Kibbeh in yogurt sauce
One major difference between, say, French or Italian or Greek cuisine and Middle-Eastern cuisine lies in the widespread use of yogurt in cooking. In traditional Lebanese cooking, béchamel or white sauce is not used, period. Yogurt from cow milk or goat milk is used in hundreds of dishes. To...
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Bulgur and lamb pilaf (Burghul bedfeen)
I would name this one of the most exquisite in the Lebanese roster of traditional dishes; however, it does require some TLC. The onions have to be browned first, the lamb or beef need to simmer till thoroughly cooked in their broth and the bulgur pilaf, studded with onions, chunks...
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Coffee: White or black
For those of you who dread the jolt that caffeine-laden Turkish coffee inflicts, there is white coffee. White coffee is offered at get-togethers in Lebanon and it is simply boiled water with a few drops of orange blossom water (to taste) and sugar (optional). In Lebanon there are...
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Apricot Jam tartlets (Mabroucheh)
In the summer, when apricots are in season, most everybody in the villages makes apricot jam (partially cooked in the sun). The apricot season is very short and the apricots are extremely fragrant during that time. A tart is made with the apricot jam called mabroucheh in which the top...
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Bulgur and cabbage pilaf (Safsouf)
Today a man was offering homemade products from his village: Carob molasses, orange and rose water, tomato paste, olives, olive oil etc. When I asked him “How much” he replied “I will give it to you for free, my mother made these”. So I offered him what I...
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Tunisian donuts (Ftira)
Beirut and Lebanon in general are seriously lacking in North African restaurants or foods from the Maghreb; it is easier to find a can of harissa in Dallas than in Beirut! So imagine the thrill I felt when Leyth Hazgui, from the resort town of Hammamet, flagged me about...
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Kurdish kibbeh (video)
Semolina/bulgur kibbeh (Kuttelk)
This is a traditional kibbeh from Merdin, Turkey made in Beirut by Asma Z., a Kurdish lady. Asma is one of my favorite people here and she told me some tidbits from her life; her family left Turkey and settled in Lebanon and her mother put her to work...
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Giveaway
This giveaway is not for a cookbook but a photography book; it is a collection of photographs taken by 500 children residing in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. This project was carried out by an NGO, Zakira ( meaning memory in Arabic) whose primary goal is to...
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