mezze platter. However as all the exotic ingredients have to be flown from half way across the world it is hardly a sustainable way to eat! With that in mind I decided to challenge myself to make a wild mezze platter with UK versions of all the middle eastern favourites. This would include a wild humus, wild falafals and wild vine lives.<\/p>\nSo lets begin with the substitutions before I go into the recipes.<\/p>\n
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- Chickpeas – boiled chestnuts<\/li>\n
- Seasame seeds (tahini) \u2013 hazelnuts<\/li>\n
- Vine leaves \u2013 Dock leaves (boiled twice and drained), charlock, Hedge garlic, lime leaves etc, etc<\/li>\n
- Olives \u2013 unripe sloes<\/li>\n
- Tomatoes for salsa \u2013 haw berries.<\/li>\n
- Lemon juice \u2013 Sumac berries<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Humus<\/p>\n
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- Peel two handfuls chestnuts, and then crack about a palm full of hazelnuts.<\/li>\n
- Boil them together until both are soft in just enough water to cover them<\/li>\n
- Drain reserving the water<\/li>\n
- Blend the two together, using a hand-held blender, slowly adding the water as you do so.<\/li>\n
- Add a little oil and some spices if you feel it needs it, you can use sumac, toasted hogweed seeds and beech oil.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Dock Dolmades or Dolma<\/p>\n
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- Boil the dock in two changes of water, discarding the water each time.<\/li>\n
- Fill each leaf with a teaspoon of cooked barley flavoured with mint, dried sumac and thyme.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Haw Salsa<\/p>\n
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- Boil two handfuls of haw-berries in just enough red wine vinegar to cover them (could use cider vinegar) along with some spices of your choice (chilli, crushed coriander seed etc)<\/li>\n
- Strain through a sieve and serve<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Falafel<\/p>\n
- \n
- Boil up some peeled chestnuts<\/li>\n
- Strain and pat dry (the water can be used to make a nut stock or gravy)<\/li>\n
- Use a blender or potato masher to crush them to a pulp.<\/li>\n
- Work into falafel shapes with your hands and fry until browned on the outside<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Olives<\/p>\n
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- Take a number of unripe sloes and leave in brine solution for one to two weeks depending on when you remember they’re there<\/li>\n
- Place in a sterilized jar, cover with vinegar, seal and leave<\/li>\n
- That\u2019s it<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Serve it all with pita bread and seasonal leaves (i.e. chickweed, wintercress, sorrel in the autumn\/winter)<\/p>\n
Article written by Dave Hamilton. Dave has now left Selfsufficientish but you can catch up with him on davehamilton.me.uk or on twitter @davewildish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"