St. George Festival
If food, dancing, games and culture are what you love, then the St. George Festival is for you! Formerly known as the Middle Eastern Festival, this year it will expand to not only include great ethnic cuisines, live music, dancing, silent auction, and a children’s carnival, but also a zip line, crafts, demonstrations, and church tours that will explain the new church’s Byzantine architecture and iconography painted by a team of Greek iconographers.
Doug Fadel and Diana Najjar took over the Indy Style kitchen to cook us up a few signature dishes! If you’d like to learn more about the festival, visit www.stgindy.org and www.facebook.com/stgfestival.
Here are the event details:
Date and time: Sept. 18, 5:00-11:00 pm; Sept. 19, 12:00 to 11:00 pm.
Cost: Free admission. Offsite parking is $5 at Fall Creek Community Church, 10401 East 116th Street (within walking distance). Shuttle buses will run continuously.
Where: St. George Orthodox Christian Church, 10748 E. 116h Street, Fishers 46037. “The Church on the hill under the gold dome.”
Here are today’s recipes!
Lebanese Kafta (Kefta)
Ingredients:
- 2lbs (ground beef or lamb or 1lb of each)
- 1 cup chopped parsley
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 ½ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
Method:
- Mix all ingredients well in a bowl or mixer
- Form mixture into desired shape either long like a sausage or patty as desired
- Grill on charcoal or gas grill until cooked ( they can also be baked in the oven or cooked in a frying pan)
- Serve inside of Pocket Pita with diced tomatoes and Taratoor sauce ( see recipe)
- Enjoy
Note: Kafta is traditionally cooked on skewers on the grill but above methods work as well.
Taratour:
This is a favorite sauce in the Eastern Mediterranean. Serve it with shawarma, fish, falafel, kafta or over vegetables. Sometimes spelled taratoor, taratur or tarator.Makes about 1 cup
Ingredients
- Tahini — 1/4 cup
- Salt — 1-2 teaspoon
- Water — 1/2 cup
- Lemon juice — 1/4 cup
- one or two cloves of minced garlic.
Method
- In a bowl or mortar and pestal, crush the minced garlic with the salt.
- Then, also in a bowl, mix together all the ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
Taratour Variations
• Add more or less water depending on how thick you like the sauce. It is typically served somewhat thick in the Middle East.