Goat chili
Goat meat is available at my neighborhood Middle-Eastern store. Much leaner and much more nutritious than other red meats, it makes an excellent chili. I used cranberry beans to go with it. Simmered the mixture for about three hours and served it with a handful of extra-sharp cheddar cheese...
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Birthday Cake with phyllo
This cake is one I made to celebrate a cousin’s birthday. I had zero time to pipe some swirls of frosting and so I used phyllo sheets that I cut in triangles in lieu of a polished frosting. The cake is a sponge cake, cut in the middle horizontally...
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Couscous with chick peas and grape molasses
This couscous is inspired by a country dish I had read about in Chef Ramzi’s Culinary Heritage of Lebanon in which chick peas are cooked in grape molasses and water for hours till tender. To add some depth of flavor, couscous, caramelized onions, a whole head of garlic and a...
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Chewing-gum
Chewing gum was a major treat for me growing up in Beirut. It was exciting as well, because my father forbade it , saying that it made us look like camels. My aunt Marcelle lived in the same building two stories up: every few weeks her seamstresses would come...
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Kaak
Kaak is a dry breadstick covered with toasted sesame seeds and flavored with mahlab, a very popular spice in the Lebanese pastry world. A traditional kaak recipe is available here. Kaak is also made with grape molasses, which makes it sweet and richer-tasting. It can be flavored with zaatar,...
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Potatoes with muhammara
Muhammara is my favorite dip; it is very rich, but so what? Eating a rib-eye steak is a rich meal and at least here, the components are walnuts and red pepper and spices. I have mixed muhammara with pasta. Today, I am mixing it with a baked potato. Come...
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Guava
What would you do if you were walking down the street and stopped dead in your tracks after smelling the most intoxicating perfume ever? That heady perfume was emanating from a modest plastic crate, inside a store the size of a small closet. I put them in my backpack...
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Lebanese candies (Malban)
Roasted pistachios: This is the most common purchase prior to leaving Beirut; so much so that the Customs officer in the States would frequently say ” Did you bring pistachios?” upon glancing at my passport. This time, I was rushed and half the city’s roads were blocked due to...
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Fried Eggs with eggplants, pomegranate
If there was one fruit that I have been eagerly waiting all summer, it is the pomegranate. There are two varieties in the orchard, one which is sweet and suitable for eating; the other is sour, only suitable for molasses. The good news is Beirut is stuffed with juice...
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