Phony tabbouleh
A very talented photographer I met on a job location was telling me about a tabbouleh called lying tabbouleh ( kezzabeh) ; his grandmother had made it and its remarkable feature is the fact that it does not contain tomatoes. I scrambled for other sources that would mention this tabbouleh; I found...
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Hibiscus tea
A delicious drink made from dried hibiscus flowers. I was gifted with a bunch from my gentleman-farmer friend Salah from Egypt. The taste is tangy and fruity, similar to cranberry flavor. I like to sweeten it and I drink it almost every day, either hot or cold. Hibiscus tea...
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Kibbeh roll
This kibbeh roll, made like a jelly roll cake, is a creation of Aleppo cooks. It is a lot easier and faster to make than kibbeh balls. Two pounds of kibbeh paste will yield three long rolls, of which one or two can be frozen. The original recipes usually call...
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Zucchini and cracked wheat pilaf
Here is a very simple and rustic dish from Syria’s Kurdish community; it is just zucchini and onions, fried a bit in olive oil and cooked with some cracked wheat (jreesh). The cracked wheat can be replaced by any whole-grain in your pantry, with bulgur being the best substitute (pick a...
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Turnovers with red pepper dip (Fatayer mhammara)
A well-known kebab restaurant chain dropped-off at the door of every building in our neighborhood a new menu titled “Holy Season Fasting Menu”; it featured only vegetarian dishes suitable to those following Lent. In the savory pastries section, turnovers (fatayer) were listed stuffed with muhammara or red pepper/walnut dip. I...
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Lentil stew
The name of this dish, harak osba’o, literally means “he burnt his finger” ; in other words, it was so irresistible, he (or she) could not wait for it to cool. In American terms, finger-licking good! There are several dishes bearing that name in both Lebanese and Syrian cuisine but this...
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Chocolate/oatmeal brownies
Last night, both my daughter and I had a craving, the brownie craving, and needed to get it answered within the hour. This version uses oatmeal flour instead of the regular all-purpose white flour; I tried it as an experiment and was so relieved to find that it tastes the...
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Artichoke bottoms stuffed with meat
Artichokes are making a timid entrance already with greengrocers (Winter has been totally absent this year in Lebanon); artichoke bottoms are available frozen (at all Middle-Eastern grocers in the US imported from Egypt) or in jars in mainstream supermarkets; however, the taste of fresh artichokes is way superior, and the...
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Chard stalks omelet (Ejjet dulu3 el-selek)
Swiss chard (or any greens for that matter) are always sourced locally; I buy mine from Ibrahim, who set up his street cart inside the courtyard of a half-demolished house. In Lebanese kitchens, Swiss chard is split in half between the leaves and the stalks. The leaves are stuffed just...
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