Category Archives: Traditional dishes

Eggplant and ground meat sauce (Batersh)

  I first got wind of this dish on Kano’s blog and was immediately interested; the idea to top eggplant dip with a thick ground meat and tomato sauce sounded delicious; it is apparently a specialty of the city of Hama in Syria. I’d like in passing to send many prayers to the innocent people [...]
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Zaatar and cheese plate

I posted an image of my foray into zaatar hunting and both Arlette and Dana mentioned the zaatar and feta cheese combo. Feta (aka Bulgarian cheese here) is crumbled, doused in olive oil and sprinkled with fresh zaatar; a breakfast and after-school snack that helped assuage my hunger daily as a child growing up in [...]
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Shawarma on hummus

One of the biggest advantages of living in Beirut is this: I can order this at my favorite deli. It comes with all the trimmings. The flavor is superb and I did not spend a second in the kitchen.  If you are looking for a classic hummus recipe, click here.  A beef shawarma recipe, click [...]
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Herbs stew (Khoresh-e qormeh sabzi)

I was in Erbil, Kurdistan (Iraq) for a few days recently; I visited the Bazaar in front of the old Citadel, of course, and neighborhood markets;  I noticed that  the vast majority of dry goods were imported from Turkey; in addition, there were a few items from Iran and I brought back Iranian saffron and [...]
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Maamoul

Ma’amoul are the holiday cookie par excellence in this part of the world; every family has the designated maamoul maker and in mine we luckily had a grandmother who would make them and decorate them by hand.  I have already posted both recipes and a video-clip on how to make them. They are easy just time-consuming; [...]
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